The Street of ships

Duration: 28

Year Published: 1982

Creator: Charles Richards Productions

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: In the mid-sixties, a group of urban explorers discovered a five-block collection of nearly derelict nineteenth-century buildings in lower Manhattan, part of the city's old seaport. The most famous of these, South Street, was known as the street of ships due to the profusion of clipper ships which once crowded the harbor. This film chronicles the efforts of Peter Stanford and The Friends of South Street to save and preserve some of the oldest and most historically significant buildings from destruction. It concludes with the controversy surrounding the goals of commercial developers versus those wishing to maintain the area's historical authenticity.