Plaza Lafayette

Plaza Lafayette is a small pocket park in the Hudson Heights section of Washington Heights, in far northern Manhattan. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it is bounded by Riverside Drive on the west, West 181st Street on the north and south, and Haven Avenue on the east. The land was acquired by the city in 1918.

The plaza is named for the Marquis de Lafayette, the French statesman and military leader who served alongside General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The connection to this corner of Manhattan is direct: the stretch of Riverside Drive here was originally known as Boulevard Lafayette, and the westbound lane of West 181st Street alongside the park still carries the name Plaza Lafayette.

Although the parkland itself has few amenities, a small viewing area sits across Riverside Drive, offering unobstructed views of the George Washington Bridge, the Hudson River, and the New Jersey Palisades beyond. The plaza lies within a few blocks of Bennett Park, which contains the highest natural elevation on the island of Manhattan.

The surrounding neighborhood of Hudson Heights occupies the high ground above the Hudson, a quiet residential enclave of prewar apartment buildings that has long drawn residents seeking space and river views away from the density of central Manhattan.

Plaza Lafayette is modest in size, but its commanding position near the western edge of the island, close to the approach of the George Washington Bridge, gives it a quiet scenic value out of proportion to its small footprint.