Houston Street ( ) is a major east-west thoroughfare in
downtown Manhattan, running crosstown across the full width of the island of
Manhattan, from
Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive (FDR Drive) and
East River Park on the
East River to Pier 40 and
West Street on the
Hudson River. It generally serves as the boundary between neighborhoods, with
Alphabet City, the
East Village,
NoHo,
Greenwich Village, and the
West Village lying to the north of the street, and the
Lower East Side, most of the
Bowery,
Nolita, and
SoHo to the south. The numeric street-naming grid in Manhattan, created as part of the
Commissioners' Plan of 1811, begins immediately north of Houston Street with
1st Street at
Avenue A, although the grid does not fully come into effect until
13th Street.