City Pier A

Pier A stands as the oldest surviving pier in New York City. Completed in eighteen eighty-six, it is the only pier in the city identified by a letter rather than a number. This naming convention marks it as the singular point of origin for the vast, numbered pier system that once defined the city's waterfront. The building served as the command center for the Board of Dock Commissioners and the police harbor patrol, providing a strategic vantage point to monitor the chaotic maritime traffic of the Hudson River.