The namesake of Lafayette Street, The Marquis de Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer, who gave himself to the cause of the American Revolution. He not only served in the Continental Army, but also returned to France to arrange a stronger French commitment to the American cause. He is currently buried in France under soil from Bunker Hill.
Colonnade Row, also known as LaGrange Terrace, on present-day Lafayette Street is a landmarked series of Greek revival buildings originally built in the early 1830s. The series of nine row houses, of which four remain, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name LaGrange Terrace and the facades remain standing on Lafayette Street south of Astor Place. John Jacob Astor IV, President John Tyler, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Washington Irving, and Warren Delano all spent time on Colonnade Row.
Giuseppe “Joe” Petrosino (August 30, 1860 - March 12, 1909) was a New York City police officer who was a pioneer in the fight against organized crime. The various crime fighting techniques that Petrosino pioneered during his law enforcement career are still practiced by various agencies in the fight against crime.