Essex Street is a north-south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, the southern end of which is at South Street. Essex Street was laid out by James Delancey just before the American Revolution as the east side of a "Delancey Square" intended for a genteel ownership; Delancey returned to England as a Loyalist in 1775, and the square was developed as building lots.