The Hess Triangle is a small piece of land that was mistakenly left out of expansion plans when the city acquired private property along Seventh Avenue under eminent domain in the 1910s. A five-story building owned by David Hess used to stand at the location, but was demolished by the city to expand Seventh Avenue. Since ownership of the triangle had remained with the Hess family, they installed a mosaic in the ground to mark that they had not surrendered the space for public use. The mosaic can be seen on the southwest corner of Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street in the West Village, outside the entrance of Village Cigars, which acquired the property from David Hess's descendants in 1938.