5 Pointz

5 Pointz in Long Island City, Queens, evolved from an 1892 water-meter factory into one of New York’s most prominent legal street-art sites. Beginning in the 1990s, its walls were opened to mural work, and after Jonathan Cohen, known as Meres One, renamed and curated it in 2002, it became an international destination for graffiti and street artists while also housing affordable studios. Its final years brought safety disputes, redevelopment plans, and the abrupt whitewashing of its murals in 2013 before demolition in 2014. A later court ruling awarding damages to artists made the site significant not only in graffiti culture but also in the legal protection of street art.

New York, New York · United States