Lafayette Street is a major north–south street in New York City's Lower Manhattan. It originates at the intersection of Reade Street and Centre Street, one block north of Chambers Street. The one-way street then successively runs through Chinatown, Little Italy, NoLIta, and NoHo and finally, between East 9th and East 10th streets, merges with Fourth Avenue. A buffered bike lane runs outside the left traffic lane. North of Spring Street, Lafayette Street is northbound (uptown)-only; south of Spring Street, Lafayette is southbound (downtown)-only.

The street is named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French hero of the American Revolutionary War.^[1]

Landmarks along Lafayette Street include:^[10]

• The New York Mercantile Library building at Astor Place (George E. Harney, arch., 1891), once the site of the Astor Opera House, now condominiums
• Alamo, a cube-shaped sculpture in Astor Place
• Astor Library (1854), founded by John Jacob Astor, now housing The Public Theater
• Colonnade Row (1833), four of a series of nine Greek revival row houses; the Astor Place Theatre is in one
• The Schermerhorn Building, built for the Schermerhorns in 1888 to designs by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, to replace the Schermerhorn mansion.
• 339 Lafayette Street, dubbed the "Peace Pentagon" for the many left-wing organizations which were once headquartered there, including the War Resisters League
• The Puck Building on East Houston Street
• The New York City Rescue Mission on White Street
• The Firehouse, Engine Company 31 building is located at 87 Lafayette at White Street, built in 1895 by Napoleon LeBrun, now the Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV)
• The Ahrens Building, built by George Henry Griebel, and the City Municipal Court Building on the south side of White Street
• Family Court on Franklin Street
• The Department of Health, Hospitals and Sanitation on Leonard Street
• Federal Plaza, which includes the Jacob Javits Federal Building on Worth Street
• Foley Square, named after Tammany Hall's "Big Tom" Foley, on Pearl Street
• The SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension^[11]

In August 2008, the New York City Department of Transportation closed Lafayette Street, Park Avenue, and part of East 72nd Street to motor traffic for three Saturdays as part of the "Summer Streets" program to encourage non-motor uses.^[12] The program has taken place on the first, second, and third Saturdays of August every year since then.^[13]

The New York City Subway's 4, ​6, <6>​, B, ​D, ​F, <F>, and ​M trains intersect at a subway station complex at Bleecker Street / Broadway – Lafayette Street. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4, ​5, ​6, and <6> trains) runs under Lafayette Street, with stops at Canal Street, Spring Street, Bleecker Street, and Astor Place,^[14] as well as a former stop at Worth Street. The southbound M22 serves a short segment between Worth Street and Chambers Street.

• The Cube (Alamo by Tony Rosenthal) at Astor Place
• "Clinton Hall", at Astor Place, was the home of the New York Mercantile Library, and the site of the Astor Opera House where the Astor Place riot of 1849 took place
• The Astor Place Building at 444 Lafayette
• Condominium building at 445 Lafayette
• The Puck Building, former printing plant for Puck magazine, was built in stages and designed by Albert Wagner

• Lower Manhattan
• Lower East Side
• Merchant's House Museum
• NoHo