Greenwich Village had been a fashionable residential district in the 19th century. As New York expanded northward, the wealthy house-owners in Greenwich moved out and by the 20th century it a decayed into a slum. As rents were cheap, Greenwich Village became increasingly the home of artists and writers. As Floyd Dell pointed out: "The rents were cheap because the rush of traffic could not make its way through the little twisted streets that crossed and recrossed each other and never seemed to get anywhere else. Seventh Avenue was now being slowly cut through, and the West Side subway was being extended southward; but Greenwich Avenue still, like a barrier flung athwart the Village, protected it from the roaring town all about."