Lexington Avenue (Manhattan)
Encyclopedia
Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough
of Manhattan
in New York City
that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park
at East 21st Street. Along its 5.5 mile (8.9 km), 110-block route, Lexington Avenue runs through Harlem
, Carnegie Hill, the Upper East Side
, Midtown, and Murray Hill
to a point of origin that is centered on Gramercy Park. South of Gramercy Park, the axis continues as Irving Place from 20th Street to East 14th Street
.
Lexington Avenue was not one of the streets included in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811
street grid, so the addresses for cross streets do not start at an even hundred number, as they do with avenues which were originally part of the plan.
and Fourth Avenues
, between 14th
and 30th Streets. Ruggles had purchased land in the area, and was developing it as a planned community of townhouses around a private park, which he called Gramercy Park
. He was also developing property around the planned Union Square
, and wanted the new road to improve the value of these tracts. The legislation approved, and, as the owner of most of the land along the route of the new street, Ruggles was assessed for the majority of its cost. Ruggles named the southern section, below 20th Street, which opened in 1833, after his friend Washington Irving
. The northern section, which opened three years later, in 1836, was named after the Battle of Lexington in the Revolutionary War
.
In 1899, Lexington would see the first arrest in New York for speeding, when a bicycle patrolman overtook cabdriver Jacob German, who had been racing down the avenue at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19.3 km/h). The portion of Lexington Avenue above East 42nd Street was reconstructed at the same time as the IRT Lexington Avenue Line
of the New York City Subway
. The widened street and the subway line both opened on July 17, 1918.
Parallel to Lexington Avenue lies Park Avenue
to its west and Third Avenue
to its east. The avenue is largely commercial at ground level, with offices above. There are clusters of hotels in the 30s and 40s, roughly from the avenue's intersection with 30th Street through to its intersection with 49th Street, and apartment buildings farther north.
The July 18, 2007 New York City steam explosion
sent a geyser of hot steam up from beneath the avenue at 41st Street resulting in one death and more than 40 injuries.
to 20th Street at Gramercy Park
carries two-way traffic and is decidedly local in nature. After the opening of Union Square
in 1839, the Irving Place area became one of the most sought-after residential neighborhoods in the city, a situation which was only enhanced by the development of Gramercy Park
to the north and Stuyvesant Square
to the east.
An assortment of restaurants and bars line Irving Place, including Pete's Tavern
, New York's oldest surviving saloon, where O. Henry
supposedly conceived of "The Gift of the Magi
", and which survived Prohibition
disguised as a flower shop. Irving Plaza
, on East 15th Street and Irving, hosts numerous concerts for both well-known and indie bands and draws a crowd almost every night. Another component of the avenue are the large apartment buildings which line the street from Gramercy Park to 17th Street
. Also at 17th, a small bed-and-breakfast, the Inn at Irving Place, occupies two Greek Revival architecture
townhouses built in 1840-1841 and renovated in 1991-1995.
Historically and architecturally significant are 47 and 49 Irving Place – the latter where Washington Irving is said to have lived, but did not – which are part of the East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District
and the Stuyvesant Fish House on the corner of 20th Street, part of the Gramercy Park Historic District
.
Offices located on Irving Place include those of The Nation
magazine, the New York branch of the Rosicrucian Order and the Seafarers and International House mission. There are also a number of clinics and official city buildings along the street, including Washington Irving High School
and the heaquarters of the New York City Human Resources Administration
. The bottom of the street is anchored by the rear of the Zeckendorf Towers condominium apartment complex on the west side, and the Consolidated Edison Building on the east.
The following buses use Lexington Avenue (northbound buses run along 3rd Avenue):
Subway
The IRT Lexington Avenue Line
( trains) of the New York City Subway
runs under Lexington Avenue north of 42nd Street
(at Grand Central); south of Grand Central this subway line runs under Park Avenue
until Astor Place.
, the scene in which Marilyn Monroe
shot what would become her most famous scene. Standing on a subway grating outside the Loew's Lexington theatre, her skirt billows up from the wind underneath. However, the footage shot on September 15, 1954, on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street
, was deemed unsuitable because of the noise made by the thousands of onlookers. The scene was re-shot in the studio.
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...
at East 21st Street. Along its 5.5 mile (8.9 km), 110-block route, Lexington Avenue runs through Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, Carnegie Hill, the Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
, Midtown, and Murray Hill
Murray Hill, Manhattan
Murray Hill is a Midtown Manhattan neighborhood in New York City, USA. Around 1987 many real estate promoters of the neighborhood and newer residents described the boundaries as within East 34th Street, East 42nd Street, Madison Avenue, and the East River; in 1999, Frank P...
to a point of origin that is centered on Gramercy Park. South of Gramercy Park, the axis continues as Irving Place from 20th Street to East 14th Street
14th Street (Manhattan)
14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street rivals the size of some of the well-known avenues of the city and is an important business location....
.
Lexington Avenue was not one of the streets included in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811
Commissioners' Plan of 1811
The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design plan for the streets of Manhattan, which put in place the grid plan that has defined Manhattan to this day....
street grid, so the addresses for cross streets do not start at an even hundred number, as they do with avenues which were originally part of the plan.
History
Both Lexington Avenue and Irving Place began in 1832 when Samuel Ruggles, a lawyer and real-estate developer, petitioned the New York State Legislature to approve the creation of a new north/south avenue between the existing ThirdThird Avenue (Manhattan)
Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Cooper Square north for over 120 blocks. Third Avenue continues into The Bronx across the Harlem River over the Third Avenue Bridge north of East 129th Street to East Fordham Road at...
and Fourth Avenues
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
, between 14th
14th Street (Manhattan)
14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street rivals the size of some of the well-known avenues of the city and is an important business location....
and 30th Streets. Ruggles had purchased land in the area, and was developing it as a planned community of townhouses around a private park, which he called Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...
. He was also developing property around the planned Union Square
Union Square (New York City)
Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
, and wanted the new road to improve the value of these tracts. The legislation approved, and, as the owner of most of the land along the route of the new street, Ruggles was assessed for the majority of its cost. Ruggles named the southern section, below 20th Street, which opened in 1833, after his friend Washington Irving
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
. The northern section, which opened three years later, in 1836, was named after the Battle of Lexington in the Revolutionary War
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
.
In 1899, Lexington would see the first arrest in New York for speeding, when a bicycle patrolman overtook cabdriver Jacob German, who had been racing down the avenue at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19.3 km/h). The portion of Lexington Avenue above East 42nd Street was reconstructed at the same time as the IRT Lexington Avenue Line
IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The Lexington Avenue Line is one of the lines of the IRT division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The portion in Lower and Midtown Manhattan was part of the first subway line in New York...
of the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
. The widened street and the subway line both opened on July 17, 1918.
Parallel to Lexington Avenue lies Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
to its west and Third Avenue
Third Avenue (Manhattan)
Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Cooper Square north for over 120 blocks. Third Avenue continues into The Bronx across the Harlem River over the Third Avenue Bridge north of East 129th Street to East Fordham Road at...
to its east. The avenue is largely commercial at ground level, with offices above. There are clusters of hotels in the 30s and 40s, roughly from the avenue's intersection with 30th Street through to its intersection with 49th Street, and apartment buildings farther north.
The July 18, 2007 New York City steam explosion
2007 New York City steam explosion
The July 18, 2007 New York City steam explosion sent a geyser of hot steam up from beneath a busy intersection, with a 40-story-high shower of mud and flying debris raining down on the crowded streets of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States.It was caused by the failure of a...
sent a geyser of hot steam up from beneath the avenue at 41st Street resulting in one death and more than 40 injuries.
Irving Place
In contrast to Lexington Avenue, the five-block stretch of Irving Place, from 14th14th Street (Manhattan)
14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street rivals the size of some of the well-known avenues of the city and is an important business location....
to 20th Street at Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...
carries two-way traffic and is decidedly local in nature. After the opening of Union Square
Union Square (New York City)
Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
in 1839, the Irving Place area became one of the most sought-after residential neighborhoods in the city, a situation which was only enhanced by the development of Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...
to the north and Stuyvesant Square
Stuyvesant Square
__notoc__Stuyvesant Square is a park in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located between 15th Street and 17th Street and Rutherford Place and Nathan D. Perlman Place, formerly Livingston Place. Second Avenue divides the park into two halves, east and west, and each half is surrounded by the...
to the east.
An assortment of restaurants and bars line Irving Place, including Pete's Tavern
Pete's Tavern
Pete's Tavern, located at 129 East 18th Street on the corner of Irving Place in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is one of several drinking establishments which each claim to be the oldest continuously operated tavern in the city....
, New York's oldest surviving saloon, where O. Henry
O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
supposedly conceived of "The Gift of the Magi
The Gift of the Magi
"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story written by O. Henry , about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money...
", and which survived Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
disguised as a flower shop. Irving Plaza
Irving Plaza
Irving Plaza is a 1,200-person ballroom-style music venue at 17 Irving Place and East 15th Street in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
, on East 15th Street and Irving, hosts numerous concerts for both well-known and indie bands and draws a crowd almost every night. Another component of the avenue are the large apartment buildings which line the street from Gramercy Park to 17th Street
17th Street (Manhattan)
17th Street is an east-west running street between First Avenue and Eleventh Avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs one way along the street, from east to west excepting the stretch between Broadway and Park Avenue South, where traffic runs in both directions.17th Street...
. Also at 17th, a small bed-and-breakfast, the Inn at Irving Place, occupies two Greek Revival architecture
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
townhouses built in 1840-1841 and renovated in 1991-1995.
Historically and architecturally significant are 47 and 49 Irving Place – the latter where Washington Irving is said to have lived, but did not – which are part of the East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District
East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District
The East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District is a small historic district located primarily on East 17th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place in the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
and the Stuyvesant Fish House on the corner of 20th Street, part of the Gramercy Park Historic District
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...
.
Offices located on Irving Place include those of The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
magazine, the New York branch of the Rosicrucian Order and the Seafarers and International House mission. There are also a number of clinics and official city buildings along the street, including Washington Irving High School
Washington Irving High School (New York City)
Washington Irving High School is located at 40 Irving Place between East 16th and 17th Streets the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
and the heaquarters of the New York City Human Resources Administration
New York City Human Resources Administration
The New York City Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services is a Mayoral Agency of the New York City government in charge of the majority of the city’s social services programs. HRA helps New Yorkers in need through a variety of services that promote employment and personal...
. The bottom of the street is anchored by the rear of the Zeckendorf Towers condominium apartment complex on the west side, and the Consolidated Edison Building on the east.
Public transportation
SurfaceThe following buses use Lexington Avenue (northbound buses run along 3rd Avenue):
- M98: To East 67th Street
- M101: To East 6th Street
- M102: To East 6th Street
- M103: To City Hall
- BxM1: To East 33rd Street
Subway
The IRT Lexington Avenue Line
IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The Lexington Avenue Line is one of the lines of the IRT division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The portion in Lower and Midtown Manhattan was part of the first subway line in New York...
( trains) of the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
runs under Lexington Avenue north of 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
(at Grand Central); south of Grand Central this subway line runs under Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
until Astor Place.
In popular culture
Lexington Avenue almost became part of a classic American cinematic moment, in the 1955 movie The Seven Year ItchThe Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
, the scene in which Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
shot what would become her most famous scene. Standing on a subway grating outside the Loew's Lexington theatre, her skirt billows up from the wind underneath. However, the footage shot on September 15, 1954, on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street
51st Street (Manhattan)
51st Street is a long one-way street traveling east to west across Midtown Manhattan.-East 51st Street:*The route officially begins at Beekman Place which is on a hill overlooking FDR Drive...
, was deemed unsuitable because of the noise made by the thousands of onlookers. The scene was re-shot in the studio.
External links
- A short history of Lexington Avenue
- New York Songlines: Lexington Avenue with Irving Place, a virtual walking tour