| Irving Place | |
 Lexington Avenue seen from the top of theChrysler Building | |
 | |
| Namesake | Battle of Lexington[1] |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
| Length | 5.8 mi (9.3 km)[2][3] |
| Location | Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| South end | 14th Street inGramercy Park |
| Major junctions | Third Avenue Bridge inEast Harlem |
| North end | 131st Street in East Harlem |
| East | Third Avenue |
| West | Park Avenue |
| Construction | |
| Commissioned | 1832 |
| Completion | 1836 |
Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on theEast Side ofManhattan inNew York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East131st Street toGramercy Park atEast 21st Street. Along its 5.5-mile (8.9-kilometer), 110-block route, Lexington Avenue runs throughHarlem,Carnegie Hill, theUpper East Side,Midtown, andMurray Hill to a point of origin that is centered on Gramercy Park. South of Gramercy Park, the axis continues asIrving Place from20th Street to East14th Street.
Lexington Avenue was not one of the streets included in theCommissioners' Plan of 1811 street grid, so the addresses for cross streets do not start at an even hundred number, as they do with avenues that were originally part of the plan.
Both Lexington Avenue andIrving Place began in 1832 whenSamuel Ruggles, a lawyer and real-estate developer, petitioned theNew York State Legislature to approve the creation of a new north–south avenue between the existingThird andFourth Avenues, between14th and30th Streets. Ruggles purchased land in the area and was developing it as a planned community of townhouses around a private park, which he calledGramercy Park. He was also developing property aroundUnion Square and wanted the new road to improve the value of these tracts. The legislation was 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, below20th Street, which opened in 1833, after his friendWashington Irving. The northern section, which opened three years later, in 1836, was named after theBattle of Lexington in theAmerican Revolutionary War.[4][5]
In 1899, Lexington Avenue was the location of the first arrest inNew York City for speeding when a bicycle patrolman overtookcabdriver Jacob German, who had been racing down the avenue at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19 km/h).[6] The portion of Lexington Avenue above East 42nd Street was reconstructed at the same time as theIRT Lexington Avenue Line of theNew York City Subway. The widened street and the subway line both opened on July 17, 1918.[7]
Portions of the avenue were widened in 1955, which requiredeminent domain takings of the facades of some structures along Lexington.[8]
Lexington Avenue has carried one-way (downtown) traffic since July 17, 1960.[9]
The2007 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.
Lexington Avenue runs one-way southbound for its entire length from131st Street to21st Street. Parallel to Lexington Avenue liesPark Avenue to its west andThird 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 with30th Street through to its intersection with49th Street, and apartment buildings farther north.
There are numerous structures designated asNew York City Landmarks (NYCL),National Historic Landmarks (NHL), andNational Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on Lexington Avenue. From south to north (in increasing address order), they include:[10][11]
In contrast to Lexington Avenue, the six-block stretch ofIrving Place from14th to20th Street atGramercy Park carries two-way traffic and is decidedly local in nature. After the opening ofUnion 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 andStuyvesant Square to the east.[5]
An assortment of restaurants and bars line Irving Place, includingPete's Tavern, New York's oldest surviving saloon, whereO. Henry supposedly conceived of his short story "The Gift of the Magi", and which survivedProhibition disguised as a flower shop.Irving Plaza, onEast 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 to17th Street. Also at 17th, a small bed-and-breakfast, the Inn at Irving Place, occupies twoGreek Revival architecture townhouses built in 1840–1841 and renovated between 1991 and 1995.
Historically and architecturally significant are 47 and 49 Irving Place—the latter where Washington Irving is said to have lived, but did not[5]—which are part of theEast 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District, and19 Gramercy Park on the corner of 20th Street, part of theGramercy Park Historic District.
Offices located on Irving Place include those ofThe Nation magazine, the New York branch ofAMORC and the Seafarers and International House mission.[12] There are also a number of clinics and official city buildings along the street, includingWashington Irving High School and the headquarters of theNew York City Human Resources Administration.[12] The bottom of the street is anchored by the rear of theZeckendorf Towers condominium apartment complex on the west side, and theConsolidated Edison Building on the east.[12]
The following buses use Lexington Avenue between the following streets (uptown buses run along Third Avenue):[13][14][15]
TheIRT Lexington Avenue Line (4, 5, 6, and <6> trains) of theNew York City Subway runs under Lexington Avenue north of42nd Street (atGrand Central–42nd Street station) to125th Street. South of Grand Central, this subway line runs underPark Avenue, Park Avenue South, and Fourth Avenue untilAstor Place. The line interchanges with theIND Queens Boulevard Line (E and M trains) atLexington Avenue/51st Street station and with theBMT Broadway Line (N, R, and W trains) atLexington Avenue/59th Street station. TheLexington Avenue–63rd Street station of the IND and BMT63rd Street Lines (F, <F>, and Q trains) is also located at Lexington Avenue, but it does not have a direct interchange with the Lexington Avenue Line.[16]
Lexington Avenue became part of a classic American cinematic moment in the 1955 movieThe Seven Year Itch in whichMarilyn Monroe shot what would become her most famous scene. While standing on a subway grating outside the Loew's Lexington Theatre, her skirt billowed up from the wind underneath. While the footage showing the theatre in the background appeared in the finished film, the footage featuring the subway grate shot on September 15, 1954, on the corner of Lexington Avenue and51st Street, was more of a publicity stunt; retakes were shot on a studio soundstage, and shots from both are seen in the film.[17]
Notes
Further reading
| International | |
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| National | |
