| Fourth Avenue, Union Square East, Park Avenue South | |
 Looking south from52nd Street, facing theMetLife Building andHelmsley Building in the background withSt. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church andWaldorf Astoria New York to the left | |
| Former name(s) | Fourth Avenue |
|---|---|
| Namesake | tracks between 34th and 40th Streets which were covered in grass[1] |
| Owner | City of New York |
| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
| Length | 10.9 mi (17.5 km)[2][3][4] |
| Location | Manhattan andThe Bronx,New York City |
| South end | Astor Place inCooper Square |
| Major junctions | Park Avenue Tunnel andViaduct inEast Midtown Harlem River Drive inEast Harlem |
| North end | Third Avenue inFordham |
| East | Lexington Avenue |
| West | Madison Avenue |
| Construction | |
| Commissioned | March 1811 |
Park Avenue is aboulevard inNew York City[5] that carries north and southbound traffic in theboroughs ofManhattan andthe Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel toMadison Avenue to the west andLexington Avenue to the east. Park Avenue's entire length was formerly calledFourth Avenue; the title still applies to the section betweenCooper Square and14th Street.[6] The avenue is calledUnion Square East between 14th and17th streets, andPark Avenue South between 17th and32nd streets.
Because of its designation as the widest avenue on Manhattan's East Side, Park Avenue originally carried the tracks of theNew York and Harlem Railroad built in the 1830s, just a few years after the adoption of theManhattan street grid.[7] The railroad'sright-of-way at ground level forced foot and carriage traffic onto either side of the tracks. Later on, the railroad was run through anopen cut tunnel underMurray Hill, which was then covered with grates and grass between 34th and 40th Street in the early 1850s. A section of this "park" was later renamed Park Avenue in 1860.[8] Park Avenue's original southern terminus was at 34th Street, and the newly renamed Park Avenue was given its own house-numbering system separate from that of Fourth Avenue. The address 1 Park Avenue was assigned to a house at 101 East 34th Street, at the northeast corner of Park Avenue and 34th Street.[9]
The Harlem Railroad was later incorporated into theNew York Central Railroad, and a terminal for the New York Central at 42nd Street, theGrand Central Depot, opened in 1871.[10]: 3 But the tracks laid to the new terminal proved problematic. There were originally no grade-separated crossings of the railroads between 42nd and 59th Streets.[11] As such, they required railroad crossings along Fourth Avenue, which resulted in frequent accidents; seven people died within 12 days of the Hudson River Railroad's move to Grand Central.[12]
In 1872, shortly after the opening of Grand Central Depot, New York Central ownerCornelius Vanderbilt proposed the Fourth Avenue Improvement Project.[10] The tracks between 48th and 56th Streets were to be moved into a shallowopen cut,[13] while the segment between 56th and 97th Streets, which was in a rock cut, would be covered over.[10][a] After the improvements were completed in 1874, the railroads, approaching Grand Central Depot from the north, descended into thePark Avenue Tunnel at 96th Street and continued underground into the new depot.[10] As part of the project, Fourth Avenue was transformed into a boulevard with a median strip that covered the railroad's ventilation grates.[15][16][10]: 4 Eight footbridges crossed the tracks between 45th and 56th Streets, and there were also vehicular overpasses at 45th and 48th Streets.[10]: 4 The boulevard north of Grand Central was renamed Park Avenue in 1888.[17]
A fatal collision between two trains occurred under Park Avenue in 1902, in part because the smoke coming from the steam trains obscured the signals.[18][19] The New York state legislature subsequently passed a law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan.[20] By December 1902, as part of an agreement with the city, New York Central agreed to put the approach to Grand Central Station from 46th to 59th Streets in an open cut under Park Avenue, and to upgrade the tracks to accommodate electric trains. Overpasses would be built across the open cut at most of the cross-streets.[21] The new electric-train terminal,Grand Central Terminal, was opened in 1913.[22]
After the electric trains were buried underground, the area around Park Avenue in the vicinity of Grand Central was developed into several blocks worth of prime real estate calledTerminal City. Stretching from 42nd to 51st Streets between Madison and Lexington Avenues, it came to include theChrysler Building and other prestigious office buildings; luxury apartment houses along Park Avenue; and an array of high-end hotels that included theMarguery, Park Lane, andWaldorf Astoria.[23] In 1929, New York Central built its headquarters in a 34-story building (now called theHelmsley Building), straddling Park Avenue north of the terminal.[24]
ThePark Avenue Viaduct reroutes Park Avenue around Grand Central Terminal between 40th and 46th Streets, allowing Park Avenue traffic to traverse around the building and over 42nd Street without encumbering nearby streets.[25] The western (now southbound) leg of the viaduct was completed in 1919,[26] but congestion developed soon after the viaduct's opening, so an eastern leg for northbound traffic was added in 1928.[25]
The developer Henry Mandel acquired the lots on the eastern side of Fourth Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Street in 1923 under the name "One Park Avenue Corporation". To ensure his corporate name was accurate, Mandel asked theNew York City Board of Aldermen to move Park Avenue's southern terminus to 32nd Street.[9] The change went into effect on December 1, 1924, and address numbers along Park Avenue were changed accordingly.[27] The previous house numbered 1 Park Avenue was occupied by Martha Bacon, widow of diplomatRobert Bacon, who led the opposition to the renumbering.[28] The Board of Aldermen summarily overturned the name change,[9] but MayorJohn Hylan vetoed the move in April 1925.[29] This prompted Bacon to appeal the decision to theNew York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, which overturned Hylan's veto in November 1927, on the basis that the extension of Park Avenue to 32nd Street had been made for the benefit of a developer.[27][30] Mandel's development at 32nd Street was thus known as 461–477 Fourth Avenue, and the developers of that building sued to reverse the appellate ruling.[9] TheNew York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, reversed the appellate ruling in February 1928.[31][32] Bacon contemplated bringing up the matter with theUnited States Supreme Court,[33] but she ultimately relented, changing her address to "Park Avenue at 34th" by 1930.[9]
In 1927, the medians on Park Avenue north of Grand Central were trimmed to add one lane of traffic in each direction. This project eliminated the pedestrian path on the medians, as they became much narrower. The median was extended by one block from96th Street to 97th Street in 1941, creating the only remaining median on Park Avenue with a pedestrian path and seating.[34] In the 1920s the portion of Park Avenue from Grand Central to 96th Street saw extensive apartment building construction. This long stretch of the avenue contains some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Real estate at740 Park Avenue, for example, sells for several thousand dollars per square foot.[35]
In October 1937, a part of theMurray Hill Tunnel was reopened for road traffic. Efforts to promote a Grand Park Avenue Expressway to Grand Concourse in the Bronx were unsuccessful.[36]
A tradition was introduced in 1945 as a memorial to American soldiers killed in action, wherebyChristmas trees are placed in the median and lit up on the first Sunday in December atBrick Presbyterian Church.[37] On May 5, 1959, theNew York City Council voted 20–1 to change the name of Fourth Avenue between 17th and 32nd Streets to Park Avenue South. The renaming, along with a ban on overhanging signs along the newly renamed Park Avenue South, was intended to improve the character of the avenue.[38] Unlike with the earlier renamings of Park Avenue, the address numbers of Park Avenue South continued from those on the remaining section of Fourth Avenue.[9] ThePan Am Building (now MetLife Building), in between the Park Avenue Viaduct's legs north of Grand Central Terminal, was opened in 1963.[39]
In September 2007, theMetro-North Railroad reached an agreement with theNew York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to installpedestrian traffic signals along Park Avenue between 46th Street and 56th Street. The two sides had feuded over the issue since 1982, whenPenn Central controlled the Park Avenue Tunnel. In 1997, the NYCDOT commissioner stated that signals would be installed during an upcoming phase of reconstruction in the Grand Central area.[40] The $35 million project, whose cost was split between Metro-North and the city, was approved by the MTA Board later that month. It called for the installation of 12 pedestrian signals and 8 traffic signals at the eleven intersections and the renovation of the sidewalks and streets around Grand Central to prevent rainwater from seeping into the tunnel.[41] Car traffic in this area had been controlled by traffic lights on a pole at each intersection in the middle of the median, instead of the usual four from each direction, resulting in a relatively high rate of pedestrian injuries. Additional traffic lights and pedestrian signals had not been added because this area of Park Avenue was located directly atop the roof of the Park Avenue Tunnel, with the street being 8 inches (20 cm) above the roof in some locations. Because the roof was 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) thick, there was not enough room to provide a foundation for the traffic poles without puncturing the structure. Due to the high cost of making these upgrades, and the lack of cooperation between theNew York City Department of Transportation and Metro-North, which had opposed any solution that would modify the tunnel roof, the project was delayed for several years.[41][42] The project had been estimated to cost $200,000 per intersection in 1994.[43] As part of the new agreement, Metro-North designed a way to anchor the traffic signals in the deck and tunnel roof.[44] Pedestrian signals and gantry-mounted traffic signals were installed at these intersections in July 2010.[45]
On March 12, 2014, two apartment buildings near116th Street, 1644 and 1646 Park Avenue, were destroyed ina gas explosion. Eight people were killed and many others were injured.[46]
In 2019, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority provided funding for repairs to the roof of the Grand Central Terminal train shed.[47]: 109, 116, 121, 209, 210 The train shed is located under Park Avenue and surrounding streets from 43rd to 57th Street, and the repairs to the train shed's roof involved reconstructing parts of Park Avenue.[48] In August 2024, the city government began soliciting bids for the reconstruction of Park Avenue's median between 46th and 57th Streets. The project was to include additional plantings, benches, and concessions.[49][50]
The road that becomes Park Avenue originates at theBowery. FromCooper Square at8th Street toUnion Square at14th Street, it is known asFourth Avenue, a 70-foot-wide (21 m) road carrying northbound traffic. At 14th Street, it turns slightly northeast to align with other avenues as drawn in theCommissioners' Plan of 1811. From 14th Street to17th Street, it forms the eastern boundary of Union Square and is known asUnion Square East; its southbound lanes merge withBroadway south of 15th Street, and the thoroughfare divides into two distinct portions in the one-block section between 14th and 15th Streets. From 17th Street to32nd Street, it is known asPark Avenue South.[3] Address numbers on Park Avenue South are a continuation of those on Fourth Avenue;[51] for example,225 Park Avenue South was originally known as 225 Fourth Avenue.[52]
Above 32nd Street, for the remainder of its distance, it is known as Park Avenue, a 140-foot-wide (43 m) boulevard.[3] The address numbers for Park Avenue are reset above 32nd Street;[51] for example, the address 1 Park Avenue would ordinarily have been numbered 461 Fourth Avenue.[9] Between33rd Street and40th Street, the leftmost northbound lane descends into theMurray Hill Tunnel. North of 40th Street, the center lanes of Park Avenue rise onto an elevated structure that goes aroundGrand Central Terminal and theMetLife Building (formerly the Pan Am Building), carrying each direction of traffic on opposite sides of the buildings. The bridge, one of two structures in Manhattan known as thePark Avenue Viaduct, returns to ground level at 46th Street after going through theHelmsley Building (also referred to as the New York Central Building or 230 Park Avenue).[3] TheIRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under this portion of the street. Once the line reachesGrand Central–42nd Street, it shifts east toLexington Avenue.
As Park Avenue entersMidtown north of Grand Central Terminal, it is distinguished by many glass-box skyscrapers that serve as headquarters for corporations and investment banks such asSociété Générale,JPMorgan Chase at270 Park Avenue and277 Park Avenue,UBS at299 Park Avenue,Citigroup at399 Park Avenue,Colgate-Palmolive, andMetLife at the MetLife Building.[3] From 47th to 97th Streets, the tracks forMetro-North Railroad'sPark Avenue main line run in the Park Avenue Tunnel underneath Park Avenue. At 97th Street, the tracks come above ground, rising onto the other Manhattan structure known as the Park Avenue Viaduct. The first street to pass under the viaduct is 102nd Street; from there to theHarlem River the railroad viaduct runs down the middle of Park Avenue. Park Avenue in Manhattan ends north of 132nd Street, with connections to theHarlem River Drive.[3]
The flowers and greenery in the median of Manhattan's Park Avenue are privately maintained, by the Fund for Park Avenue. Thebegonia was specifically chosen by the Fund's gardeners because there is no automatic watering system and the floral variety is resilient under hot sun rays.[53]
The avenue is continued on the other side of the river inthe Bronx. In the Bronx, Park Avenue begins at East 135th Street in theMott Haven neighborhood. The entire avenue is divided by Metro-North's own right of way in the borough. Between East 135th Street to East 173rd Street, Park Avenue is one way only in either direction in most sections. North of East 173rd Street it is a two way avenue continuing toFordham Plaza where it ends.[4]
The following institutions are either headquartered or have significant business presences on Park Avenue:
In north-south order:[3]
Metro-North Railroad'sGrand Central Terminal, serving theHarlem Line,Hudson Line, andNew Haven Line, is at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. The MNR'sPark Avenue main line runs along Park Avenue in both boroughs betweenGrand Central andFordham station, with stations in between at125th Street,162nd Street, andTremont Avenue.[54]
TheNew York City Subway's adjacentGrand Central–42nd Street station serves the4, 5, 6, <6>, 7, <7>, and S trains. TheIRT Lexington Avenue Line additionally runs under Park Avenue and its extensions from 41st to 8th Streets. The33rd Street,28th Street,23rd Street, andAstor Place stations are served by the6 and <6> trains, while the14th Street-Union Square station is served by the4, 5, 6, <6>, L, N, Q, R, and W trains.[55]
The following bus routes serve Park Avenue:
No buses run along Park Avenue in the Bronx, althoughFordham Plaza Bus Terminal is located at the northern end of the road.[59]
Explanatory notes
Citations
Further reading
