Vanderbilt Avenue is the name of three thoroughfares in theNew York City boroughs ofBrooklyn,Manhattan, andStaten Island. They were named afterCornelius Vanderbilt (1794–1877), the builder ofGrand Central Terminal inMidtown Manhattan.
 Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn, pictured in 1974 | |
| Namesake | Cornelius Vanderbilt |
|---|---|
| Owner | City of New York |
| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
| Location | Brooklyn,New York City |
| South end | Grand Army Plaza atProspect Park |
| North end | Flushing Avenue atBrooklyn Navy Yard |
Vanderbilt Avenue inBrooklyn carries traffic north and south betweenGrand Army Plaza (40°40′30″N73°58′11″W / 40.67500°N 73.96972°W /40.67500; -73.96972) andFlushing Avenue at the Vanderbilt Avenue gate of theBrooklyn Navy Yard (40°41′52″N73°58′14.5″W / 40.69778°N 73.970694°W /40.69778; -73.970694).
This avenue serves the neighborhoods ofFort Greene andProspect Heights. Landmarks include the oldPublic School 9 and Public School 9 Annex buildings at the corner ofSterling Place, andBishop Loughlin Memorial High School atGreene Avenue.
TheB69 bus, which replaced astreetcar line in 1950, runs on the entire avenue, with Kensington service heading north on Flatbush Avenue from the southern end. There were also two now-demolished subway stations on theBMT Myrtle Avenue Line andBMT Fulton Street Line built here.
| Namesake | Cornelius Vanderbilt |
|---|---|
| Owner | City of New York |
| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City |
| South end | 43rd Street inMidtown |
| North end | 47th Street in Midtown |
| East | Park Avenue |
| West | Madison Avenue |
Vanderbilt Avenue inManhattan runs from43rd Street to47th Street betweenPark Avenue andMadison Avenue. It was built in the late 1860s as the result of the construction ofGrand Central Depot.[1] The southboundPark Avenue Viaduct aroundGrand Central Terminal runs above the street's eastern side. TheYale Club of New York City is located on Vanderbilt Avenue, at the intersection of East 44th Street, as is theManhattan Institute for Policy Research, andOne Vanderbiltsupertall skyscraper.
When the avenue was originally designed, it ran from 42nd Street to 49th Street. However, in the 1960s the portion between 47th Street and 49th Street was closed permanently, as it became part of270 Park Avenue and 280 Park Avenue. More recently, the southern end of the avenue, between 42nd Street and 43rd Street was converted into a pedestrian plaza that connectsGrand Central Terminal with theOne Vanderbilt skyscraper.
Vanderbilt Avenue runs northeast-southwest throughEast Shore. It is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) long and serves the neighborhoods ofClifton,Stapleton Heights,Concord, andGrymes Hill. The northeast end is on Bay Street (40°37′20″N74°4′23″W / 40.62222°N 74.07306°W /40.62222; -74.07306), west ofClifton of theStaten Island Railway and east ofBayley Seton Hospital.
Along with most ofRichmond Road and all ofAmboy Road, Vanderbilt Avenue forms the first leg of Staten Island's colonial-era eastern corridor that predates the newer, straighter, and widerHylan Boulevard. The three roads that make up the corridor share a common numbering system; i.e. Richmond Road's numbers start where Vanderbilt Avenue's leave off, (40°36′48″N74°5′13.4″W / 40.61333°N 74.087056°W /40.61333; -74.087056) and Amboy Road's numbers start where Amboy Road forks away from Richmond Road. This numbering format encompasses the numerically highest of street addresses in New York City, and spans 15 miles combined, approximately 1 mile longer than Hylan Boulevard.[2] Other roads that fork off of this corridor are:St. Paul's Avenue, Van Duzer Street, Targee Street,Rockland Avenue,Bloomingdale Road, andRichmond Valley Road. This street is served by the S76 and S86 bus routes.