New York Icons: Gramercy

& Stuyvesant Square & Kips Bay

Gramercy

Once a “krom moerasje” (“little crooked swamp” in Dutch) flowing along what is now 21st Street into the East River. Over time the name became corrupted to “crommessie.” In 1761, Mayor James Duane acquired the site and renamed it “Gramercy Seat,” which sounded similar and used the archaic English word meaning “many thanks.” Surrounds Gramercy Park from 14th to 23rd between Park Avenue and 1st Avenue (excluding Union Square). Designated the Gramercy Park Historic District in 1966.

Notable residents include James Harper (Harper publishing), Vincent Astor, Julia Roberts, Samuel J. Tilden, James Cagney, Margaret Hamilton, and Gregory Peck, John Barrymore, Daniel French (D.C. Lincoln Memorial), Alfred Ringling (Ringling Circus), Karl Lagerfeld, Uma Therman, Kate Hudson, Jimmy Fallon, Amanda Lepor, Peter Cooper, Chelsea Clinton, Stanford White, Edwin Booth, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt, the Steinway family, Elisabeth Marbury and Elsie de Wolfe.

Stuyvesant Square

Park and surrounding neighborhood that is roughly bounded by 14th to 19th Street between First Avenue and Third Avenue. Designated the Stuyvesant Square Historic District in 1975.

Features a number of former (The New York Infirmary for Women and Children, Lying-In Hospital, William Booth Memorial Hospital, Manhattan General, and St. Andrew’s Convalescent Hospital) and current hospitals (Beth Israel, Hospital for Joint Diseases). Due to of the number of hospitals, there were many doctor’s offices, quacks, and midwives who preyed upon the area’s immigrant population.

Kips Bay

roughly bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th and/or 23rd Streets to the south, and Third Avenue to the wes

Originally an East River inlet from current day 32nd to 37th Street past First Avenue, and named after a Dutch settler who’s farmhouse on East 35th and Second Avenue was the last New Amsterdam Manhattan farmhouse (demolished 1851). The farmhouse orchard was famous and claimed to have been the first of the original thirteen colones to grow the flower rosa gallica, which was presented to George Washington.

The area also featured a thirty-acre estate, cattle market, then 1860s row houses. Currently contains many NYU and Hunter College medical science buildings. Further north in Murray Hill was the former Kips Brewing Company (1895).

In 1776, during the Revolutionary War the site of Landing at Kip’s Bay — where 4,000 British troops landed defeating 500 militia before advancing south.

Rose Hill

Technically the area from 23rd and 32nd Street between Madison Avenue and Third Avenue, but not widely used today due to the small size and overlap with Kips Bay. Named after Rose Hill Park in the Bronx, with the earliest recorded farm dating back to 1747.

Lexington Avenue between 25th and 30th Streets is known as Curry Hill due to the number of Indian restaurants.

* Note: An asterisk denotes a place I have yet to visit.

Map

Streets

Broadway Alley. One of the few exceptions to the grid system above 14th Street, once stables and tenement houses — Barnum and Bailey Circus rumored to have kept their elephants in the alley! Reputedly the last unpaved street in Manhattan.

Gramercy Park East. №34 is one of the oldest (1883) apartment buildings and oldest co-operative in the city — plus the last (1994) hydraulic elevator in the city. №36 as also one of the oldest (1905) city apartment buildings and only rental building by the park.

Gramercy Park West. №7 is the only condominium by the park.

Irving Place. №49 is where Washington Irving is said to have lived, but did not. №55 is where the writer O. Henry lived between 1903 to 1907.

Lexington Avenue. “Lex” was introduced after the 1811 Commissioner’s Plan.

East 17th Street. №122 (also known as 49 Irving Place) was built in 1843–33 and has a plaque to the legend that Washington Irving lived in the house (no historical evidence); also the home of the “most fashionable Lesbian couple of Victorian New York” — Elsie de Wolfe and Elisabeth Marbury. №327 was the home (1893) of Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák’s. Between Union Square East and Irving Place is the Irving Place Historic District (1988), which encompasses nine mid-19th century buildings.

East 18th Street. №326, 328 and 330 are a row of Italianate brick houses built between 1852–53.

East 19th Street. Between Third Avenue and Irving has been called “Block Beautiful” for its wide array of architecture and pristine aesthetic.

East 29th Street. №203 is one of the few Manhattan wooden houses and is thought to have built between 1790 and 1870?!

Nathan D Perlman Place (formerly Livingston Place, renamed 1950s). №17 is The Stuyvesant Building and home to George Putnam; Harper’s Bazaar editor Elizabeth Jordan and Elizabeth Custer (widow of General George Armstrong Custer).

Gramercy Park (1833)

Originally swampland with the named deprived from an Anglicized version of ‘’krom moerasje’’ — Dutch for “little crooked swamp” — that was drained with a million horse carts of earth! Currently a two-acre gated private park — one of only two in the city (the other being Sunnyside Gardens Park in Queens) — held in common by the owners of the 39 surrounding structures who contribute $7,500 annually. Once open to the public each Gramercy Day (usually the first Saturday in May), now only open for one hour for caroling on Christmas Eve.

Keys (383 total, 126 with doormen, 257 “personal”) are allocated to each surrounding building, with each costing $350 ($1,000 replacement). Gates are self-locking with locks changed annually, and each key individually numbered and coded. Guests at the Gramercy Park Hotel can visit the park with an escort. Park protocol is strictly observed: no alcohol, no smoking, no bikes, no games, photography is mostly forbidden, jogging (too small?) only allowed at certain hours, and the sidewalk washed daily.

One of the earliest attempts at city planning, and the second private square (after Hudson Square) when completed. Responsible for opening up Fourth Avenue to vehicular traffic (formerly only trains) and the creation of Lexington Avenue and Irving Place. Features a statue of Edwin Booth (1918) in the center of the park, and bronze sculpture named Fantasy Fountain (1983), and the Calder sculpture Janey Waney.

In 1831, 22 acres of property purchased and laid out “Gramercy Square” with the park and 66 (reduced to 60) parcels of land surrounding it (numbering starts in the northwest corner and continues counter-clockwise). In 1832, park granted tax-exempt status. In 1833, park enclosed by a fence. In 1838, landscaping started. In 1840s, construction surrounding the park begins after the Panic of 1837. In 1844, first park trustees meeting and first time the gates were locked. In 1862, opened to Union soldiers during the Draft Riots. In 1890, proposal to run a cable car through the park.

In 1912, proposal to run a road through the park. In 1916, additional landscaping. In 1989, a steam explosion occurred near the park killing two workers and a bystander. In 2001, the park trustee called the police claiming 40 (mostly) minority children were trespassing after being escorted by a member of the National Arts Club (police refused action, law suit by the children settled for $36,000 each)! In 2014, an Airbnb guest with a key posted a 360-degree picture from within the park on Google Street View causing the association to request the images be taken down.

Featured in the books Stuart Little (E.B. White, they live at 22 Gramercy Park) and Big Girl (Danielle Steele); films Soylent Green, The Warriors (the biggest gang is called the Gramercy Riffs), Manhattan Murder Mystery, Notting Hill and That Awkward Moment; and songs by Ben Lee (Grammercy Park Hotel) and Steely Dan (Janie Runaway).

19 Gramercy Park South* (1845)

86 Irving Place or the Stuyvesant Fish House is a four-story row house that was converted to a mansion — complete with marble staircase and top-floor ballroom (hosting elaborate parties for New York society) — in 1887 by Stanford White. It was also re-numbered to a previously nonexistent address!

In 1931, rescued from decay by publicist Benjamin Sonnenberg who combined it with another building to create a mansion furnished with sculptures and paintings by the Old Masters. The current mansion has 37 rooms, 18,000-square-feet of space, separate caretaker’s apartment, sitting rooms, a drawing room, a library, two kitchens, a wine cellar and the ballroom on the top floor.

John Barrymore a resident while working on Broadway. Featured in the novel Time and Again and television show Iron Fist.

Calvary Church* (1848)

Brownstone Episcopal church designed by James Renwick Jr., the architect who designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Grace Church. The church complex include the nine-story Calvary House (1867, East 21st Street, designed by Renwick) and the “Renwick Gem” schoolhouse. The main church has a large interior space and 42 clerestory windows.

In 1860, two wooden spires became unstable and were removed (bases removed 1929). Between 1925 and 1952, American center of the Oxford Group — which contributed to the forming of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1976, merged with St. George’s Church (operating as Calvary-St. George’s Parish) and the Church of the Holy Communion (sold and became Limelight disco). Calvary House currently offices.

Patrons included Chester A. Arthur (wed), Alva Belmont (wed to William Vanderbilt), James Renwick Jr. — and the Roosevelt, Astor and Vanderbilt families.

Stuyvesant Park (1850)

In 1836, a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant sold four acres from the Stuyvesant farm (for five dollars) to the city in order to build a park — Holland Square — on the condition a fence be placed around it. In 1839, the family sued the city for not yet building a fence. In 1847, erected a 2,800-foot cast-iron fence (the oldest cast-iron fence in the city). In 1850, landscaping and two fountains added; and opened to the public. In 1937, reopened after an overhaul. In the 1980s, restoration of the fountains, sidewalks and fence.

Features English elm and Little-leaf linden trees, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s Peter Stuyvesant (1941) and Ivan Mestorvic’s Antonín Dvořák (1963, installed 1997, lived nearby).

St. George’s Episcopal Church* (1856, rebuilt 1868)

“Morgan’s Church” (after parishioner J.P. Morgan) is one of the two sanctuaries of the Calvary-St. George’s Parish. Successor to the 1752 Trinity Church chapel on (now) Beekman Street.

Features the Henry Hill Pierce House (1850s), St. George Memorial House (1886), St. George’s Chapel (1912), rectory and spires completed nearly a decade after the rest of the building. Singer and composer Harry Burleigh was a member of the choir for 50 years.

In 1865, gutted by fire (rebuilt two years later). In 1889, spires on the two towers were removed. In 1883, J.P. Morgan financed institutional church reforms given the growing immigrant population such as downplaying the doctrine, abolishing pew rentals, and social services. In 1976, the parish merged with the Calvary Church. In 1985, facade restorations.

Brotherhood Synagogue* (1974, building 1859)

Originally a Quaker meeting house for nearly 100 years. In 1958, merged with the Friends Meeting House (now the Religious Society of Friends) on 15th Street. Since 1974, home to the Brotherhood Synagogue. A stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, with the escape tunnel still accessible!

Features a pair of curving staircases with mahogany banisters, twelve Georgian-style windows, original pews (some over 150 years old from the old meeting house on Orchard Street), Quaker “sounding board” (amplification), and a two-story sanctuary with seating for 800 people.

Religious Society of Friends* (1860)

Former Quaker meeting house and seminary and currently the oldest continuous coeducational school in the city — and one of the first schools to open kindergarten (1878) and provide a full-time psychologist (1925).

Pete’s Tavern (1864, building 1829)

One of the oldest continuously operated taverns in the city was originally the Portman Hotel before becoming a “grocery & grog” store. In 1899, renamed Healy’s. During prohibition, operated as a flower shop speakeasy. In 1926, renamed to Pete’s. Claims to be an “official historic landmark,” but is not officially designated so.

Features in the O. Henry story The Lost Blend under the name “Kenealy’s” (claimed to have also wrote The Gift of Magi in the second booth from the front). Also featured in Seinfeld, Ragtime, Endless Love, Law & Order, Nurse Jackie, Spin City, and Sex and the City.

National Arts Club (1906, founded 1898)

The largest Victorian Gothic mansion in the city was originally home to the New York Governor and 1876 Presidential Candidate, Samuel J. Tilden — complete with steel doors to an escape tunnel to East 19th Street! Started as a club on 34th Street that would embrace all arts, it has included female members on an equal basis since inception.

Permanent collection of 660 works of art from and features several art galleries and a bust of Michelangelo on the facade. Hosts a variety of private and public events. Notable members include Henry Frick, J.P. Morgan, George Bellows, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel French, Mark Twain, Alfred Stieglitz, Stanford White and three Presidents — Roosevelt, Wilson and Eisenhower.

Extensively restyled in the 1880s by Calvert Vaux. Since the 1990s, awarded a prestigious Medal of Honor (winners include Tennesee Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Toni Morrison, TSalman Rushdie, Leonard Bernsetin, Alice Tally, the New York Philharmonic, Placido Domingo, I.M. Pei, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Dale Chihuly, Chuck Close, James Turrell, Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Dreyfuss, Ang Lee and Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson. In 2012, the president of the club was charged with misuse of club funds. In 2019, put many pieces of art online through the Google Cultural Institute.

The Players (1888, founded 1844)

The Players Club is a private social club founded by Shakespearean actor (and brother of John Wilkes), Edwin Booth, who lived on the upper floor. Apparently the oldest club in the original clubhouse. The Booth brothers only appeared on stage together once —in Julius Caesar as part of the 1850 Winter Garden Theatre fundraiser for the Central Park Shakespeare statue.

Features exterior partially designed by Stanford White, Edwin Booth bedroom (where he lived and died), theatre artifacts (reportedly the largest private collection of stage memorabilia), a real human skull used for Hamlet (belonging to a horse thief!), kitchen, wine cellar, dining room (filled with portraits and rare playbills), Hampden-Booth Theater Library, a small stage (for readings and ceremonies), one of the few remaining gaslights in the city, John Sargent painting, a portrait of John Wilkes Booth, public apology letter from Edwin for his brother’s assassination of Lincoln.

In 1893, Booth died at the club. In 1987, women allowed. In 1989 (on Shakespeare’s birthday), Helen Hayes the first woman member. In 2013, financial difficulty. In 2015, hosted the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the film Clue (live reenactment).

“The Players are gentlemen trying to be actors, the Lambs are actors trying to be gentlemen, and the Friars are neither trying to be both.” — Earl Wilson (1964)

Holds “Pipe Nights” honoring theatrical notables and gives the prestigious Edwin Booth Life Achievement Award (past recipients include Helen Hayes, José Ferrer, Garson Kanin, Christopher Plummer, Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon, Marian Seldes, Angela Lansbury and Edward Albee). Also hosts plays, readings, and concerts.

St. Illuminator’s Armenian Apostolic Cathedral* (1923)

Originally a Protestant church until 1935 when it was renamed for the church’s founder, St. Gregory the Illuminator — so called because he “enlightened the nation with the light of the Gospel.”

69th Regiment Armory (1906)

The first city armory not to be modeled on a medieval fortress. Former home to the Civil Air Patrol Phoenix Composite Squadron and current headquarters of the “Fighting Irish” 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment. Features a 5,000 seat arena for events.

In 1910, Thure Johansson ran the fastest (2:36:55) indoor marathon (still the 6th fastest as of 2010!). In 1913, site of the controversial Armory Show where modern art was first publicly shown in the US. In 1948 and 1949, hosted 17 Roller Derby matches — including the first broadcast on TV. From 1946 to 1960, home of the New York Knicks. In 1994, two shows by Soundgarden as part of their Superunknown album. In 1996, location for Denzel Washington’s portions of the documentary NBA at 50. Between 2002 to 2015, Victoria Secret Fashion Show. Since 2009, MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) Art Festival. In 2013, to mark the centennial of the 1913 Armory Show, the Beaux Arts Ball with giant illuminated cubist puppets.

NYPL Epiphany Branch* (1907)

The New York Public Library (NYPL)’s Epiphany branch is located at 228 East 23rd Street. The Epiphany branch opened in 1887 and moved to its current structure, a two-story Carnegie library, in 1907. It was renovated from 1982 to 1984.

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site* (1923)

Replica of the three-story brownstone childhood home of Theodore Roosevelt. The twin apartment next door was used as a model for reconstruction before it was demolished to become a museum for the replica house! Contains many original furnishings.

In 1848, original house built. In 1858, Theodore born in the house. In 1872, Roosevelt family moved uptown. In 1916, demolished to build a retail space.

Gramercy Park Hotel (1925)

Luxury hotel on the site of Stanford White‘s former home. In 1958, gift shop added and the bar doubled. In 2002, founder of the Roxy nightclub added a rooftop bar and restaurant. Currently contains two exclusive bars (Rose and Jade), a rooftop and Danny Meyer’s restaurant. Displays paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol.

Notable residents include Margaret Hamilton, Matt Dillon, and Paul Shaffer. Notable guests include Humphrey Bogard (married his first wife), JFK (as a child with his family, stayed for several months), Babe Ruth (autographed picture hung in the bar until disappearing in the 1960s), Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, the Clash, Madonna, Debbie Harry, David Bowie, and members of SNL during the premier season.

Consolidated Edison Building* (1929)

Also known as the Consolidated Gas Building and 4 Irving Place, sits on the site that contained the Academy of Music (1854), Tammany Hall (1868), Lotos Club (1870, Gentlemen’s Club), and offices of Consolidated Gas (ConEd’s predecessor).

The Academy of Music was the city’s third opera house, with the oldest and most prominent New York families owning seats in the theater’s boxes. In 1866, destroyed by fire and rebuilt. In 1883, supplanted by the Metropolitan Opera House — which was created by “new money” that couldn’t access the theatre boxes. In 1888, turned from opera to vaudeville.

The Tammany Hall headquarters (nicknamed “wigwam”) merged politics and entertainment (minstrels, German theatre, classical concerts) — and contained an auditorium, Tony Pastor’s Music Hall (the origin of vaudeville), bar, bazaar, ladies’ cafe, oyster saloon, French cafe in the basement, and statue of Saint Tammany on the roof.

The building features light-inspired ornamentation (urns, torches, lamps, thunderbolts, and suns), urns and obelisks (memorializing Con Ed workers killed in World War I), four 16-foot clocks, and a 26-story tower with three-story temple lit up at night (one of the earliest office buildings to be illuminated, and with colored light) earning it the nickname “Tower of Light.”

In 1975, a bombing by Puerto Rican nationalist group (no injuries); in 1978, another similar bombing. Restored in 2001 and 2008.

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village (1947)

An 80-acre private residential complex consisting of 110 red brick buildings containing 11,250 apartments. Split between Stuyvesant Town (“Stuy Town” south of 20th Street) named after Peter Stuyvesant, and Peter Cooper Village (north). Contains two large “superblocks,” independent of the grid system, who two large parks.

Originally the Gas House District (due to a number of gas storage tanks) during the mid-19th century. Leaking tanks and the Gas House Gang made the area undesirable for living. Under eminent domain 600 buildings, containing 3,100 families, 500 stores and small factories, three churches, three schools, and two theaters, were razed to make way for development. Championed by Robert Moses at the behest of Mayor LaGuardia as large-scale slum clearance.

In 2002, plaques marking the housing for moderate-income families were removed when the property entered the luxury market rate. In 2010, the largest commercial mortgage default in U.S. history. In 2015, sold for $5.45 billion. In 2019, the largest apartment solar panel array int he US installed atop the Stuyvesant Town towers.

Features it’s own independent newspaper Town & Village (first published 1947, also known as “the T&V”) and a coffee shop. Notable residents include Paul Reiser.

Irving Plaza* (1978)

Formerly a Polish-American community center, then the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza. A ballroom-style music venue that has hosted the B-52s, Talking Heads and the Ramones.

In 1976, visited by future Pope John Paul II. In 1978, converted to a rock music venue by future Peppermint Lounge promoters. In 1986, a NYE show turned nasty after the band initiated a food fight leading to a bouncer beating some patrons. In 1987, reopened. In 1988, popular “Milky Way” hip hop nights. In 1990, reopened as Fillmore New York after the former Fillmore East (1969 to 1971). In 2010, the name was restored and a replica of the original marquee commissioned. In 2010, venue for Hillsong Church services. In 2015, surprise Paul McCartney show announced that morning on Twitter. In 2016, four people were shot (one died) at a T.I. concert. In 2019, closed for renovations.

Rolf’s

Honorable Mentions

• Inn at Irving Place* (1840–41). Bed and breakfast occupying two townhouses. Renovated 1995.
• The Hotel Irving* (1903). Home to a young Preston Sturges while his mother lived with Isadora Duncan at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Converted to a co-op in 1986.
• Washington Irving High School* (1913). School for girls with Gothic-style lobby including elaborate woodwork, balcony and several decorative murals.
• Kalustyan’s (1944). Store with 10,000 food products from over 80 countries. The building was originally built in the 1860s for Chester A. Arthur, where he was inaugurated as President on the upper floor! He also signed the Civil Service Act in the building.
• East End Temple* (1948).
• Kips Bay Towers* (1960). Two twenty-story building condominium complex spanning three city blocks (4,000 residents) designed by I.M. Pei. In 1983, park privatized due to a homeless problem.
• Rolf’s (1968). German restaurant known for its Christmas decorations featuring 150,000 Egyptian crystal lights (!) and over a hundred antique dolls. Groucho Marx had his first vaudeville audition in an apartment on the third floor!
• Waterside Plaza* (1973). Residential (1,470 units) and business complex built on landfall from Bristol, England, which had been bombed during WWII! Health club (open to non-residents) and public events throughout the year.
• Mount Sinai Beth Israel* (1929, founded 1890). The “House of Israel” is a 799-bed teaching hospital founded in Lower Manhattan as a response to hospitals at the time refusing to treat patients who had been in the city less than a year! Original building current an aged home. Renamed in 1964 following a merger.
• Gramercy Tavern (1994). New American restaurant by Danny Meyer.
• Stuyvesant Cove Park (2002). 1.9-acre public park on a former cement plant (dumped surplus cement has created an unintended small beach in the middle of the park, no access) and native plant species.