79th Street (Manhattan)

79th Street
	The Harry F. Sinclair House at 2 East 79th Street
Maintained by	NYCDOT
Length	2.4 mi (3.9 km)
Width	100 feet (30.48 m)
Location	Manhattan
Postal code	10024 (west), 10075 (east)
Coordinates	40°46′36″N73°57′48″W / 40.7768°N 73.9632°W
West end	NY 9A / Henry Hudson Parkway in Riverside Park
East end	FDR Drive in Yorkville
North	80th Street
South	78th Street
Construction
Commissioned	1811

Last updated December 21, 2023

79th Street is a major two-way street on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs in two major sections: between East End and Fifth Avenues on the Upper East Side, and between Columbus Avenue and Henry Hudson Parkway on the Upper West Side. The two segments are connected by the 79th Street transverse across Central Park, as well as one block of 81st Street.

Description

On the Upper East Side, East 79th Street stretches from East End Avenue, passing the New York Public Library Yorkville Branch to Fifth Avenue. where the entrance to the 79th Street Transverse is flanked by The 79th Street transverse crosses Central Park between Children's Gate at Fifth Avenue, and Hunter's Gate at Central Park West and 81st Street on the Upper West Side. 79th Street does not exist between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, due to the superblock of Manhattan Square, largely occupied by the American Museum of Natural History. West of Columbus Avenue, 79th Street continues and terminates in Riverside Park at a traffic circle directly after the exit/entrance ramps for the Henry Hudson Parkway, under which sit the 79th Street Boat Basin and its cafe.

History

Lucerne Apartments, 201 West 79th Street, at Amsterdam Avenue (Harry B. Mulliken, architect, as Hotel Lucerne, 1903–04)

The Palladian style NYPL Yorkville Branch Library at 222 East 79th Street (James Brown Lord, 1902) fits between modest townhouse facades; bronze owls stand in the mezzanine windows

The Greek Consulate occupies the former George L. Rives residence, 67–69 East 79th Street (Carrère and Hastings, 1907–08) ^[3]

St. Monica's Roman Catholic Church, 1881–83^[4]

The street was designated by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid as one of 15 east-west streets that would be 100 feet (30 m) in width (while other streets were designated as 60 feet (18 m) in width).^[5]

The interchange on the Hudson River and the boat basin was first proposed in 1934 and was constructed by 1937 during the tenure of Robert Moses as Parks Commissioner. It was part of the "79th Street Grade Crossing Elimination Structure" which created a grand architectural multi-level entry and exit from the Henry Hudson Parkway while eliminating a grade crossing of the New York Central Railroad's West Side Line by covering it over and creating the Freedom Tunnel.^[6] Designed by Gilmore David Clarke, the Works Projects Administration provided $5.1 million for the project, which also included an underground parking garage, a restaurant, and the marina.^[7]

Transportation

On the west side, the 79th Street station on the New York City Subway's IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line is located at the intersection of 79th Street and Broadway, it is served by 1 train during the daytime and 1 and 2 trains during late nights. The 81st Street-Museum of Natural History station of the IND Eighth Avenue Line is located at 81st Street and Central Park West, and is served by trains that are local at all times.

On the east side, the 77th Street station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, two blocks south, is served by 6 and <6> trains during the daytime and 4 and 6 trains during late nights.^[8]

The M79 SBS crosstown bus route runs from between the 79th Street Boat Basin and East End Avenue at all times.^[9]^[10]

Notable locations

At Broadway stands The Apthorp (Clinton and Russell, architects, 1908), one of the West Side's classic apartment blocks, and the First Baptist Church in the City of New York (George M. Kaiser, architect, 1891).
Between 6th and 7th Avenues, on the line of West 79th Street as it was drawn through what became Central Park was the south end of the Receiving Reservoir, a vital storage part of the Croton Aqueduct of 1842. Water was piped down from Westchester County, over the Harlem River and down the west side to the Receiving Reservoir, located between 79th and 86th Streets and Sixth and Seventh Avenues in an area then known as Yorkville.^[11] The Reservoir was a fortress-like building 1,826 feet (557 m) long and 836 feet (255 m) wide, and held up to 180 million US gallons (680,000 m³) of water, 35 million US gallons (130,000 m³) flowed into it daily from northern Westchester.
Former mayor Michael Bloomberg lives in a five-story townhouse on East 79th Street, between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue.^[12] Other notable residents of 79th Street include or have included; Tom Wolfe, Reggie Jackson, Art Garfunkel ^[13] and Eliot Spitzer.^[14] Socialite Nan Kempner lived on 79th Street at Park Avenue.^[15]
The south side of the block between Fifth and Madison is protected as a rare unbroken row of townhouses. It begins at the corner of Fifth with the French Renaissance Harry F. Sinclair House (1897–98), now housing the Ukrainian Institute.
Four landmarked townhouses exist on the north side of 79th Street between Madison and Park Avenues:
- 53 East 79th Street (Trowbridge & Livingston, 1916–1918), built for John S. and Catherine Dodge Rogers. It houses the New York Society Library, the city's oldest circulating library, founded in 1754.^[16]
- 59 East 79th Street (Foster, Gade & Graham, 1908–1909), built for John H. and Caroline Iselin
- 63 East 79th Street (Adams & Warren, 1902–1903), built for Thatcher and Frances Adams
- 69 East 79th Street (Carrère & Hastings, 1907–1908), built for George and Sarah Rives
On the street grid, East 79th Street leads to an unnumbered southbound-only entrance to the FDR Drive at East 78th Street. East 79th Street is also the southern end of East End Avenue, which runs north-south to 90th Street.

Related Research Articles

Riverside Park is a scenic waterfront public park in the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and Hamilton Heights neighborhoods of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The park measures 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 100 to 500 feet wide, running between the Hudson River and Henry Hudson Parkway to the west and the serpentine Riverside Drive to the east.

The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West Side is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Hell's Kitchen to the south, Columbus Circle to the southeast, and Morningside Heights to the north.

The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park and Fifth Avenue to the west. The area incorporates several smaller neighborhoods, including Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, and Yorkville. Once known as the Silk Stocking District, it has long been the most affluent neighborhood in New York City.

Riverside Drive is a scenic north–south thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The road runs on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, generally paralleling the Hudson River and Riverside Park between 72nd Street and the vicinity of the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street. North of 96th Street, Riverside Drive is a wide divided boulevard. At several locations, a serpentine local street diverges from the main road, providing access to the residential buildings. Some of the city's most coveted addresses are located along its route.

Carnegie Hill is a neighborhood within the Upper East Side, in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Its boundaries are 86th Street on the south, Fifth Avenue on the west, with a northern boundary at 98th Street that continues just past Park Avenue and turns south to 96th Street and proceeds east up to, but not including, Third Avenue. The neighborhood is part of Manhattan Community District 8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">81st Street–Museum of Natural History station</span> New York City Subway station in Manhattan

The 81st Street–Museum of Natural History station is a local station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the B on weekdays, the C train at all times except nights, and the A train during late nights only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">125th Street (Manhattan)</span> West-east street in Manhattan, New York

125th Street, co-named Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is a two-way street that runs east–west in the New York City borough of Manhattan, from First Avenue on the east to Marginal Street, a service road for the Henry Hudson Parkway along the Hudson River in the west. It is often considered to be the "Main Street" of Harlem.

Eighth Avenue is a major north–south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, though today the name changes twice: At 59th Street/Columbus Circle, it becomes Central Park West, where it forms the western boundary of Central Park, and north of 110th Street/Frederick Douglass Circle, it is known as Frederick Douglass Boulevard before merging onto Harlem River Drive north of 155th Street.

Eleventh Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare on the far West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, located near the Hudson River. Eleventh Avenue originates in the Meatpacking District in the Greenwich Village and West Village neighborhoods at Gansevoort Street, where Eleventh Avenue, Tenth Avenue, and West Street intersect. It is considered part of the West Side Highway between 22nd and Gansevoort Streets.

86th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs in two major sections: between East End and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side, and between Central Park West and Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side. The western segment feeds into the 86th Street transverse across Central Park, which connects to East 84th and 85th Streets on the eastern side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">59th Street (Manhattan)</span> West-east street in Manhattan, New York

59th Street is a crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from York Avenue and Sutton Place on the East Side of Manhattan to the West Side Highway on the West Side. The three-block portion between Columbus Circle and Grand Army Plaza is known as Central Park South, since it forms the southern border of Central Park. There is a gap in the street between Ninth Avenue/Columbus Avenue and Columbus Circle, where the Deutsche Bank Center is located. While Central Park South is a bidirectional street, most of 59th Street carries one-way traffic.

57th Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan, one of the major two-way, east-west streets in the borough's grid. As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided into its east and west sections at Fifth Avenue. The street runs from a small park overlooking the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in the west. 57th Street runs through the neighborhoods of Sutton Place, Midtown Manhattan, and Hell's Kitchen from east to west.

72nd Street is one of the major bi-directional crosstown streets in New York City's borough of Manhattan. The street primarily runs through the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods. It is one of the few streets to go through Central Park via Women's Gate, Terrace Drive, and Inventors Gate, though Terrace Drive is often closed to vehicular traffic.

85th Street is a westbound-running street, running from East End Avenue to Riverside Drive in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">96th Street (Manhattan)</span> West-east street in Manhattan, New York

96th Street is a major two-way street on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side sections of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs in two major sections: between the FDR Drive and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side, and between Central Park West and Henry Hudson Parkway on the Upper West Side. The two segments are connected by the 97th Street transverse across Central Park, which links the disconnected segments of 96th and 97th Streets on each side.

The 79th Street Boat Basin is a marina located in the Hudson River on the Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, on Riverside Park at the foot of West 79th Street. Maintained and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is the only facility in the city that allows year-round residency in boats, so it's known as a hub for houseboat living in NYC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">95th Street (Manhattan)</span> West-east street in Manhattan, New York

95th Street runs from Riverside Drive, overlooking the Hudson River, to the East River, through the New York City borough of Manhattan. It traverses the neighborhoods of Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Carnegie Hill, and Yorkville; the street is interrupted by Central Park.

The 79th Street Crosstown Line is a bus line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along 79th Street on the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. Originally a bus route owned by the private Green Bus Lines, it now comprises the M79 Select Bus Service bus line.

References

Notes

↑ Google (January 8, 2017). "79th Street" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
↑ 10021 Zip Code Split, Representative Carolyn Maloney press release. Accessed August 1, 2008.
↑ "67–69 East 79th Street Building" (PDF). Landmarks Preservation Commission. May 19, 1981. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-20.
↑ "Parish History". Church of Saint Monica. Archived from the original on 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
↑ Morris, Gouverneur, De Witt, Simeon, and Rutherford, John [ sic ] (March 1811) "Remarks Of The Commissioners For Laying Out Streets And Roads In The City Of New York, Under The Act Of April 3, 1807", Cornell University Library. Accessed June 27, 2016. "These streets are all sixty feet wide except fifteen, which are one hundred feet wide, viz.: Numbers fourteen, twenty-three, thirty-four, forty-two, fifty-seven, seventy-two, seventy-nine, eighty-six, ninety-six, one hundred and six, one hundred and sixteen, one hundred and twenty-five, one hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred and fifty-five--the block or space between them being in general about two hundred feet."
↑ "West Side Traffic to Run on 4 Levels - Grade Elimination Structure at 79th St. Announced as Part of Park Plan - Motorists to be Aided - Express Highway Will Pass Over Central Tracks With Pedestrian Arcade Below". The New York Times . June 15, 1934. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
↑ "Henry Hudson Parkway". www.nycroads.com.
↑ "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
↑ MTA Regional Bus Operations. "M79 bus schedule".
↑ "Manhattan Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
↑ Acitelli, Tom (March 25, 2008). "The Sit-Down:Morrison Heckscher, On the Park". The New York Observer . Archived from the original on 2008-10-20. Retrieved August 1, 2008. And the receiving reservoir of the Croton Aqueduct System—on a high plot of land between 79th and 86th streets, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, right outside my office there—that was completed in 1842.
↑ Jones, Richard Lezin (November 11, 2001). "Billionaire Next Door Is a Regular Kind of Guy". The New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
↑ Arnold, Hallie (August 31, 2005). "One more drug offense could land Garfunkel in jail". Kingston Daily Freeman. Archived from the original on 2007-08-11. Retrieved August 1, 2008. Garfunkel, who lives on East 79th Street in Manhattan, pleaded guilty in that case and paid a $100 fine and a $100 surcharge.
↑ Hakim, Danny; O'Connor, Ahmad (March 12, 2008). "Spitzer to Resign Soon; Paterson Set as Successor". The New York Times . Retrieved August 1, 2008. Mr. Spitzer, who had been holed up at his apartment at Fifth Avenue and 79th Street in Manhattan since issuing an apology on Tuesday, emerged at about 11:15 a.m.
↑ Haden-Guest, Anthony (August 12, 2001). "Vanity fare: She is the legendary New York socialite: stick thin, fabulously wealthy and dressed head to toe in couture. Here, Nan Kempner reveals why she hates fat people... but loves high fashion and junk food". The Observer . Retrieved August 1, 2008. There are two paintings by the great Surrealist René Magritte in the living room of the apartment where Kempner lives with her broker husband, Thomas, on Park Avenue and 79th Street.
↑ Gray, Christopher (October 9, 1998). "The John S. Rogers House". The New York Society Library.

External links

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[google-1] Google (January 8, 2017). "79th Street" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved January 8, 2017.

[2] 10021 Zip Code Split, Representative Carolyn Maloney press release. Accessed August 1, 2008.

[3] "67–69 East 79th Street Building" (PDF). Landmarks Preservation Commission. May 19, 1981. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-20.

[4] "Parish History". Church of Saint Monica. Archived from the original on 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2008-12-20.

[5] Morris, Gouverneur, De Witt, Simeon, and Rutherford, John [ sic ] (March 1811) "Remarks Of The Commissioners For Laying Out Streets And Roads In The City Of New York, Under The Act Of April 3, 1807", Cornell University Library. Accessed June 27, 2016. "These streets are all sixty feet wide except fifteen, which are one hundred feet wide, viz.: Numbers fourteen, twenty-three, thirty-four, forty-two, fifty-seven, seventy-two, seventy-nine, eighty-six, ninety-six, one hundred and six, one hundred and sixteen, one hundred and twenty-five, one hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred and fifty-five--the block or space between them being in general about two hundred feet."

[6] "West Side Traffic to Run on 4 Levels - Grade Elimination Structure at 79th St. Announced as Part of Park Plan - Motorists to be Aided - Express Highway Will Pass Over Central Tracks With Pedestrian Arcade Below". The New York Times . June 15, 1934. Retrieved August 2, 2008.

[7] "Henry Hudson Parkway". www.nycroads.com.

[8] "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.

[9] MTA Regional Bus Operations. "M79 bus schedule".

[10] "Manhattan Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

[11] Acitelli, Tom (March 25, 2008). "The Sit-Down:Morrison Heckscher, On the Park". The New York Observer . Archived from the original on 2008-10-20. Retrieved August 1, 2008. And the receiving reservoir of the Croton Aqueduct System—on a high plot of land between 79th and 86th streets, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, right outside my office there—that was completed in 1842.

[12] Jones, Richard Lezin (November 11, 2001). "Billionaire Next Door Is a Regular Kind of Guy". The New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2008.

[13] Arnold, Hallie (August 31, 2005). "One more drug offense could land Garfunkel in jail". Kingston Daily Freeman. Archived from the original on 2007-08-11. Retrieved August 1, 2008. Garfunkel, who lives on East 79th Street in Manhattan, pleaded guilty in that case and paid a $100 fine and a $100 surcharge.

[14] Hakim, Danny; O'Connor, Ahmad (March 12, 2008). "Spitzer to Resign Soon; Paterson Set as Successor". The New York Times . Retrieved August 1, 2008. Mr. Spitzer, who had been holed up at his apartment at Fifth Avenue and 79th Street in Manhattan since issuing an apology on Tuesday, emerged at about 11:15 a.m.

[15] Haden-Guest, Anthony (August 12, 2001). "Vanity fare: She is the legendary New York socialite: stick thin, fabulously wealthy and dressed head to toe in couture. Here, Nan Kempner reveals why she hates fat people... but loves high fashion and junk food". The Observer . Retrieved August 1, 2008. There are two paintings by the great Surrealist René Magritte in the living room of the apartment where Kempner lives with her broker husband, Thomas, on Park Avenue and 79th Street.

[16] Gray, Christopher (October 9, 1998). "The John S. Rogers House". The New York Society Library.

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