Fourth Avenue, Union Square East, Park Avenue South | |
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 and The Bronx, New York City |
South end | Astor Place in Cooper Square |
Major junctions | Park Avenue Tunnel and Viaduct in East Midtown Harlem River Drive in East Harlem |
North end | Third Avenue in Fordham |
East | Lexington Avenue |
West | Madison Avenue |
Construction | |
Commissioned | March 1811 |
Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City [5] that carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east. Park Avenue's entire length was formerly called Fourth Avenue; the title still applies to the section between Cooper Square and 14th Street. [6] The avenue is called Union Square East between 14th and 17th Streets, and Park Avenue South between 17th and 32nd Streets.
Because of its designation as the widest avenue on Manhattan's East Side, Park Avenue originally carried the tracks of the New York and Harlem Railroad built in the 1830s, just a few years after the adoption of the Manhattan street grid. [7] The railroad's right-of-way at ground level forced foot and carriage traffic onto either side of the tracks. Later on, the railroad was run through an open cut tunnel under Murray 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 the New York Central Railroad, and a terminal for the New York Central at 42nd Street, the Grand 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 owner Cornelius Vanderbilt proposed the Fourth Avenue Improvement Project. [10] The tracks between 48th and 56th Streets were to be moved into a shallow open 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 the Park 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 called Terminal City. Stretching from 42nd to 51st Streets between Madison and Lexington Avenues, it came to include the Chrysler Building and other prestigious office buildings; luxury apartment houses along Park Avenue; and an array of high-end hotels that included the Marguery, Park Lane, and Waldorf Astoria. [23] In 1929, New York Central built its headquarters in a 34-story building (now called the Helmsley Building), straddling Park Avenue north of the terminal. [24]
The Park 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 the New 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 diplomat Robert Bacon, who led the opposition to the renumbering. [28] The Board of Aldermen summarily overturned the name change, [9] but Mayor John Hylan vetoed the move in April 1925. [29] This prompted Bacon to appeal the decision to the New 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] The New 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 the United 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 from 96th 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 at 740 Park Avenue, for example, sells for several thousand dollars per square foot. [35]
In October 1937, a part of the Murray 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, whereby Christmas trees are placed in the median and lit up on the first Sunday in December at Brick Presbyterian Church. [37] On May 5, 1959, the New 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] The Pan 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, the Metro-North Railroad reached an agreement with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) to install pedestrian traffic signals along Park Avenue between 46th Street and 56th Street. The two sides had feuded over the issue since 1982, when Penn 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 the New 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 near 116th Street, 1644 and 1646 Park Avenue, were destroyed in a gas explosion. Eight people were killed and many others were injured. [46]
In 2019, the Metropolitan 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 the Bowery. From Cooper Square at 8th Street to Union Square at 14th Street, it is known as Fourth Avenue, a 70-foot-wide (21 m) road carrying northbound traffic. At 14th Street, it turns slightly northeast to align with other avenues drawn up in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. From 14th Street to 17th Street, it forms the eastern boundary of Union Square and is known as Union Square East; its southbound lanes merge with Broadway 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 to 32nd Street, it is known as Park 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] Between 33rd Street and 40th Street, the leftmost northbound lane descends into the Murray Hill Tunnel. North of 40th Street, the center lanes of Park Avenue rise onto an elevated structure that goes around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife 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 the Park Avenue Viaduct, returns to ground level at 46th Street after going through the Helmsley Building (also referred to as the New York Central Building or 230 Park Avenue). [3] The IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under this portion of the street. Once the line reaches Grand Central–42nd Street, it shifts east to Lexington Avenue.
As Park Avenue enters Midtown north of Grand Central Terminal, it is distinguished by many glass-box skyscrapers that serve as headquarters for corporations and investment banks such as Société Générale, JPMorgan Chase at 270 Park Avenue and 277 Park Avenue, UBS at 299 Park Avenue, Citigroup at 399 Park Avenue, Colgate-Palmolive, and MetLife at the MetLife Building. [3] From 47th to 97th Streets, the tracks for Metro-North Railroad's Park 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 the Harlem River the railroad viaduct runs down the middle of Park Avenue. Park Avenue in Manhattan ends north of 132nd Street, with connections to the Harlem River Drive. [3]
The flowers and greenery in the median of Manhattan's Park Avenue are privately maintained, by the Fund for Park Avenue. The begonia 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 in the Bronx. In the Bronx, Park Avenue begins at East 135th Street in the Mott 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 to Fordham 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's Grand Central Terminal, serving the Harlem Line, Hudson Line, and New Haven Line, is at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. The MNR's Park Avenue main line runs along Park Avenue in both boroughs between Grand Central and Fordham station, with stations in between at 125th Street, 162nd Street, and Tremont Avenue. [54]
The New York City Subway's adjacent Grand Central–42nd Street station serves the 4 , 5 , 6 , <6> , 7 , <7> , and S trains. The IRT Lexington Avenue Line additionally runs under Park Avenue and its extensions from 41st to 8th Streets. The 33rd Street, 28th Street, 23rd Street, and Astor Place stations are served by the 6and<6>trains, while the 14th Street-Union Square station is served by the 4 , 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, although Fordham Plaza Bus Terminal is located at the northern end of the road. [59]
Grand Central Terminal is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, serving the northern parts of the New York metropolitan area. It also contains a connection to the Long Island Rail Road through the Grand Central Madison station, a 16-acre (65,000 m2) rail terminal underneath the Metro-North station, built from 2007 to 2023. The terminal also connects to the New York City Subway at Grand Central–42nd Street station. The terminal is the third-busiest train station in North America, after New York Penn Station and Toronto Union Station.
Since the opening of the original New York City Subway line in 1904, and throughout the subway's history, various official and planning agencies have proposed numerous extensions to the subway system. The first major expansion of the subway system was the Dual Contracts, a set of agreements between the City of New York and the IRT and the BRT. The system was expanded into the outer reaches of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, and it provided for the construction of important lines in Manhattan. This one expansion of the system provided for a majority of today's system.
Harlem–125th Street station is a commuter rail stop serving the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines. It is located at East 125th Street and Park Avenue in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. The station also serves as an important transfer point between the Metro-North trains and the New York City Subway's IRT Lexington Avenue Line for access to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is the only station besides Grand Central Terminal that serves all three lines east of the Hudson River. Trains leave for Grand Central Terminal, as well as to the Bronx and the northern suburbs, regularly.
The New York and Harlem Railroad was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and 1852 between Lower Manhattan Island to and beyond Harlem. Horses initially pulled railway carriages, followed by a conversion to steam engines, then on to battery-powered Julien electric traction cars. In 1907, the then leaseholders of the line, New York City Railway, a streetcar operator, went into receivership. Following a further receivership in 1932, the New York Railways Corporation converted the line to bus operation. The Murray Hill Tunnel now carries a lane of road traffic, but not the buses.
The IRT Lexington Avenue Line is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The line is served by the 4, 5, 6, and <6> trains.
The Park Avenue Tunnel, also called the Murray Hill Tunnel, is a 1,600-foot-long (488 m) tunnel that passes under seven blocks of Park Avenue in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Traffic used to travel northbound from 33rd Street toward the Park Avenue Viaduct. The tunnel is under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Transportation. It is designed to carry one lane of northbound car traffic from East 33rd Street to East 40th Street. From 40th Street north, traffic must follow the Park Avenue Viaduct around Grand Central Terminal to 46th Street. The vertical clearance is 8 ft 11 in (2.72 m).
The Atlantic Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger service in the borough of Brooklyn.
The West Side Line, also called the West Side Freight Line, is a railroad line on the west side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Penn Station, from 34th Street, the line is used by Amtrak passenger service heading north via Albany to Toronto; Montreal; Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont; and Chicago. South of Penn Station, a 1.45-mile (2.33 km) elevated section of the line, abandoned since 1980, has been transformed into an elevated park called the High Line. The south section of the park from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street opened in 2009 and the second section up to 30th Street opened in 2011, while the final section to 34th Street opened in 2014.
The Harlem River Lift Bridge is a vertical lift bridge carrying the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, Harlem Line, and New Haven Line across the Harlem River between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx in New York City. The average weekday ridership on the lines is 265,000.
The Helmsley Building is a 35-story skyscraper at 230 Park Avenue between East 45th and 46th Streets, just north of Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was built in 1929 as the New York Central Building and was designed by Warren & Wetmore in the Beaux-Arts style. The building has been described as the last major project built as part of the Terminal City complex around Grand Central.
The first regularly operated line of the New York City Subway was opened on October 27, 1904, and was operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). The early IRT system consisted of a single trunk line running south from 96th Street in Manhattan, with a southern branch to Brooklyn. North of 96th Street, the line had three northern branches in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. The system had four tracks between Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall and 96th Street, allowing for local and express service. The original line and early extensions consisted of:
The M1, M2, M3, and M4 are four local bus routes that operate along the one-way pair of Madison and Fifth Avenues in the borough of Manhattan in New York City between Greenwich Village and Harlem.
The Park Avenue main line, which consists of the Park Avenue Tunnel and the Park Avenue Viaduct, is a railroad line in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running entirely along Park Avenue. The line carries four tracks of the Metro-North Railroad as a tunnel from Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street to a portal at 97th Street, where it rises to a viaduct north of 99th Street and continues over the Harlem River into the Bronx over the Park Avenue Bridge. During rush hours, Metro-North uses three of the four tracks in the peak direction.
The Park Avenue Viaduct, also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct, is a roadway in Manhattan, New York City. It carries vehicular traffic on Park Avenue from 40th to 46th Streets. The viaduct is composed of two sections: a steel viaduct with two roadways from 40th to 42nd Streets, as well as a pair of roadways between 42nd and 46th Streets. The section from 40th to 42nd Streets was designated a New York City landmark in 1980 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The street-level service roads of Park Avenue, which flank the viaduct between 40th and 42nd Streets, are called Pershing Square. The section of the viaduct between 42nd and 46th Streets travels around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building, then through the Helmsley Building; all three buildings lie across the north–south axis of the avenue.
The 59th Street station is a never-opened station in the Park Avenue Tunnel used by the Metro-North Railroad. The station was built by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad as part of an agreement with the government of New York City during the late 1870s, although trains never stopped here. The station is used as an emergency exit for the Metro-North Railroad.
The 72nd Street station is an abandoned station located in the Park Avenue Tunnel used by Metro-North Railroad. The station has two side platforms and is located in between 72nd Street and 73rd Street underneath Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The station was built by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad as part of an agreement with New York City.
The 86th Street station is an abandoned station located in the Park Avenue Tunnel used by Metro-North Railroad. The station was built by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad as part of an agreement with New York City. The station was built during the late 19th century. It was located at Park Avenue and 86th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail terminal in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, serving the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines. It is the most recent of three functionally similar buildings on the same site. The current structure was built by and named for the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, though it also served the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Passenger service has continued under the successors of the New York Central and New Haven railroads.
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