Park Avenue is a wide

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

s of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Str ...

to the west and

Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along i ...

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. The avenue is called Union Square East between 14th and 17th Streets, and Park Avenue South between 17th and 32nd Streets.

History

Early years and railroad construction

The entirety of Park Avenue was originally known as Fourth Avenue and carried the tracks of the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) 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 ...

starting in the 1830s. The railroad originally ran through an

open cut Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of minin ...

through Murray Hill, which was 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. 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. The Harlem Railroad was later incorporated into the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

, and a terminal for the New York Central at 42nd Street, the Grand Central Depot, opened in 1871. 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. 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. In 1872, shortly after the opening of Grand Central Depot, New York Central owner

Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

proposed the Fourth Avenue Improvement Project. The tracks between 48th and 56th Streets were to be moved into a shallow

, while the segment between 56th and 97th Streets, which was in a rock cut, would be covered over. 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. As part of the project, Fourth Avenue was transformed into a boulevard with a median strip that covered the railroad's ventilation grates. Eight footbridges crossed the tracks between 45th and 56th Streets, and there were also vehicular overpasses at 45th and 48th Streets. The boulevard north of Grand Central was renamed Park Avenue in 1888.

Grand Central and Terminal City

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. The New York state legislature subsequently passed a law to ban all steam trains in Manhattan. 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. The new electric-train terminal,

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

, was opened in 1913. 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 The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze ...

. 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. The

Park Avenue Viaduct The Park Avenue Viaduct, also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct, is a roadway in Manhattan in New York City. It carries vehicular traffic on Park Avenue from 40th to 46th Streets around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building, ...

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. The western (now southbound) leg of the viaduct was completed in 1919, but congestion developed soon after the viaduct's opening, so an eastern leg for northbound traffic was added in 1928.

Later years

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 The New York City Board of Aldermen was a body that was the upper house of New York City's Common Council from 1824 to 1875, the lower house of its Municipal Assembly upon consolidation in 1898 until the charter was amended in 1901 to abolish ...

to move Park Avenue's southern terminus to 32nd Street. The change went into effect on December 1, 1924, and address numbers along Park Avenue were changed accordingly. The previous house numbered 1 Park Avenue was occupied by Martha Bacon, widow of diplomat Robert Bacon, who led the opposition to the renumbering. The Board of Aldermen summarily overturned the name change, but Mayor

John Hylan John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936) was the 96th Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskills, Hylan eventually obtained work in Bro ...

vetoed the move in April 1925. This prompted Bacon to appeal the decision to the

New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division The Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court of the State of New York are the intermediate appellate courts in New York State. There are four Appellate Divisions, one in each of the state's four Judicial Departments (e.g., the full title of the ...

, 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. 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. The

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...

, the state's highest court, reversed the appellate ruling in February 1928. Bacon contemplated bringing up the matter with the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, but she ultimately relented, changing her address to "Park Avenue at 34th" by 1930. 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. 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. 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. A tradition was introduced in 1945 as a memorial to American soldiers killed in action, whereby

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

s are placed in the median and lit up on the first Sunday in December at Brick Presbyterian Church. On May 5, 1959, the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...

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. 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. The Pan Am Building (now MetLife Building), in between the Park Avenue Viaduct's legs north of Grand Central Terminal, was opened in 1963. 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.

Route

Manhattan

The road that becomes Park Avenue originates at the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. ...

. From Cooper Square at 8th Street to Union Square at 14th Street, it is known as Fourth Avenue, a 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. Address numbers on Park Avenue South are a continuation of those on Fourth Avenue; for example, 225 Park Avenue South was originally known as 225 Fourth Avenue. Above 32nd Street, for the remainder of its distance, it is known as Park Avenue, a boulevard. The address numbers for Park Avenue are reset above 32nd Street; for example, the address 1 Park Avenue would ordinarily have been numbered 461 Fourth Avenue. 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

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

, 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). The IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under this portion of the street. Once the line reaches Grand Central–42nd Street, it shifts east to

Park Avenue NB past 51st Street Manhattan

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 JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, t ...

at 270 Park Avenue and

277 Park Avenue 277 Park Avenue is an office building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It stands on the east side of Park Avenue between East 47th and 48th Streets, and is tall, with 50 floors. It is tied with two other buildings, 55 Wat ...

UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swi ...

299 Park Avenue 299 Park Avenue is an office building on Park Avenue between 48th and 49th streets in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. History Designed in the International Style by Emery Roth & Sons, the building was opened in 1967. I ...

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi ( stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomera ...

399 Park Avenue 399 Park Avenue is a 41-story office building that occupies the entire block between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street and 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was the world headquarters of Citigroup from 1 ...

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

, and

MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produc ...

at the MetLife Building. Prior to July 2010, the eleven intersections between 46th Street and 56th Street lacked the city's usual pedestrian crossing signals and overhead gantry-mounted traffic lights, because the railroad tunnel ceiling, which is also the street, was not thick enough for their poles' foundations. (These intersections did, however, have upright pole-mounted traffic lights prior to 2010, but there were no pedestrian signals. After 2010, standard gantry-mounted traffic lights and pedestrian "countdown" signals were installed.) From 47th to 97th Streets, the tracks for

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connectic ...

Park Avenue main line 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 ...

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. The flowers and greenery in the median of Manhattan's Park Avenue are privately maintained, by the Fund for Park Avenue. The

begonia ''Begonia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species. The Begonias are native to moist subtropical and tropical climates. Some species are commonly grown i ...

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.

The Bronx

The avenue is continued on the other side of the river in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

. In the Bronx, Park Avenue begins at East 135th Street in the

Mott Haven Mott Haven is an American primarily residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are East 149th Street to the north, the Bruckner ...

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.

Businesses

The following institutions are either headquartered or have significant business presences on Park Avenue: * Arconic *

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

at 2 Park Ave. *

Americas Society The Americas Society is an organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue on the Americas. It is located at 680 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and was established by David Rockefeller in 1965. The Americas Society ...

Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Ma ...

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corp ...

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...

at 345 Park Ave. *

Bristol Myers Squibb The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

at 2 Park Ave. * Cantor Fitzgerald at 499 Park Ave. *

at 399 Park Ave. *

at 300 Park Ave. *

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

at 324 Park Ave. * C. V. Starr at 90 Park Ave. *

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...

* Digitas * Environmental Defense Fund *

EXL Service EXL Service is a global analytics and digital solutions company serving industries including insurance, healthcare, banking and financial services, media, retail, and others. The company is headquartered in New York and has more than 37,000 pro ...

* FactSet at 90 Park Ave. *

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Heineken International Heineken N.V. () is a Dutch multinational brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. , Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries. It produces 348 international, regional, local and speciality be ...

* Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs Co. * Hachette Book Group USA at 237 Park Ave. * Houlihan Lokey at 245 Park Ave. *

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admin ...

* JPMorgan Chase & Co. at 270 Park Ave. *

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

* Leucadia National *

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

at 200 Park Ave. * M&T Bank *

Mutual of America Mutual may refer to: *Mutual organization, where as customers derive a right to profits and votes *Mutual information, the intersection of multiple information sets *Mutual insurance, where policyholders have certain "ownership" rights in the orga ...

at 320 Park Ave. *The

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

Needham & Company Needham & Company is an independent investment bank and asset management firm specializing in advisory services and financings for growth companies. Needham & Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Needham Group, which also operates a priva ...

New York Life New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company in the United States, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and is ranked #67 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States ...

* Oneworld at 2 Park Ave. * Piper Jaffray at 345 Park Ave. * Reed Elsevier * Sanofi-Aventis * Seligman * Société Générale * Tata Consultancy Services * Twitch Interactive, Inc. * Vivendi SA *

at 299 Park Ave. * The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Ave. * Warner Bros. Discovery at 230 Park Ave.

Notable structures

In north-south order: *

Daryl Roth Theatre The Daryl Roth Theatre is an off-Broadway performance space at 101 East 15th Street, at the northeast corner of the intersection with Union Square East, near Union Square, Manhattan, New York City. The theater, opened in 1998, is housed in the ...

44 Union Square 44 Union Square, also known as 100 East 17th Street and the Tammany Hall Building, is a three-story building at 44 Union Square East in Union Square, Manhattan, in New York City. It is at the southeast corner of Union Square East/Park Avenue ...

* Everett Building, 200 Park Avenue South *

W New York Union Square The W New York Union Square is a 270-room, 21-story boutique hotel operated by W Hotels at the northeast corner of Park Avenue South and 17th Street, across from Union Square in Manhattan, New York. Originally known as the Germania Life Insuran ...

, 201 Park Avenue South * 225 Park Avenue South *

Church Missions House Church Missions House (also known as 281 Park Avenue South) is a historic building at Park Avenue South and East 22nd Street in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Part of an area once known as "Charity Row", the buil ...

, 281 Park Avenue South * United Charities Building, 287 Park Avenue South *

300 Park Avenue South 300 Park Avenue South (previously the Mills & Gibb Building and currently also known as The Creative Arts Center) is a building on the northwest corner of East 22nd Street in the Flatiron District/Gramercy Park neighborhoods of Manhattan, New Yor ...

* Metropolitan Life North Building, 324 Park Avenue South *

New York Life Building The New York Life Building is the headquarters of the New York Life Insurance Company at 51 Madison Avenue in New York City. The building, designed by Cass Gilbert, abuts Madison Square Park in the Rose Hill, Manhattan, Rose Hill and NoMad, Ma ...

, 364–378 Park Avenue South *

2 Park Avenue 2 Park Avenue is a 28-story office building in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The structure, along the west side of Park Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets, was designed by Ely Jacques Kahn and was developed by A ...

–designed by Ely Jacques Kahn *

3 Park Avenue 3 Park Avenue is a mixed-use office building and high school erected in 1973 on Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The building, surrounded on three sides by a plaza, is categorized as a Midtown South address in the Kips Bay, Manhattan, M ...

4 Park Avenue 4 Park Avenue (formerly known as the Vanderbilt Hotel) is a 22-story building in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Warren and Wetmore, the structure was built for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and opened in 191 ...

, formerly the Vanderbilt Hotel * Robb House, 41 Park Avenue * Scandinavia House – The Nordic Center in America, 58 Park Avenue * Our Saviour Roman Catholic Church, 59 Park Avenue * Union League Club * 101 Park Avenue *

Pershing Square Building The Pershing Square Building, also known as 125 Park Avenue or 100 East 42nd Street, is a 25-story office building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the eastern side of Park Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets, across fro ...

, 125 Park Avenue *

(actually in Park Avenue, between the

's two roadways) * MetLife Building, 200 Park Avenue * Helmsley Building, 230 Park Avenue *

245 Park Avenue 245 Park Avenue is a 648-ft (198 m) skyscraper in New York City, New York. It was completed in 1967, and contains on 48 floors. Shreve, Lamb and Harmon designed the structure, which is the 94th- tallest building in New York. The Building Owner ...

* 270 Park Avenue *

Waldorf Astoria New York The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schult ...

, 301 Park Avenue * St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church *

345 Park Avenue 345 Park Avenue is a skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It occupies an entire city block bounded by Park Avenue, Lexington Avenue, 51st Street, and 52nd Street. Completed in 1969, with 44 floors, the building ...

* Racquet and Tennis Club, 370 Park Avenue * Park Avenue Plaza * Seagram Building, 375 Park Avenue –designed by Mies van der Rohe * Lever House, 390 Park Avenue –designed by Gordon Bunshaft *

* 425 Park Avenue * 432 Park Avenue * Ritz Tower, 465 Park Avenue *

Halstead Property ''Terra Holdings'', founded in 1995, is a parent company of several previously acquired real estate brokerage firms that focus on real estate in the New York City and Manhattan area. The company was established in 1995 and has since acquired Bro ...

, 499 Park Avenue *

500 Park Avenue 500 Park Avenue is an office and condominium building on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 59th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, composed of the 11-story Pepsi-Cola Building and the 40-story 500 Park Towe ...

Trump Park Avenue Trump Park Avenue is a residential building on the southern border of Lenox Hill at 502 Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The 32-story building, designed by Goldner and Goldner in 1929, today contains 120 luxury condominium apartments ...

, 502 Park Avenue * Central Presbyterian Church, 593 Park Avenue * 620 Park Avenue * Seventh Regiment Armory, 643 Park Avenue * 655 Park Avenue * Harold Pratt House, 58 East 68th Street (corner of Park Avenue) * Park Avenue Houses **

Percy R. Pyne House The Percy R. Pyne House (also known as the Percy Rivington Pyne House and Percy & Maud H. Pyne House) is a neo- Federal townhouse at 680 Park Avenue, located at the corner of Park Avenue and 68th Street in Manhattan. Today the Americas Society u ...

, 680 Park Avenue (now the

) **

Oliver D. Filley House The Oliver D. Filley House is a mansion located on 684 Park Avenue between East 68th and 69th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. History It was constructed for Mary Pyne Filley and her husband Oliver D. Filley in 1926 ...

, 684 Park Avenue (now the

Queen Sofía Spanish Institute The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute is an organization in New York City, founded to promote the Spanish language and the culture of Spain and the Americas. Its office is located at 575 Madison Avenue, following the sale of the 684 Park Avenue loca ...

) ** William Sloane House, 686 Park Avenue (now the Italian Cultural Institute of New York) ** Henry P. Davison House, 690 Park Avenue (now the Italian Consulate General) *

, 725 Park Avenue * 740 Park Avenue *

778 Park Avenue 778 Park Avenue is a luxury residential building located in the Upper East Side Historic District on the north east corner of 73rd Street and Park Avenue. The 18-story English Renaissance apartment house, was designed by Rosario Candela who is ...

* 970 Park Avenue * Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue *

1000 Park Avenue 1000 Park Avenue is an apartment building on the Upper East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Park Avenue and East 84th Street. It was built in 1915–16 by the develo ...

* Park Avenue Christian Church, 1010 Park Avenue * Brick Presbyterian Church, 1140 Park Avenue

Transportation

Rail transit

, serving the

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Sou ...

, Hudson Line, and New Haven Line, is at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. The MNR's

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 Tremont Avenue is a street in the Bronx, New York City. Its west end is at Sedgwick Avenue in Morris Heights, and its east end is at Schurz Avenue in Throggs Neck, running almost the entire width of the Bronx. Around 2009, part of East Tremon ...

. The

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

's adjacent Grand Central–42nd Street station serves the . 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 , while the 14th Street-Union Square station is served by the .

Bus service

The southbound M98 Limited runs on Park Avenue between Harlem River Drive and 120th Street, stopping at the Harlem-125th Street station. The northbound M1, M2, and M3 serve Park Avenue between 8th Street and 25th Street. The southbound

SIM1 Single-minded homolog 1, also known as class E basic helix-loop-helix protein 14 (bHLHe14), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''SIM1'' gene. Function SIM1 and SIM2 genes are homologs of ''Drosophila melanogaster'' single-minded (sim ...

, SIM3, SIM4, SIM33, X27 and X28 express bus routes serve Park Avenue during off-peak hours. No buses run along Park Avenue in the Bronx, although

Fordham Plaza Bus Terminal Fordham station, also known as Fordham–East 190th Street station, is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem and New Haven Lines, serving Fordham Plaza in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. The platform ...

is located at the northern end of the road.

In popular culture

* In the 2020 miniseries The Undoing * In the 2012 film '' The Avengers'', the climax takes place on the Park Avenue Viaduct. * In the TV series '' The Odd Couple'', Felix Unger and Oscar Madison live at 1049 Park Avenue. * In the TV series '' Diff'rent Strokes'', Phillip Drummond, with his daughter, Kimberly and adopted sons, Willis and Arnold Jackson live at 697 Park Avenue. * In ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'' episode " E-I-E-I-D'oh", Homer is ridiculed by two farmers outside Sneed's Feed & Seed (Formerly Chuck's) for having a "Park Avenue manicure". Homer responds by saying "I'm sorry, I believe in good grooming". * The PBS documentary ''Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream'' sheds light on the gap between the impoverished people living on Park Avenue in the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris. In the early 1900s, the South Bronx was orig ...

and the extremely wealthy living at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan. * In the multi-platinum 1989 hit single "Youth Gone Wild" by American band Skid Row, Park Avenue is mentioned in the lyrics: "I said 'Hey man, there's something that you oughta know. / I tell ya Park Avenue leads to Skid Row.'" * The stage and film musical ''

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' may refer to: * ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' (book), a 1952 book written by Shepherd Mead and the inspiration for the musical of the same name. * ''How to Succeed in Bu ...

'' takes place in the fictional "Park Avenue office building of World Wide Wicket Company, Inc." * General Motors borrowed the name of the street for the Buick Park Avenue, a large luxury sedan that was produced first as the premium trim line for the Buick Electra from 1977 to 1990, and as a standalone model from 1991 to 2005. * In the intro to the late 1960s - early 1970s TV show ''

Green Acres ''Green Acres'' is an American television sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to '' Petticoat Junction'', the series was first broadc ...

'', Eva Gabor's character sings "Darling I love you, but give me Park Avenue!", where she lived before moving to rural Hooterville with her husband, the lawyer-turned-farmer. * The song " Puttin' On the Ritz", from the film '' Blue Skies'' (1946), refers to affluent people strutting "up and down Park Avenue". * In the 2017 video game '' Sonic Forces'', one of the main stage takes place on Park Avenue, the stage re-imagined as a war zone. * In the second season of '' Riverdale'', one of the main characters from the show, Veronica Lodge is said to have lived on Park Avenue when she was back in New York City. * In an episode in the second season of ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself and ...

'', "

The Chinese Restaurant "The Chinese Restaurant" is the 11th episode of the sitcom '' Seinfeld''s second season on NBC, and is the show's 16th episode overall. The episode revolves around protagonist Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and his friends Elaine Benes ( Julia Louis- ...

", one character that cuts in front of the main characters Jerry, Elaine, and George at a restaurant in Manhattan is said to live there, implying that he is incredibly wealthy and deserving of the special treatment.

Gallery

File:690park.jpg, Henry P. Davison House,

Percy Rivington Pyne House The Percy R. Pyne House (also known as the Percy Rivington Pyne House and Percy & Maud H. Pyne House) is a neo- Federal townhouse at 680 Park Avenue, located at the corner of Park Avenue and 68th Street in Manhattan. Today the Americas Society u ...

and William Sloane House is one of the original house ensembles left on Park Avenue File:A Rolls Royce 1981 at 230 Park Avenue - in front The Helmsley Building.jpg, Park Avenue and 47th Street, adjacent to the Helmsley Building File:10 Park Avenue.jpg, 10 Park Avenue, at the corner of East 34th Street File:57 Park Avenue.jpg, The Adelaide L. Townsend Douglas House, currently the Guatemalan U.N. Mission at 57 Park Avenue, between East 37th and 38th Streets

References

Explanatory notes Citations Further reading *

External links

New York Songlines: Fourth Avenue with The Bowery and Park Avenue
a virtual walking tour
Classic Apartments Buildings and Architecture of Park Avenue Images & History
{{Authority control Streets in Manhattan Streets in the Bronx East Harlem Gramercy Park Kips Bay, Manhattan Murray Hill, Manhattan Midtown Manhattan Upper East Side Union Square, Manhattan