Metropolitan Museum Historic District

While this district does not include the Metropolitan Museum itself (it is however an individual landmark), it was the opening of the museum in 1880, along with the completion of Central Park in 1878, that helped to attract residents to the area. Development was further accelerated by the creation of elevated railways along Second, Third, Park and Madison Avenues. In this once swampy section of uptown, previously occupied by squatters' huts, development began with the construction of Queen Anne and neo-Grec brownstones between 78th and 86th Streets.

By the 1890s, mansions were constructed along Fifth Avenue for wealthy individuals such as merchant Louis Stern and railroad investor Isaac D. Fletcher. Built in the Francois I style of the French Renaissance, the mansions gave the name “Millionaires' Mile” to this section of the avenue. Meanwhile, many of the older brownstones were renovated using the more ornate and popular Beaux-Arts and Renaissance Revival styles.

The age of the opulent Fifth Avenue townhouses of the “high society” of the Vanderbilts, Whitneys and Dukes was a fantastic and fleeting moment, lasting only about 20 years. After World War I, apartment buildings in the Art Deco style began to replace townhouses. The extensive variety of styles in the neighborhood exhibits how residential areas change over time. While many of the remaining manses along Fifth Avenue have been taken over by prestigious private institutions, the district has consistently remained a prominent residential area. ©2014