Park Avenue Historic District

A striking residential boulevard of approximately 68 buildings from East 79th to 96th Street, the proposed district includes some of the finest apartment houses built during the early decades of the twentieth century. These high-rise buildings, designed in the revival styles common in the era, are attributed to noted architects of the period, such as Emery Roth and Rosario Candela. The boulevard, originally called Fourth Avenue in the 1811 Plan of New York, was largely developed after the 1871 opening of Grand Central Terminal. However, it was not until the train lines were sunk (1877), and then (1907) electrified and covered with a landscaped grassy mall, that Park Avenue became known as a desirable residential avenue, attracting the affluent.

The district also encompasses several notable low-rise buildings—they include a circa 1895 tenement building at 957 Park Avenue, two early twentieth century mansions, both individual designated landmarks (1015 Park Avenue, designed by Ernest Flagg, and 1025 Park Avenue by John Russell Pope) and religious and institutional buildings, such as the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola complex (also a designated landmark).©2014