Murray Hill / Kips Bay

[Morrissey]

Hey everyone -

Any thoughts on the Murray Hill/Kips Bay area? I just want the lowdown - the good the bad and the ugly? How is it like living there? Overpriced? Undervalued? New Condo Developments? Easy access to all amenities? Crimes? Ethnic makeup? Young and upcoming? Filled with old folks? let me know!

MOZ

[Derek2k3]

This NYT article was recently published about the neighborhood.

Dull Is Beautiful: Learning to Love the Tedium of Murray Hill
By LESLIE EATON
Published: August 7, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/nyregion/thecity/07colm.html

[Morrissey]

This NYT article was recently published about the neighborhood.

Dull Is Beautiful: Learning to Love the Tedium of Murray Hill
By LESLIE EATON
Published: August 7, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/nyregion/thecity/07colm.html

Just clicked on it - couldnt read it somehow -

What is your personal opinion?

[Schadenfrau]

Murray Hill is the neighborhood that real estate brokers sucker recent college grads/people who have never lived in NYC into moving to.

[Morrissey]

Murray Hill is the neighborhood that real estate brokers sucker recent college grads/people who have never lived in NYC into moving to.

How about gramercy? do you live in the city schadenfrau?

so the question is - do you feel murray hill is a good place to live?

[Schadenfrau]

Check my location to figure out my location.

Whether or not Murray Hill is a good place to live is really a matter of what you're looking for.

Murray Hill is known to be dull. It is known to be populated by recent college grads and people who are fresh to New York City. It's on the east side of Manhattan. If that's what you're looking for, it's a good place to live. If that's not what you're looking for, it is not a good place to live.

[BrooklynRider]

It's an "average" neighborhood.

No one is running to any hot trendy bars or restaurants in Murray Hill. It has perfectly fine amenities - it just isn't a particularly "hot" neighborhood.

It's Midtown South. Not bad for a person working in Midtown on the eastside or who commutes downtown or works at the hospitals.

The 6 train is the only transportation along with the bus.

Perhaps if you tell us what YOU are looking for, we can answer som direct questions.

[Morrissey]

It's an "average" neighborhood.

No one is running to any hot trendy bars or restaurants in Murray Hill. It has perfectly fine amenities - it just isn't a particularly "hot" neighborhood.

It's Midtown South. Not bad for a person working in Midtown on the eastside or who commutes downtown or works at the hospitals.

The 6 train is the only transportation along with the bus.

Perhaps if you tell us what YOU are looking for, we can answer som direct questions.

I am looking for apartments in the Upper East Side (too pricey), murray hill, hoboken and gramercy. Gramercy is probably THE BEST out of the bunch right? And most residents get the KEY to the park too right?

so in other words, murray hill is boring..... how sad....

[Morrissey]

Check my location to figure out my location.

Whether or not Murray Hill is a good place to live is really a matter of what you're looking for.

Murray Hill is known to be dull. It is known to be populated by recent college grads and people who are fresh to New York City. It's on the east side of Manhattan. If that's what you're looking for, it's a good place to live. If that's not what you're looking for, it is not a good place to live.

Actually i really want to live in the city. I want to get an apartment (studio or 1 br) in an area that is not too far from WTC (20 minute subway ride), close to a gym, pharmacy, a market without all the bars and such you know? I really dont like places where it gets really crowded late at night around 10pm and etc.

your thoughts?

and yes i just checked - you are from south bronx -

[Ninjahedge]

Hoboken and jersey City are good places to look as well.

The PATH train will get you to downtown in about 15 minutes, and they go about every 7 min during rush hour (about every 30-45 late night).

If you are looking at Hoboken, a lot of the old buildings are rent controled, so you may want to look for a place that is NOT brand new and DEFINITELY not "luxury".

For information on this, you may want to call Carol McLaughin at 201-420-2396 and she could tell you lots more. Just be REALLY nice to her, she can help you through a lot of BS and save you a lot of money....

As for Murray, I would not be able to help you there.

[redhot00]

Actually i really want to live in the city. I want to get an apartment (studio or 1 br) in an area that is not too far from WTC (20 minute subway ride), close to a gym, pharmacy, a market without all the bars and such you know? I really dont like places where it gets really crowded late at night around 10pm and etc.

Sounds like Murray Hill is the place for you then. Like a previous poster said, the amenities there are perfectly adequate, so you should have no problem finding a pharmacy and a market to your liking. If you don't want to live among a lot of bars, but want them nearby, well you are just north of Gramercy, and just south of Turtle Bay, both of those neighborhoods are loaded with bars.

Not everyone who lives in Gramercy gets a key to the park. The boundaries that make up Gramercy are not all that clearly defined, so you may think you live there, but are not eligible for a key.

[Morrissey]

Sounds like Murray Hill is the place for you then. Like a previous poster said, the amenities there are perfectly adequate, so you should have no problem finding a pharmacy and a market to your liking. If you don't want to live among a lot of bars, but want them nearby, well you are just north of Gramercy, and just south of Turtle Bay, both of those neighborhoods are loaded with bars.

Not everyone who lives in Gramercy gets a key to the park. The boundaries that make up Gramercy are not all that clearly defined, so you may think you live there, but are not eligible for a key.

To everyone - thank you for responding to my thread - i will keep looking around. I have an open house around the Beekman area this afternoon and ill let you know what happens.

once again, thank you!

[Schadenfrau]

Gramercy Park is far more expensive than the Upper East Side. In fact, the UES is one of the cheaper places to find an apartment in Manhattan, now. However, if you're looking to commute to the World Trade Center site, you'd do better to live on the west side.

[ryan]

I think Morrissey should live in Brooklyn Heights. There is certainly no nightlife, it's close to downtown, and it has the same homogeneity that all those bland boring east side neighborhoods have in common. Plus a better view.

That said, I've met a lot of people who live in Murray Hill and love it. Kind of a suburban/frat culture that transplants miss(?). Great Indian food is a plus...

[Morrissey]

Gramercy Park is far more expensive than the Upper East Side. In fact, the UES is one of the cheaper places to find an apartment in Manhattan, now. However, if you're looking to commute to the World Trade Center site, you'd do better to live on the west side.

west side? hmmm i dont think that area is safe no?

[Morrissey]

I think Morrissey should live in Brooklyn Heights. There is certainly no nightlife, it's close to downtown, and it has the same homogeneity that all those bland boring east side neighborhoods have in common. Plus a better view.

That said, I've met a lot of people who live in Murray Hill and love it. Kind of a suburban/frat culture that transplants miss(?). Great Indian food is a plus...

Brooklyn Heights sounds really good! Is that near DUMBO with all the spectacular 1,000,000 dollar lofts i've been hearing?

[ebrigham]

west side? hmmm i dont think that area is safe no?

By west side, I think he means near the 1/9 subway line, which makes a commute to the WTC more convenient. If you are within a block or two of this line, it is safe.

[ASchwarz]

By west side, I think he means near the 1/9 subway line, which makes a commute to the WTC more convenient. If you are within a block or two of this line, it is safe.

Am I in a 70's time warp? Where on the West Side of Manhattan is it not safe? The West Side overall is probably more expensive than the East Side.

Tribeca, Hudson Square, West Village, Chelsea, Midtown/Hell's Kitchen, Upper West Side, Hamilton Heights, Hudson Heights/Washington Heights. Every single one of these neighborhoods is desirable and safe.

Regarding Murray Hill, it seems to fit your requirements perfectly. Murray Hill is safe, quiet and has good amenities. You should check out the neighborhood and view some apartments.

[BrooklynRider]

Am I in a 70's time warp? ...

LOL - I was thinking the same thing.

[Morrissey]

LOL - I was thinking the same thing.

have you guys checked out http://www.clintonwest.com ?

what are you thoughts....? being built over the amtrak line? it is prob sold out - but how can you live above the amtraks?

[ASchwarz]

Clinton West is on a platform, which shouldn't be a problem. I don't think you would hear or feel the trains but you would have to ask at the sales office. It would probably be much quieter than living above a subway line. Subways in Manhattan tend to be close to the surface, while suburban rail lines tend to be deeper underground.

A number of West Side developments are built above this same rail line. The entire Trump Place development is built above the Amtrak line.

Again, you need to visit these neighborhoods before making a decision. Clinton appeals to a different kind of person than Murray Hill. You have to decide what type of neighborhood best fits you.

[Morrissey]

Clinton West is on a platform, which shouldn't be a problem. I don't think you would hear or feel the trains but you would have to ask at the sales office. It would probably be much quieter than living above a subway line. Subways in Manhattan tend to be close to the surface, while suburban rail lines tend to be deeper underground.

A number of West Side developments are built above this same rail line. The entire Trump Place development is built above the Amtrak line.

Again, you need to visit these neighborhoods before making a decision. Clinton appeals to a different kind of person than Murray Hill. You have to decide what type of neighborhood best fits you.

Yeah - I mean i was born and raised in Roslyn and went to a huge school in the ithaca region so i am used to quiet places. dont get me wrong - i love to hang out in the meat packing district or even lower east with all the bars, but i certainly cannot live there

Actually the sales office or brokers NEVER told me about the amtrak running through the building, although website makes it so spectacular - thanks corcoran!

Aschwarz are you a broker?

[ebrigham]

Am I in a 70's time warp? Where on the West Side of Manhattan is it not safe? The West Side overall is probably more expensive than the East Side.

Tribeca, Hudson Square, West Village, Chelsea, Midtown/Hell's Kitchen, Upper West Side, Hamilton Heights, Hudson Heights/Washington Heights. Every single one of these neighborhoods is desirable and safe.

Regarding Murray Hill, it seems to fit your requirements perfectly. Murray Hill is safe, quiet and has good amenities. You should check out the neighborhood and view some apartments.

Not sure if you are contesting my point or reiterating it. But I was basically saying the same thing, just not as forcefully.

[Schadenfrau]

west side? hmmm i dont think that area is safe no?

Yeah, Battery Park City, the West Village, Chelsea and the Upper West Side are pretty dangerous places. Seriously, what?

[Schadenfrau]

Man, jinx jinx a million times jinx. I don't think I've ever seen so many posts in so short a time here.

I will change my answer: I think Murray Hill would be perfect for you, Morrissey.

[ebrigham]

When I lived on the UWS, I was run over by a baby stroller thrice and a chocolate lab once. Not sure where that fits in Bloomberg's crime stat book.

[Morrissey]

Man, jinx jinx a million times jinx. I don't think I've ever seen so many posts in so short a time here.

I will change my answer: I think Murray Hill would be perfect for you, Morrissey.

Speaking of places perfect for me....i think i will definitely check out Murray Hill and Turtle Bay!

[Morrissey]

When I lived on the UWS, I was run over by a baby stroller thrice and a chocolate lab once. Not sure where that fits in Bloomberg's crime stat book.

Hey everyone-

I would like to thank EVERYONE for their honest input. I truly appreciate it. Thank you and Good night

it was a pleasure!

[ryan]

Am I in a 70's time warp? Where on the West Side of Manhattan is it not safe?

Didn't you see West Side Story?! Gangs.

[BrooklynRider]

But they are gangs that snap and dance and twirl each other in their arms.




"Henry! Quick! Call the cops! The gangs are doing ballet again!"

[Morrissey]

But they are gangs that snap and dance and twirl each other in their arms.




"Henry! Quick! Call the cops! The gangs are doing ballet again!"

speaking of safety - there is a shooting in murray hill 2 days ago!

[KipsBay]

I believe there has been around a handful of shootings in Murray Hill in the past decade, so crime is really relatively low. Although, I've seen a few more broken car windows lately but that may not be specific to the area.

It's odd how some tag Murray Hill and Kips Bay (east of 3rd Ave) as either "boring" or "Frat" like. It's always easy to be a critic. I personally enjoy living here. I think the area appeals both to singles and families and that contributes to its undeserved "boring" tag.

I suggest you walk around the area before you make up your mind. If you are looking to purchase a condo, becareful, because there is a lot of supply coming up over the next decade too. There are lots of "affordable" restaurants, and many services in the area like pharmacies, supermarkets, cleaners, movie theaters, hospitals, post office, libraries, hardware stores, gyms... If you stay off the 33rd-35th Street on 3rd Ave bar scene, the area is relatively quiet too; although watch out for apartments on 35th Street-38th streets because traffic to and from the Midtown tunnel can be heavy during rush hour. If you are commuting either to Roslyn or uptown/midtown/downtown, Murray Hill/Kips Bay is well situated and offers quick and convenient transportation options (still we could use the 2nd Ave subway line since the 4/5/6 trains do get overcrowded - but that solution is a decade away).

And the East River Promenade has great skyline views and links all the way downtown to the hudson river park for a geat bike ride...

Good luck.

[Morrissey]

I believe there has been around a handful of shootings in Murray Hill in the past decade, so crime is really relatively low. Although, I've seen a few more broken car windows lately but that may not be specific to the area.

It's odd how some tag Murray Hill and Kips Bay (east of 3rd Ave) as either "boring" or "Frat" like. It's always easy to be a critic. I personally enjoy living here. I think the area appeals both to singles and families and that contributes to its undeserved "boring" tag.

I suggest you walk around the area before you make up your mind. If you are looking to purchase a condo, becareful, because there is a lot of supply coming up over the next decade too. There are lots of "affordable" restaurants, and many services in the area like pharmacies, supermarkets, cleaners, movie theaters, hospitals, post office, libraries, hardware stores, gyms... If you stay off the 33rd-35th Street on 3rd Ave bar scene, the area is relatively quiet too; although watch out for apartments on 35th Street-38th streets because traffic to and from the Midtown tunnel can be heavy during rush hour. If you are commuting either to Roslyn or uptown/midtown/downtown, Murray Hill/Kips Bay is well situated and offers quick and convenient transportation options (still we could use the 2nd Ave subway line since the 4/5/6 trains do get overcrowded - but that solution is a decade away).

And the East River Promenade has great skyline views and links all the way downtown to the hudson river park for a geat bike ride...

Good luck.

I ran in Cornell - is there a jogging/running path on the east river? I was actually at a friend's on 35th. It is actually not that bad. I was quite surprised at the availability of parking (meters)- although i don't even own a car. I was there around 9-11pm at night and i felt really safe there and was quite surprise with the number of bars and restaurants (affordable too) on 3rd ave.

I checked out the prices - condos are too expensive - i think I will go for a coop. My broker and I have narrowed down to three areas: Murray Hill, Gramercy and Sutton. I actually like Murray Hill the most - but it is not as PRESTIGIOUS as Gramercy - oh well....everything is expensive these days...

Overall, I think I am seriously considering the Murray Hill Area.

How is the NYSC there? I walked around and there are 2 , one on 2nd ave and 34 and the other on 31st....which do you prefer?

[NewYorkYankee]

NYSC offers a free week trial so you can choose which you prefer.

[KipsBay]

Originally Posted by Morrissey
"I ran in Cornell - is there a jogging/running path on the east river? I was actually at a friend's on 35th. It is actually not that bad. I was quite surprised at the availability of parking (meters)- although i don't even own a car. I was there around 9-11pm at night and i felt really safe there and was quite surprise with the number of bars and restaurants (affordable too) on 3rd ave."

Yes, the East River Promenade is great for jogging/running and biking. Below 14th Street, the promenade actually offers a number of different fields, including baseball, football/soccer, tennis and track too. Some of the fields are artificial turf and some are real grass. And a number of these fields have been recently renovated. Actually, there is a lot of reconstruction going on there.

Originally Posted by Morrissey
"How is the NYSC there? I walked around and there are 2 , one on 2nd ave and 34 and the other on 31st....which do you prefer?"

I don't know - I belong to a different gym...

Originally Posted by Morrissey
"I actually like Murray Hill the most - but it is not as PRESTIGIOUS as Gramercy - oh well....everything is expensive these days..."

Even if you have the key to Gramercy Park, you can't really do much there except stroll. If you prefer some activities, go to St.Vartan's Park on 35th-37th Street and 2nd-1st Aves for pickup basketball or handball. And if you want to stroll in a small park setting, check out NYU hospital 34th Street and 1st Ave which has a greenhouse open to the public. Not the same as Gramercy, but lot's of nice birdies, and really big gold fish, and you can buy the exotic plants too.

Hey Alexander Hamilton bought his son a house on 29th Street between 2nd & 3rd Ave, so Kips Bay/Murray Hill's not too shabby. The Wood Frame house is still there and is on the national register. You can also see the carriage house too. I believe there is a Wine Tasting class in one of those buildings...

[Merry]

April 19, 2009
Living In | Murray Hill

A Lot to Soak Up, Even Outside the Bars

By JEFF VANDAM (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/v/jeff_vandam/index.html?inline=nyt-per)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/04/19/realestate/19livi-600.jpg
CONTRAST CITY Short and tall, old and new: Architecturally, Murray Hill has some of almost everything. One resident enthused over the "nice little pockets of quiet"; others seem to appreciate the lively frat-boy pub scene

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Sniffen Court

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Sniffen Court

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The Corinthian at 350 East 37th Street

WHEN it comes to popular beliefs about Murray Hill, an eclectic neighborhood that is squeezed between Midtown Manhattan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo) and Kips Bay, there is a battle of perceptions.

One camp cites scenes like the one on a recent Thursday night at Joshua Tree, a low-lit bar on Third Avenue that offered something called a “vodka monster” for $4. Circles of male 20-somethings straight from work hooted and hollered with Bud Lights in hand, watching snowboarding championships and Lady Gaga music videos on projection screens. By 10, at least one person had been sick in the men’s room, and young women spilled out onto the sidewalk to continue the revelry at Bar 515 and Third and Long.

The other side knows that mornings in Murray Hill, and most other times of day, are different. The sun shines on brownstone blocks and apartment towers; children climb on play structures as flowers bloom in St. Vartan Park on Second Avenue; neighbors chat over omelets at Sarge’s Deli; and the workers of Midtown step to their offices as the city awakens. It is the Murray Hill lovers who see this side — frat-boy bars or no — and they aren’t going anywhere.

“Murray Hill still is a quiet enclave,” said Diane Bartow, the president of the neighborhood association and a 30-year resident of the area. At the same time, she said, “we’ve gone from — I hate to use this term — ‘senior’ to junior, and that in and of itself is a good thing.”

It was the neighborhood’s architectural grandeur and quiet that beckoned to Susan B. Adams, 59, a freelance editor and writer who moved to Murray Hill in the mid-1970s. After living for years in a town house walk-up on 36th Street, Ms. Adams moved a few blocks away in 1997, paying $175,000 for an 800-square-foot one-bedroom co-op on Park Avenue at 38th Street. Describing the deal as “a veritable steal," she estimates that even in today’s market, the unit would sell for more than $500,000.

“A friend once told me that New York is a bunch of small villages, really,” said Ms. Adams, who today is co-editor of Murray Hill Life, a newsletter and frequents local favorites like Barbès, a Moroccan restaurant on 36th Street. “I find that Murray Hill certainly is one of those villages.”

The neighborhood skews younger now than it did 10 years ago, and it is growing up physically, too. Far from immune to the building boom of the last few years, Murray Hill continues to sprout new towers that mix in with the old, from the spires along the East River to wide new luxury apartment houses on 34th Street, and even an understated high-rise at 45 Park Avenue designed by Costas Kondylis. Others are still under construction, or stopped midrise, a source of angst for some residents.

Aside from the bar scene on Third Avenue, some locals have groused lately about East Side Access, a long-term construction project that will route Long Island Rail Road (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/l/long_island_rail_road/index.html?inline=nyt-org) trains to Grand Central Terminal (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/grand_central_terminal_nyc/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier). Until recently, said Toni Carlina, the district manager of Community Board 6, workers were jackhammering on Park Avenue with floodlights until the early morning hours, though after many board meetings, the noise now ends earlier.

WHAT YOU’LL FIND

It is commonly held that the younger, more bar-centric area south of the neighborhood in the upper 20s and lower 30s is part of Murray Hill; after all, the Murray Hill Diner sits at 33rd and Lexington, and a bar called the Hill, reportedly backed by reality TV stars, packs them in at Third and 29th. But longtime locals (and their community board) will tell you that Murray Hill begins at 34th Street and extends to 42nd Street; its other boundaries are Madison Avenue and the East River.

Above all, contrasts make the area distinctive: Town houses abut white-brick buildings, which abut office and apartment towers. The common theme is that there is no common theme.

Of the town houses remaining in what was once a bastion of 19th-century high society, several are stunners; a small historic district was created in 2002 and then enlarged to protect them. A few Gilded Age palaces remain, too, like the building that is now the Polish Consulate, on Madison Avenue at 37th Street, and an 1891 McKim, Mead & White house at Park Avenue and 35th Street, now a co-op for a few lucky residents. Just off 36th Street is another small wonder, at Sniffen Court, an alley of 10 Civil War-era carriage houses.

“There are nice little pockets of quiet everywhere,” Ms. Adams said.
But that is not exactly how you would describe the scene a few blocks away, along First Avenue, with its imposing row of East River high-rise buildings, among them the intimidating Corinthian on 38th Street, which has 57 floors.

Farther up the avenue, massive gravel-filled lots sit vacant, once home to hulking Con Edison buildings and the planned site of a $4 billion 3,000-unit apartment and commercial complex from the developer Sheldon H. Solow. There is no evidence of any work being done; Citibank, Mr. Solow’s lender, was reported to have filed suit against him in December.

Second Avenue in Murray Hill is notable for delis and take-out joints; Third Avenue for shops, restaurants and, yes, bars. Lexington and Park keep to a more residential feel, and Madison has an office vibe. Though Murray Hill in theory extends to 42nd Street, 39th seems a more clear-cut line of demarcation with Midtown and its office towers.

WHAT YOU’LL PAY

Along with the rest of the city, the sales market in Murray Hill began to fade last October, and prices have shifted accordingly.

“I would estimate that many sellers who have had proper guidance from their brokers are asking 20 percent below what they would have asked in January,” said Julie Perlin, a broker at Stribling & Associates.

At the Vanderbilt, an East 40th Street high-rise, Sachiko Goodman, a broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman, originally listed a three-bedroom condominium with 1,562 square feet for nearly $2 million. After six months on the market, it sold earlier this year for $1.5 million.

“Today, somebody really has to be the lowest one on the market if they want to sell,” said Elaine Clayman, a broker at Brown Harris Stevens.
In general, Ms. Clayman explained, one-bedroom condos begin in the high $500,000s, two-bedrooms under $1 million; co-ops are generally $100,000 less. Last month, Ms. Perlin of Stribling sold a one-bedroom two-bath 38th-floor condo on East 38th for $800,000.

Brownstones, Ms. Perlin said, range from the high $2 millions through the low $3 millions, with a premium for buildings in the historic district.
Rentals are still moving, though these days it’s a tenants’ market, Ms. Goodman said; owners have resorted to covering broker fees, offering free months, and lowering rents. One-bedrooms now rent for $2,500 to $3,500 a month, and two-bedrooms go for $3,500 to $5,000, depending on view and amenities.

WHAT TO DO

On May 17, the neighborhood association will have its annual Murray Hill Festival on Park Avenue, with music performances, arts and crafts activities and plenty of on-street shopping. On Sundays, the local PTA sponsors the Murray Hill Market at Public School 116 on 33rd Street, with goods for sale both outside and in.

Over on Madison Avenue at 36th Street, J. Pierpont Morgan’s library is Murray Hill’s whirring cultural space, offering art exhibits, programs for kids, concerts, film screenings, lectures and library tours. For fans of mainstream cinema, the AMC Loews Kips Bay multiplex is just south of the area, on Second Avenue at 31st Street.

THE SCHOOLS

Residents sing the praises of P.S. 116, on East 33rd Street. In 2008, 94.8 percent of all students met standards on state English language arts tests and 94.5 did so in mathematics; the citywide percentages were 61 and 80.
One middle school near Murray Hill is Junior High School 104 on East 21st Street, also known as Simon Baruch, where 77.2 percent of all students met standards on 2008 state math tests, and 70.4 percent on English tests. The citywide percentages were 60 and 43.

At Norman Thomas High School, also on 33rd, 2008 SAT averages were 365 in reading, 367 in math and 358 in writing, versus 502, 515 and 494 statewide.

THE COMMUTE

Technically, one could step over the border of Murray Hill and be in Midtown, specifically the 42nd Street border. For those heading to the financial district or points farther afield, the No. 6 train stops at Grand Central Terminal, and 33rd Street at Park Avenue.

THE HISTORY

The Murrays of Murray Hill were Mary and Robert, Pennsylvania Quakers who bought land between 33rd and 39th Streets in the 18th century; the area was known at that time as Inclenberg.

It was in the 19th century that fashionable society arrived, among them the Astors and the Morgans, and their mansions.

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[Merry]

A Stroll Along Bedpan Alley

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY

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Bellevue Hospital buildings in 1914
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The building was designed with a deft hand in 1897 by Cady, Berg & See. Working in the Beaux-Arts style, they gave it a chamfered corner entrance with robustly rusticated stonework.

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A bit north is the tepid glass facade of a 2005 building by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.

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The Pei Cobb Freed building has a wonderful surprise inside: a skylit courtyard encompassing the old Bellevue Administration Building

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Old Bellevue Administration Building, McKim, Mead & White

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McKim, Mead & White’s 1913 Pathological Wing, 1914

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The old Psychopathic Ward stands at the corner of First Avenue and 30th Street

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IN the mid-1900s, the stretch of hospitals along First Avenue from 23rd to 30th Street, most of them the work of McKim, Mead & White, had developed a remarkable coherence. But since World War II, many have been demolished. Even so, a walk up this broad, noisy street offers a glimpse of what it used to be like on what is often called bedpan alley.
At the northeast corner of 23rd, the Deco-Moderne structure of the Institute for the Crippled and Disabled was designed by Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker in 1930. It’s a nice little find, with sawtooth brickwork, oddball brick coursing and a rich, figured marble lobby. In 1931 Dr. Ray Wilbur, the secretary of the Interior, praised the residents — including World War I veterans — saying, “You have learned to work instead of whine.” There were 24 dorm rooms and teaching spaces for welding, jewelry and other trades.

At the southwest corner of 26th Street stands the oldest building on this stretch, the old New York University Medical School, designed with a deft hand by Cady, Berg & See in 1897. Working in the Beaux-Arts style, they gave it a chamfered corner entrance with robustly rusticated stonework. The wedge-shaped brick forming the round arches of the first-floor windows is a particularly yummy detail.

Diagonally across the intersection begin the remains of the massive Bellevue complex, established on the site in the 1810s, and built and rebuilt several times. The oldest structures here are from the early 1900s, when McKim, Mead & White began a visionary reconstruction, conceived as a giant interconnected complex with a central dome-topped pavilion. Much was built, although along differing lines.

At the foot of 26th Street the new Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is a crisp, modern structure that looks like a mortuary slab on end. It mercilessly crowds the old eight-story Tuberculosis Pavilion, which has a breathtaking 400-foot-long red brick facade encrusted with hanging gardens of massive copper-clad balconies. The brick and limestone looks pure 1910s, but was designed by McKim, Mead & White in the late 1930s, a historicism that is difficult to comprehend, even for that then-reactionary firm.

A block north, a tepid glassy facade of 2005, the work of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, has a wonderful surprise inside: a skylit courtyard encompassing the old Bellevue Administration Building, an expanse of neo-Classic carved granite, red brick and limestone. This is also late 1930s, also by McKim, Mead & White and also hard to distinguish from the work of a generation before, a tour de force of revanchist architectural history.

McKim, Mead & White’s 1913 Pathological Wing stands from 28th to 30th Street, along with the Psychopathic Ward of 1930, by a consortium of later architects. Both are of red brick and limestone. The earlier building is agreeable, but the 1930 work has some lovely passages of brickwork, like the checkerboard work at the top story and around the double-height windows.

Between the two, try to sneak past the lightly guarded gate leading to the foot of East 29th Street. A glassy modern lab building right at the river is nearly complete, and the immaculate little park there offers a spacious, dreamy view. On a recent visit, I found it peopled with construction guys on their lunch break: eating, drinking, lying down, dozing and, in one case, boots off, flat-out snoring. It’s important to see this now, because when it opens, cars will invade and the precious pedestrian sense of the place will be lost.

Around on 30th Street, the ornate side-street entrance of the Psych Ward could be that of a men’s club in London. The Bellevue complex provides all kinds of care, but this structure is what people associate with the name. In 1938, 30 boys 10 to 12 years old, confined to the fifth floor, fashioned an escape rope made of nine bedsheets. Most had been sent to Bellevue by court order, and The New York Times reported that they were led by an 11-year-old who had already tried to escape from institutions 18 times. Make that 19 — they were all caught.

Change continues to creep along the section from 23rd to 30th. The renovation of the old Administration Building was nicely done, and the wide skylit space spares it the embalmed look common to many such situations. The Pathological Wing has been fixed up, but the Psychopathic Ward, now a shelter, is in flux, variously proposed for demolition and also for renovation as a hotel, although for now the Department of Homeless Services remains in place.

Perhaps half of the McKim, Mead & White campus has been demolished, and John Beckman, a spokesman for New York University, says it is planning to replace its 1897 medical school building with a new college of nursing — the old structure is in tatters, apparently empty.

This seven-block stretch was, in its heyday, like Columbia University’s leafy campus of red brick buildings, a kind of medical acropolis. Taken together the whole was far more than the sum of its parts but, in the case of the older buildings of bedpan alley, there are fewer and fewer parts left.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/realestate/06scapes.html?ref=realestate

[Merry]

Remaking Park Ave. Into a Spot to Splash

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A rendering of what a portable pool on Park Avenue will look like. A Brooklyn company will lend
the city three pools. Lifeguard services will be donated separately.

By DAVID W. CHEN

For those New Yorkers who never received a coveted invitation last summer to dive into Dumpsters converted into pools (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/arts/design/20pool.html) in Brooklyn, there is a much easier alternative this year: Park Avenue.

For the first three Saturdays in August, the Bloomberg administration will open three Dumpster pools on the east side of Park Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets.

With Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building serving as a backdrop, the pools will be above ground, encircled by a five-foot-wide metal deck with a nonstick rubber surface, and accompanied by several changing-room cabanas, portable showers and portable toilets.

The pools, which will be open 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., are part of the city’s Summer Streets initiative, now entering its third year, which closes off long stretches of Park Avenue and other streets to cars and trucks.

But while most of the attention focused on transportation the first two years, the program this year will also emphasize entertainment, like the New York International Fringe Festival, and recreation, highlighted by the new pools.

“While they have been lovingly referred to as Dumpster pools, don’t let the name fool you,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s transportation commissioner. “These are clean, compliant mobile pools that will put even more ‘park’ into Park Avenue. It will almost be like a Park Avenue boardwalk.”

Each pool will be roughly 8 feet wide and 22 feet long, with a sloped bottom between 3 and 5 ½ feet deep — bigger than the typical Dumpster. There will no diving boards. No baby pool, either.
At no cost to the city, Macro-Sea, the Brooklyn company that designed the Dumpster pools, is converting the containers, which will be cleaned and have protective liners. As is the case with any other above-ground pool, a water filtration system will be installed, and the Department of Health will need to sign off on a permit, said David Belt, president of Macro-Sea.

Crunch, the fitness gym, will donate lifeguards, Ms. Sadik-Khan said.

At the end of each Saturday, the deck will drop to the sides and the pools will be covered by a heavy-duty mesh. The containers will then sit curbside, as if they were Dumpsters at a construction project — except that there will not be debris, but rather water, inside. The containers will be locked.

There has been no word yet on whether Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will take a ceremonial dip. But Ms. Sadik-Khan said, “I’m certainly going to get my feet wet.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/nyregion/16pool.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

[Merry]

Not worth saving by the look of it :eek:.


East Side Park May Get Razed to Build New United Nations Tower

A notorious developer who bulldozed through communities may have his own memorial in Murray Hill destroyed.

By Amy Zimmer

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MURRAY HILL — Master builder Robert Moses was notorious for bulldozing through communities — without any public input — to construct highways, bridges and tunnels. Now, a 1.3-acre playground bearing his name in Murray Hill may be on the other side of the shovel — only this time around, the decision will be made by community consensus.

Moses was infamous for creating a gash through Bronx neighborhoods for his Cross Bronx Expressway and would have done the same in the Lower East Side, SoHo and the West Village to build the Lower Manhattan Expressway, if the activist Jane Jacobs and others had not stopped him. But Moses was also responsible for creating a vast amount of parkland, more than doubling parks acreage to 34,673 between 1934 and 1960.

The park that bears his name is anything but monumental. Sitting on 42nd Street between the FDR and First Avenue, across from the United Nations, the playground is bifurcated by the Queens-Midtown Tunnel ventilating tower, with a blacktop used mainly by a roller hockey league on one side and some handball and small basketball courts, a comfort station and dog run, on the other side.

City and state officials have long been talking about razing the playground to build a new tower for the United Nations, but the community will only give up the parkland — which must be approved by Albany — if it wins some concessions.

Residents want a replacement park of the same size in the vicinity and a waterfront esplanade that would stretch from 38th Street, past the UN, up to 61st Street. Residents are hoping to act quickly on this since there are some pilings in the East River left over from the State Department of Transportation’s FDR temporary outer-detour roadway for a rehabilitation project. Using them for part of the esplanade, estimated to cost $130 million to $150 million, would save money.

"Robert Moses, he wasn’t interested in the preservation of New York," said Anthony, a homeless man who declined to give his last name and was the lone person was sitting on the blacktop on a frigid Thursday afternoon.

Anthony was practicing playing a penny whistle he made with a PVC pipe. He liked coming to this blacktop — where he slept for many years before some benches were removed — because it was often empty except for dog walkers, he said. Before the comfort stations were closed down about a year ago, they were a favorite for cabbies. "It’s one of the few places you can park your car and not get a ticket," he said of the street next to the park.

Matt Siegel, 25, who was playing with his Pitt bull mix, Havi, in the dog run, said he wouldn’t mind the park being demolished if another popped up nearby. When he learned that Robert Moses was one of the main forces behind the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles after blocking a Brooklyn relocation to get them to Queens, Siegel said, "We don’t like him."

State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh said nothing would happen with the park unless the community agreed on a replacement park.

"The irony of potentially eliminating a park named for Robert Moses is not lost on some of us," he said. "We’re certainly not intending to do this Robert Moses-style."

He and other elected officials involved in the planning — State Senator Liz Krueger and City Councilman Dan Garodnick — held a public forum with Community Board 6 in June on the issue and planned to have more opportunities for public comment, Kavanagh said.

Even though the state DOT was supposed to have removed the pilings once its work was done in 2007, it was leaving them in place to give the city time, a DOT spokesman said. But the complicated real estate deal involves other moving parts, including selling off two city-owned office buildings occupied by UN tenants.

CB6 passed a resolution on Wednesday supporting the UN takeover of Robert Moses Park as long as they get what they want in return. They know getting a replacement park won’t be easy, and they don’t want small pocket parks.
"What good is that? You might be able to play hopscotch," said CB6 member Ellen Imbibo, noting that her district has the least amount of open space per capita in the city.

"We don’t know what’s going to be the piece to get the ball rolling, even slowly," Imbimbo said. "You’ve got to get state legislation through Albany for the park, but the community has to where the replacement is. In New York where can you find 30,000 square feet?

You gotta look pretty hard."

http://www.dnainfo.com/20101210/murray-hill-gramercy/east-side-park-may-get-razed-build-new-united-nations-tower#ixzz17iHdpouA