79th Street (Manhattan)

Updated on Nov 20, 2024

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Maintained by NYCDOT Width 100 feet (30.48 m)		Length 2.4 mi (3.9 km) Location Manhattan

Postal code 10024 (west), 10075 (east) West end NY 9A / Henry Hudson Parkway in Riverside Park Similar 72nd Street, American Museum of Natural H, 116th Street, Grand Street, Harry F Sinclair House

79th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. On the Upper East Side East 79th Street stretches from East End Avenue, passing the New York Public Library, Yorkville Branch, to Fifth Avenue, where the entrance to the 79th Street Transverse is flanked by Children's Gate. The transverse crosses Central Park; its exit at West 81st Street on the Upper West Side is flanked by Hunters' Gate. 79th Street does not exist between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, due to the superblock of Manhattan Square, largely occupied by the American Museum of Natural History. West of Columbus Avenue, 79th Street continues and terminates in Riverside Park at a traffic circle directly after the exit/entrance ramps for the Henry Hudson Parkway, under which sit the 79th Street Boat Basin and its cafe.

Map of E 79th St, New York, NY 10075, USA

On the west side, the street is entirely within the boundaries of ZIP Code 10024; on the east side, as of July 1, 2007, the ZIP Code for this part of the Lenox Hill Post Office Branch changed from 10021 to 10075.

History

The street was designated by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid as one of 15 east-west streets that would be 100 feet (30 m) in width (while other streets were designated as 60 feet (18 m) in width).

The interchange on the Hudson River and the boat basin was first proposed in 1934 and was constructed by 1937 during the tenure of Robert Moses as Parks Commissioner. It was part of the "79th Street Grade Crossing Elimination Structure" which created a grand architectural multi-level entry and exit from the Henry Hudson Parkway while eliminating a grade crossing of the New York Central Railroad's West Side Line by covering it over and creating the Freedom Tunnel. Designed by Gilmore David Clarke, the Works Projects Administration provided $5.1 million for the project, which also included an underground parking garage, a restaurant, and the marina.

Transportation

The 79th Street station on the New York City Subway's IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line is located at the intersection of 79th Street and Broadway, it is served by 1 train during the daytime and 1 2 trains during late nights. The 77th Street station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, two blocks south, is served by 6 <6> trains during the daytime and 4 6 trains during late nights.

The M79 crosstown bus route runs from between the 79th Street Boat Basin and East End Avenue at all times.

Notable locations

At Broadway stands The Apthorp (Clinton and Russell, architects, 1908), one of the West Side's classic apartment blocks, and the First Baptist Church in the City of New York (George M. Kaiser, architect, 1891).

Between 6th and 7th Avenues, on the line of West 79th Street as it was drawn through what became Central Park was the south end of the Receiving Reservoir, a vital storage part of the Croton Aqueduct of 1842. Water was piped down from Westchester County, over the Harlem River and down the west side to the Receiving Reservoir, located between 79th and 86th Streets and Sixth and Seventh Avenues in an area then known as Yorkville. The Reservoir was a fortress-like building 1,826 feet (557 m) long and 836 feet (255 m) wide, and held up to 180 million US gallons (680,000 m³) of water, 35 million US gallons (130,000 m³) flowed into it daily from northern Westchester.

Former mayor Michael Bloomberg lives in a five-story townhouse on East 79th Street, between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue. Other notable residents of 79th Street include Tom Wolfe, Art Garfunkel and Eliot Spitzer. Socialite Nan Kempner lived on 79th Street at Park Avenue.

The south side of the block between Fifth and Madison is protected as a rare unbroken row of townhouses. It begins at the corner of Fifth with the French Renaissance Harry F. Sinclair House (1897–98), now housing the Ukrainian Institute.

The New York Society Library, at 53 East 79th street, is the city's oldest (1754) circulating library; it occupies a double-width townhouse built for John S. and Catherine Dodge Rogers, (Trowbridge & Livingston, 1916–18).

On the street grid, East 79th Street leads to an unnumbered southbound-only entrance to the FDR Drive at East 78th Street. East 79th Street is also the southern end of East End Avenue, which runs north-south to 90th Street.

Notable residents

The Beechams at 31 East 79th Street:

Betty Humby Beecham, British pianist

Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor and impresario

Michael Bloomberg, business magnate and former mayor of New York City

George Tuttle Brokaw, lawyer and sportsman, at 1 East 79th Street

James Cagney, actor

Jerry Foley, TV director and producer

Harry Houdini, stunt performer

Marilyn Kaytor, American journalist, editor, and author, at 111 East 79th Street

Harry F. Sinclair, oil industrialist, at 2 East 79th Street

References

79th Street (Manhattan) Wikipedia

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