Other name(s) German Broadway Length 1.6 mi (2.6 km) Location Manhattan | Maintained by NYCDOT Width 100 feet (30.48 m) South 85th Street | |
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Postal code 10024 (west), 10028 (east) | ||
86th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.
Contents
Map of E 86th St, New York, NY, USA
On the West Side its continuous cliff-wall of apartment blocks including The Belnord is broken by two contrasting landmarked churches at prominent corner sites, the Tuscan Renaissance Saints Paul and Andrew United Methodist Church at the corner of West End Avenue, and the rusticated brownstone Romanesque Revival West-Park Presbyterian Church at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue.
History
The street was designated by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 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).
Until the years following World War II, Yorkville on the East Side was a predominantly German community, and East 86th Street was nicknamed the German Broadway. The early settlement originally clustered around the 86th Street stop of the New York and Harlem Railroad. Since the late 1980s, nearly all distinctly German shops have disappeared, apart from a few restaurants on Second Avenue. The street was commonly considered a boundary for public utilities. For example, different telephone exchanges at East 79th and 97th Streets served the north and south sides of the street. Local number portability in the early 21st century allowed transferring phone numbers to either side.
A sunken street through Central Park, the 86th Street Transverse or Transverse Road #3, connects to the east side on 84th (eastbound) and 85th (westbound) streets. Miners Gate provides pedestrian access to the park at East 86th, and Mariners Gate at West 85th.
Before the subway opened on Lexington Avenue in 1917, a railroad station existed on Park Avenue, currently a right-of-way for the Metro North Railroad between 125th Street and Grand Central Terminal; it opened in May 1876 and closed in approximately 1903, and an emergency exit is the only vestige of the station's existence.
Transportation
The M86 Select Bus Service bus serves the street. Until the 1950s, the Second Avenue and Third Avenue elevated lines served 86th Street on the East Side.
The New York and Harlem Railroad used to operate an 86th Street rail line which ran on the surface from Central Park West, through Central Park and on to York Avenue. The line then turned north and terminated at the Astoria Ferry landing at 92nd Street.
It is currently served by the following New York City Subway stations:
The Metro-North Railroad has an abandoned underground station at 86th Street and Park Avenue.