23rd Street (Manhattan)

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East 23rd Street as viewed from Park Avenue (looking west). Some Madison Square trees can be seen one block away on the right side of the street (May 2005).
The famous Flatiron Building is at the intersection of 23rd Street (front), Broadway (left) and Fifth Avenue (right).
The former Stern Brothers department store
The east end of 23rd Street.
A gust of hot air and a woman's skirt on 23rd Street - circa 1901.
23rd Street on a postcard - circa 1907.
The high line
23rd Street at night on a postcard - circa 1910.

The 23rd Street is a wide thoroughfare, the New York City borough Manhattan crosses.

Location and course

23rd Street once stretched from the East River in the east to the Hudson River in the west - but now ends on 11th Avenue in the west . It is one of the few streets in Manhattan that is used in both directions. Like the other east-west streets of Manhattan, it is divided into an east and a west part on Fifth Avenue - in this case on Madison Square Park , where the Flatiron Building is also on the south side of the street . Since 1999, the neighborhood north of 23rd Street around this park has been called NoMad .

West 23rd Street

West 23rd Street runs through the heart of Chelsea . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the west end of West 23rd Street was the landing of the Pavonia Ferry at Pier 63 just north of Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River. A little further east is London Terrace .

In the late 19th century, the western part of 23rd Street was what Broadway is to American theater - with the Opera House Palace and Pike's Opera House one block away from Proctor's Theater , which is still a vaudeville today, and opposite each other the Chelsea Hotel . West 23rd Street remained New York's main theater street until The Empire opened on Broadway about 20 blocks north, ushering in a new era of theater.

The Chelsea Hotel on 23rd Street was New York City's first housing association building. It was built in 1883 and was the tallest building in the city until 1902. Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen lived at the Chelsea Hotel, where Nancy Spungen was stabbed.

The easternmost block of West 23rd Street is part of the Grade I listed Ladies Mile Historic District .

East 23rd Street

East 23rd Street extends from Fifth Avenue to Franklin Delano Rooseveld Drive on the East River and is the main drag of the Gramercy Park neighborhood .

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), headquartered across Madison Square Park  on the corner of Madison Avenue and East 23rd Street ( Metropolitan Life Tower ), played a major role in the way the buildings along East 23rd were built Street designed in the early 20th century. When it was completed in 1909, the Metropolitan Life Tower was the tallest building in the world and was one of the first skyscrapers in Manhattan. MetLife built even a second skyscraper opposite the park (11 Madison Avenue), which actually should be much larger, but the outbreak of the global economic crisis forced MetLife to build a smaller version. Nevertheless, the current building is considered an Art Deco masterpiece . Even Peter Cooper Village was once initiated by MetLife to build buildings for people with average incomes. Peter Cooper Village was a sister project to MetLife's Stuyvesant Town , which was built directly across the street - south of 20th Street .

At the east end of East 23rd Street is Stuyvesant Cove Park and Asser Levy Public Baths, as well as a parking garage that is now a gas station.

On October 17, 1966, a fire raged in this street (also: 23rd Street Fire ). It broke out in a basement at 7 East 22nd Street and soon expanded into the basement at 6 East 23rd Street - a five-story commercial building with a drug store on the first floor. Twelve firefighters lost their lives - ten of them fell into the burning basement, while two other firefighters fell victim to the conflagration and heat on the first floor.

Local public transport

Every New York subway line that crosses 23rd Street has a stop there: the BMT Broadway Line , IND Eighth Avenue Line , IND Sixth Avenue Line , IRT Broadway - Seventh Avenue Line, and the IRT Lexington Avenue Line . The Port Authority Trans-Hudson also has a stop at 23rd Street.

In addition, the bus runs M23 of MTA New York City Transit on 23rd Street, where once trams wrong ( Twenty-Third Street Railway ).

Crossings (east to west)

Web links

Commons : 23rd Street (Manhattan)  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Elaine Louie: The Trendy Discover NoMad Land, And Move In. In: The New York Times . August 5, 1999, accessed July 5, 2012 .
  2. ^ Sanna Feirstein: Naming New York: Manhattan Places and How They Got Their Names . New York University Press, New York 2002, ISBN 0-8147-2712-3 , pp. 103 .
  3. ↑ Adam Sternbergh: Soho. Nolita. Dumbo. NoMad? Branding the last unnamed neighborhood in Manhattan. In: New York . April 11, 2010, accessed July 5, 2012 .
  4. ^ Lisa Chamberlain: Change at the Chelsea, Shelter of the Arts. In: The New York Times . June 19, 2007. Retrieved July 5, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Melissa Matlins: Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower. In: The Skyscraper Museum. Retrieved July 5, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Urban Apartment Dwelling Builds Momentum, 1930-1950. In: On-Line Residential. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007 ; accessed on July 5, 2012 .
  7. ^ Asser Levy Recreation Center. In: Reed Construction Data. Retrieved July 5, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Michelle O'Donnell: Oct. 17, 1966, When 12 Firemen Died. In: The New York Times . October 17, 2006, accessed July 5, 2012 .