72nd Street (Manhattan)


72nd Street is one of the major bi-directional crosstown streets in New York City's borough of Manhattan. The street primarily runs through the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods. It is one of the few streets to go through Central Park via Women's Gate, Terrace Drive, and Inventors Gate, though Terrace Drive is often closed to vehicular traffic.

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 in width.
On October 11, 2006, the Belaire Apartments, a 50-story apartment complex located at 524 E. 72nd Street between York Avenue and FDR Drive, was the site of a plane crash involving Cory Lidle's aircraft.

Landmarks

East Side

At Third Avenue, the Tower East apartment block set a new model for high-rise residences: a slab tower set back from the street front and isolated on a low base.
The architects McKim, Mead & White’s mansion for Charles L. Tiffany, built in 1882 at the northeast corner of Madison Avenue, was demolished in 1936 and replaced by an apartment block. The Rhinelander Mansion, on the southeast corner, is now occupied by Ralph Lauren.
The mansion that once stood at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue was the first of the Gilded Age mansions to be replaced by an apartment block, 907 Fifth Avenue.

West Side

The Dakota apartment building is located on the northwest corner of West 72nd Street and Central Park West.
The Park & Tilford Building, on the southwest corner of West 72nd St and Columbus Avenue, built by the eponymous retailer, was designed by McKim Mead and White. The New York Times observed that the opening in September 1893, "was attended by hundreds, who admired the building and the artistic display of goods." The article added "There is no business building more handsome on the west side" and the New-York Tribune called it "a decided architectural ornament to the neighborhood." The building was converted into residential apartments in 1972.
At 72nd Street, Broadway crosses Amsterdam Avenue, creating a small triangular space, Verdi Square; across the street to the south lies Sherman Square.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Monument at the southern tip of Riverside Park marks the intersection of 72nd Street and Riverside Drive. The Chatsworth Apartments, a designated landmark designed by the architect John E. Scharsmith, sits at 72nd Street's western end, where it curves into Riverside Boulevard.

Transportation

72nd Street has three New York City Subway stops along its length:
The M72 provides crosstown bus service to Upper East Side – York Avenue or West Side – Freedom Place via 72nd Street. The M72 bus crosses Central Park at 65th Street, because Terrace Drive within the park is often closed to vehicular traffic. Westbound service begins at First Avenue. The provide additional service west of Broadway, heading north on Riverside Drive and south on West End Avenue, respectively.
The New York Central Railroad's 72nd Street station previously existed on Park Avenue, which now carries the Park Avenue main line of the Metro-North Railroad. The station closed in approximately 1901, and an emergency exit is the only vestige of the station's existence.

Notable residents