Gramercy Park

This article is about a place in New York City. For the place of the same name in Los Angeles, see Gramercy Park, Los Angeles.

Gramercy Park
Neighborhood and park
Gramercy Park in 2007
The view from the south gate of Gramercy Park, looking north from Gramercy Park South (East 20th Street), with the statue of Edwin Booth in the center. The Gramercy Park Hotel is visible in the left background. (May 2007)
Map
Location in New York City
Coordinates: 40°44′17″N 73°59′10″W / 40.738°N 73.986°W / 40.738; -73.986
Country United States
State New York
CityNew York City
BoroughManhattan
Community DistrictManhattan 5,[1] Manhattan 6[2]
Population
 (2010)[3]
 • Total27,988
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes
10003, 10010
Area codes212, 332, 646, and 917
Gramercy Park Historic District
LocationManhattan, New York City
Roughly bounded by:
Coordinates40°44′16″N 73°59′10″W / 40.73778°N 73.98611°W / 40.73778; -73.98611
Architectural styleGreek Revival, Italianate, Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.80002691
Added to NRHPJanuary 23, 1980[4]

Gramercy Park[note 1] (/ˈɡræmərsi/) is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park,[5] and the surrounding neighborhood (which is also referred to as Gramercy),[6] in Manhattan in New York City.[7]

The approximately 2-acre (0.8 ha) park, located in the Gramercy Park Historic District,[8] is one of two private parks in New York City – the other is Sunnyside Gardens Park in Queens[9][10][11] – as well as one of only three in the state;[12] only people residing around the park who pay an annual fee have a key,[13] and the public is not generally allowed in – although the sidewalks of the streets around the park are a popular jogging, strolling, and dog-walking route.

The neighborhood is mostly located within Manhattan Community District 6,[2] with a small portion in Community District 5.[1] It is generally perceived to be a quiet and safe area.[13]

The neighborhood, associated historic district, and park have generally received positive reviews. Calling it "a Victorian gentleman who has refused to die", Charlotte Devree in The New York Times said that "There is nothing else quite like Gramercy Park in the country."[14] When the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission created the Gramercy Park Historic District in 1966, they quoted from John B. Pine's 1921 book, The Story of Gramercy Park:

The laying out of Gramercy Park represents one of the earliest attempts in this country at 'City Planning'. ... As a park given to the prospective owners of the land surrounding it and held in trust for those who made their homes around it, Gramercy Park is unique in this City, and perhaps in this country, and represents the only neighborhood, with possibly one exception, which has remained comparatively unchanged for eighty years – the Park is one of the City's Landmarks.[8]

  1. ^ a b "NYC Planning | Community Profiles". communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov. New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "NYC Planning | Community Profiles". communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov. New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference PLP5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  5. ^ Kugel, Seth (July 23, 2006). "The Ultimate Neighborhood Park". The New York Times. Retrieved February 11, 2019. A visit to the Gramercy Park neighborhood, on the East Side of Manhattan, can be frustrating ... But the easily walkable neighborhood deserves a tour ...
  6. ^ "Gramercy & Flatiron". New York. March 10, 2003. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  7. ^ Bonanos, Christopher, ed. (May 21, 2005). "Gotham Real Estate: No Walk in the Park". New York. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference lpc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Konigsberg, Eric (June 19, 2008). "The Guardian of Gramercy Park". The New York Times. Retrieved February 11, 2019. Gramercy is one of two private parks in New York City (the other, in Queens, is Sunnyside Gardens Park) and a key is required not only to enter, but to leave through a gate in its wraparound wrought-iron fence.
  10. ^ Wilkinson, Christina (September 12, 2005). "Sunnyside, Queens". Forgotten New York. Retrieved February 11, 2019. Sunnyside Gardens Park is one of only two private residential parks in the city. The other is Gramercy Park in Manhattan, which is much more elite and whose owners would probably scoff at the idea of extending access to outsiders.
  11. ^ Vitullo-Martin, Julia (July 7, 2005). "A Pioneering Queens Garden Community Flourishes Anew". New York Sun. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  12. ^ Lisi, Michael (December 5, 2010). "Washington Park, Troy". Times Union. Hearst Corporation. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  13. ^ a b Cohen, Joyce (August 29, 1999). "If You're Thinking of Living In/Gramercy Park; A Long Sense of History, And a Private Park". The New York Times. Retrieved February 11, 2019. Most distinctive of all is that Gramercy Park itself is the only private park in the city. Landscaped and leafy, the park defines the neighborhood, which runs from 14th to 23d streets and Park Avenue South to Third Avenue. The gates are locked for all but one afternoon a year, usually the first Saturday in May, when the park is open to the public.
  14. ^ Devree, Charlotte (December 8, 1957). "Private Life of a Park". The New York Times. Retrieved February 11, 2019. More or less at the center of New York's current binge of tearing down the old and putting up the new, a small sector successfully resists, much like a Victorian gentleman who has refused to die.


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