New York Songlines: 57th Street

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HUDSON RIVER









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Artkraft Strauss Building

Corner (830 12th Ave): This was the workshop of a famous sign-making company, responsible for many of the iconic Times Square signs: the smoking Camel ad, Bond Clothing, the Morgan Stanley ticker and several versions of the Coca-Cola ad. For almost a century, they were responsible for Times Square's New Years Eve ball-lowering.

The garage that Robert De Niro works out of in Taxi Driver was on West 57th, somewhere on this block; it's since been demolished.

617: From 1980-88, this was the site of the Red Parrot, an enormous disco whose decor included a 10-foot-tall neon parrot. Cab Calloway used to play here on New Year's Eve; Madonna, Smokey Robinson and George Clinton also played here. The space was earlier the roller disco High Rollers, and later became the club Emerald City. The building was demolished in 2004.

Corner: Toyota and Volkswagen


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CBS Broadcast Center

518-530 (corner): This is the headquarters of CBS News, from which The CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes and other shows are broadcast. It's also CBS Sports' main broadcast facility, as well as the home of the local WCBS TV and radio affiliates. The longest-running soap opera, Guiding Light, is taped here; As the World Turns and the defunct Search for Tomorrow used to be made here.

The building, which dates to 1937, was formerly a dairy depot for Sheffield Farms. CBS bought it in 1952 and converted it to TV studios in 1963.





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John Jay College

555 (block): CUNY's school of criminal justice, for police and associated professions. It's named for John Jay, president of the Continental Congress and co-author of the Federalist Papers. The extension here was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and is scheduled to be completed in 2009. Replaces a high-tech BMW dealership.

521: International Flavors and Fragrances, a perfume lab, in a 1927 building given a makeover in 1995 by Der Scutt

Unitel Studios

515: Home to such programs as Ask Dr. Ruth and The Sally Jesse Raphael Show.


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422: Trinity Presbyterian Church, built in 1886 as a Sunday school; has the Looking Glass Theater, a female-oriented company, in the basement.

400 (corner): The Windermere, a complex of three seven-story buildings that went up in 1880-81-- the oldest surviving large apartment project in the neighborhood. It was originally housing for bachelor women.

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435: Impersonator Will Jordan has lived here. When people imitate Ed Sullivan, they're really imitating Jordan imitating Sullivan.

417: The Catholic Apostolic Church, built in 1886 to a Francis H. Kimball design; the red-brick building decorated with terra cotta is "a superior work of urban architecture," says the AIA Guide. This church was not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, but was home to an secretive, apocalyptic Protestant sect founded in 1832.

401 (corner): Morning Star Restaurant, 24-hour diner


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There used to be a hill that peaked around this intersection, dubbed San Juan Hill after the Cuban battlesite, that was the center of a African-American community c. 1900.

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Parc Vendome

Parc Vendome by jeepeenyc, on Flickr

350 (corner): This is one of four buildings in the Parc Vendome, a complex of luxury apartment building topped with mansard roofs. The buildings surround a landscaped central courtyard which is unusually visible to the public. This 21-floor section was the first to be built, in 1929. It has been home to Christopher Hewitt ("Mr. Belvedere"), Georgia Engel (Georgette on the Mary Tyler Moore Show) and Arthur Tracy (known as "The Street Singer").

340: The section of the Parc Vendome was built in 1932, completing the complex. It's been home to artist James Montgomery Flagg (creator of the "I Want You" poster), actor Hal Holbrook and actress Virginia Mayo.

322: Musician and actor Steve Van Zandt has lived at this address.

318: This was the address of the West Side YMCA, where artist George Bellows lived when he arrived from Columbus, Ohio, in 1904.

Hearst Magazine Building

Hearst Tower, atop the former National Magazine Building by vidiot, on Flickr

300 (corner): The six-story base of this building, com- missioned by William Randolph Hearst to house his magazine empire, was completed in 1928, a "sculptured extravaganza" designed by Joseph Urban. Plans to add a tower were halted by the Great Depression but were finally followed through in 2006, when 40 stories were added in a distinctive triangular grid design by Norman Foster. By preserving the original facade and adding a distinctive new form to the skyline, the building received wide acclaim, including being named the year's best new skyscraper by Emporis. It's now Hearst's world headquarters, housing such publications as Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan.

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Henry Hudson Hotel

353: Built in 1929 as the clubhouse for the American Women's Association, designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris. The U.N. Security Council met here in 1946. For many years this was the headquarters of WNET, the New York public TV station; Ian Schrager bought the building in 1997. Comedian Nipsey Russell has lived here.

347: The Collonade has been home to sportscaster Greg Gumbel.







333: Westmore Apartments, seven stories built c. 1940. Holidays, Jamaican take-out, is on the ground floor.

325: Le Biarritz, French opened 1965





315: Bagel Baron, run by a self-described "crazy bagel man who loves art"; Yelo, commercial napping center featuring sleep pods.

311: Providence is a multi-level club/lounge/ restaurant in a space that was once the Manhattan Baptist Church, built in the 1920s. From 1969 until 1989, it was Mediasound Studios, a recording studio that produced albums by John Lennon (Walls and Bridges), Jimi Hendrix (Midnight Lightning), Stevie Wonder (Innervisions etc.), Ramones (Rocket to Russia), Meat Loaf (Bat Out of Hell), Guns 'N' Roses (Appetite for Destruction), Rolling Stones (Tattoo You, etc.), Billy Joel (Glass Houses etc.), Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, Kool & the Gang.... In 1992 it became Le Bar Bat, vampire-themed nightclub that was briefly trendy.

309: Composer Bela Bartok lived here in 1945, the year he died.

301 (corner): 1 Central Park Place, a nonsensical name (the park is three blocks from here) for a 1988 luxury tower by David, Brody & Associates. Al Pacino and Gene Hackman have lived here.


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The eastern boundary of Hell's Kitchen

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250 (block): The Fisk Building is a 26-story office building from 1921, designed by Carčrre & Hastings and Shreve, Lamb & Blake for the Fisk Tire and Rubber Company. It has its own entrance to the Columbus Circle subway station. Once a hub for auto industry offices, it now specializes in entertainment; David Bowie had his offices here in the 1980s, and it's currently home to RZO, which provides business services to a roster of rock stars like Bowie, the Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna, etc.

The Fisk Building where supervillain Wilson Fisk (aka The Kingpin) works seems to be an entirely different building--though it is somewhere in Midtown.

















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Columbus Tower

3 Columbus Circle marked up for surgery by jskrybe, on Flickr

257 (block): Also known as the Newsweek Building, for its most prominent tenant (since 1994), the first three stories of this 25-story building went up in 1921 as the Collonade Building, noted for its Ionic columns (William Welles Bosworth, architect). The Broadway side was leased to the Hudson Motor Car Company for an Essex showroom, a space that from 1974 to 2003 was home to Coliseum Books, one of New York's most storied bookstores. The northern corner is the Cosmic Coffee House. In 1926, Shreve & Lamb added 22 stories to the building, which became General Motors' East Coast headquarters; the building was known as the General Motors Building until 1968, when the company moved to 5th Avenue. The current owner decided to reclad the building in glass in 2008, an aesthetically dubious move. It's also being renamed, inanely, 3 Columbus Circle, despite not being on Columbus Circle.

251 (corner): This is the address of Newsweek magazine within Columbus Tower.


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250: The Wylie Agency, perhaps the most prestigious literary agency in town, representing the likes of Norman Mailer, Salman Rushdie and Larry McMurtry.

224: Argonaut Building, named for the legendary Greek explorers.

220: Lee's Art Shop, at this location since the 1970s, is in an 1897 building erected for the American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects.

212: Brooklyn Diner, glitzy faux diner, features snazzed-up versions of greasy spoon fare.

New York. West 57th Street. Brooklyn Diner by Tomás Fano, on Flickr




















Rodin Studios

NYC: Rodin Studios by wallyg, on Flickr

200 (corner): 1917 apartment building designed for artists; the two-story studios have since been split, but their double-sized windows are still visible on the French Gothic facade designed by the Woolworth Tower's Cass Gilbert. As it turned out, not too many artists lived here (or could afford to), but it was home from 1927-31 to author Theodore Dreiser, by then a well-off radical who thought fancy buildings like his own should be collectivized. On the ground floor today are Pick a Bagel and Lilli's, Asian.

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Corner (1780 Broadway): Lazarus Building houses the Perfect Picture Store, Pax Wholesome Foods.

221: From 1984 until 2005, this was the New York Hard Rock Cafe--the theme restaurant that started them all. The back end of a 1959 Cadillac marked the entrance. Relocated to Times Square.

Art Students' League

The Art Students League of New York by Marjorie Lipan, on Flickr

215: The influential art school, founded in 1875, built this French Renaissance home for itself, designed by Henry J. Hardenbergh, in 1892. Among the artists who taught here were George Bellows, John Sloan, Robert Henri, Isabel Bishop, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Paul Manship, Thomas Hart Benton, Thomas Eakins and Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The students included some of the major figures of 20th century American art, including Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Georgia O'Keefe, Man Ray, Mark Rothko, Alexander Calder, Norman Rockwell and Maurice Sendak. Charlton Heston modeled here. On August 2, 1906, The school was raided by Anthony Comstock of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, who confiscated copies of the school's journal containing "indecent" nude illustrations.

The Osborne

205 (corner): A rambling apartment palace developed by Thomas Osborne, who declared bankruptcy before it opened in 1885-- unsurprisingly, since he paid for the likes of Augustus St. Gaudens, John La Forge and Louis Comfort Tiffany to work on it. Leonard Bernstein had an office here, where Rosalind Russell auditioned for Wonderful Town. Actor Gig Young killed his wife and himself here on October 19, 1978. TV movie host Robert Osborne lives here, not entirely coincidentally. Others who have lived here include ad man J. Walter Thompson, Shirley Temple Booth, Ethel Barrymore, Ralph Bellamy, composer Virgil Thomson, director Harold Clurman, actress Lynn Redgrave, writer Fran Lebowitz, critic Jeffrey Lyons, pianist Andre Watts and comedian Imogene Coca. On the ground floor are La Parisienne, French; P.J. Carney's, Irish pub; and Cafe Europa.


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Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall by Matchity, on Flickr

Corner (881 7th Ave): Legendary concert hall built by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie in 1891. How do you get here? "Practice!"

Among the greats that have performed or spoken here are Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonin Dvorak, Ignace Paderewski, Vladimir Horowitz, Leonard Bernstein, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Harry Belafonte, The Beatles, Mark Twain, Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King. The film Unfaithfully Yours was shot here. Carnegie Hall by Scurzuzu, on Flickr

In the building are the Carnegie Hall Studios, which has housed such artists as Charles Dana Gibson (of the "Gibson Girl"), John Philip Sousa, Isadora Duncan, Agnes de Mille, Marlon Brando, John Barrymore and Paddy Chayefsky.

Carnegie Hall Tower

carnegie hall tower - new york by maurizio.mwg, on Flickr

152: The 60-story building, designed by Cesar Pelli, was squeezed in between its namesake and the Russian Tea Room in 1990. It replaced an apartment building called The Rembrandt, where artist Childe Hassam lived from 1893-1901, and where Marc Connelly wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Green Pastures in 1929.

Russian Tea Room

It's not Burger King by jwilly, on Flickr

150: Opened around 1926 by Viennese choreographer Albertina Rasch and originally catering to former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet, this restaurant (which has closed and reopened a couple of times in recent years) became in the 1950s one of New York's most storied show-business hangouts, with guests like Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, George Ballanchine, Sam Cohn and Rudolf Nureyev treating it as their clubhouse and office. Russian Tea Room by rho-bin, on Flickr In the 1980s it became one of Manhattan's power rooms, with the likes of Warren Buffet, Joan Rivers and Helen Gurley Brown helping to consume more than a ton of caviar a year. Madonna was fired from her job here as a coat check girl for inappropriate attire. The joint's pre-revolutionary decor can be seen in films like Tootsie, Manhattan, The Turning Point and Unfaithfully Yours.

Metropolitan Tower

by mattlehrer, on Flickr

146: This 1987 glass sliver was designed by developer Harry Macklowe; it's been home to director Martin Scorsese. Jeff Bridges lives here in The Fisher King.

140: Kate's Paperie was the original Planet Hollywood, which opened here in 1991, backed by Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and displaying movie memorabilia like Judy Garland's dress from The Wizard of Oz and James Dean's motorcycle. It subsequently moved to Times Square. The building, like 130 to its east, went up in 1908 as a studio cooperative, both designed by Pollard & Steinam.

130: This twin to 140 has been home to artist Childe Hassam (from 1908-1935), writers William Dean Howells and Joseph Heller, actor José Ferrer and musician John Oates. Ray Charles and the Rolling Stones rented space here, and Woody Allen's production company had its offices here from the 1960s to the 1990s. The lobby features memorabilia from the many famous residents. Arche shoes is on the ground floor.

120: This building was the Hotel St. Hubert, where novelist William Dean Howells lived from 1910 until his death here on May 11, 1920. Now it's home to the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Service, which traces its roots back to United Hebrew Charities, founded in 1874. Cleo & Patek purses, Daniele B. jewelry are on the ground floor.

Le Parker Meridien

118: A high-end hotel that went up in 1981. Norma's is the house restaurant. Built on the site of the Great Northern Hotel, home to Isadora Duncan (1922-23) and William Saroyan (1935).

110: Directors Guild of America

104: This Art Deco building went up in 1938 as one of Horn & Hardart's Automats (Ralph B. Bencker, architect). Now Shelly's New York.

100 (corner): Carnegie House, 21-story grey-brick apartment building that went up in 1962--named for Carnegie Hall, a longish block away. Ballerina Alexandra Danilova lived here.

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The Briarcliffe

171 (corner): A 12-story brownstone apartment building from 1922, designed by Warren & Wetmore, architects of Grand Central. The developer, Charles K. Eagle, shot himself in the penthouse apartment in 1928, a month after selling the building. Anita Loos, author of the satirical novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, died here in 1981 at the age of 93. Loos started out as a screenwriter for D.W. Griffith while still a teenager.

Chalif Normal School of Dancing Building

165: A landmark designed by George and Henry Boehm, built in 1916 to house the school of Russian-born dance teacher Louis Chalif, who declared in 1924: "As long as orchestras syncopate like barbarians banging on human skulls in a cannibalistic orgy, shoulders and arms will wriggle and writhe. Given a dignified tango or waltz rhythm, the body responds gracefully and with modesty." The Chalif family lost the building in 1934; from 1946 to 1959 it was the headquarters of the music publisher Carl Fischer, and since then it's housed Columbia Artists Management, which specializes in classic music and dance.



153: A brick-and-limestone Renaissance Revival row house





151: Was Fontana di Trevi, restaurant that opened 1956. A mural of the Trevi Fountain was in the lobby. Billy Joel says his song "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" was inspired by this place. The Queen Anne-style row house was built in 1886 and designed by Douglas and John Jardine.

















147: Another Queen Anne row house from 1886 by the Jardine brothers.

145: Plaza Watch and Jewelry Exchange; The Sun Room



















Salisbury Hotel

calvary baptist by sushiesque, on Flickr

123: A 16-story apartment hotel opened in 1931. The structure was built for the Calvary Baptist Church, which was founded in 1847, moved to this site in 1883 and is still on the ground floor. The church's Geneva School is also based here. Stack's Rare Coins was established in 1935 and has been here since 1953.

119: Phantom of Broadway

117: Angelo's Coal Oven Pizza

115: Green Cafe

Steinway Hall

Sculpture Steinway Hall 57th St by clydesan, on Flickr

109-111: Built by the piano company in 1925, designed by Warren & Wetmore, who topped it with an Ionic temple. The facade features sculptures of Apollo and Euterpe, muse of music. Opera singer Joan Sutherland, "La Stupenda," has lived here. The New York offices of The Economist magazine are here, and Steinway still has a gallery of pianos here, though it's now being turned into a high-end hotel by Starwood Capital.

107: Ritz Thrift Shop specializes in pre-owned furs.

Buckingham Hotel

101 (corner): Opened in 1929, this hotel has been home to numerous artists and musicians, including Ignace Paderewski, the former prime minister of Poland, who lived here from 1929 until his death in 1941. Author Damon Runyon lived here in 1944-46, the last years of his life.


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60 (corner): Hemisphere House, a 20-story white-brick apartment building put up in 1963. Author Jerzy Kosinski killed himself here on May 3, 1991, in a manner detailed in his novel The Hermit of 69th Street. On the ground floor are Rue 57 Brasserie, Carnegie Luggage.

58: Eebele Paris handbags is in the Hemisphere House. This address was formerly the Sherwood Studio Building, where artist Childe Hassam lived in 1903.

56: Carnegie Cards & Gifts









50: Mangia, Italian









40: Nobu 57, Midtown outpost of noted sushi restaurant. Also Z Chemists, drugstore; Keyo Jewelry.

30: This building was home to the Art of This Century Gallery, launched in 1942 by Peggy Guggenheim and her husband Max Ernst; before it closed in 1947, it helped introduce such artists as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell and Joseph Cornell.

28: GNC

24: New York Gallery Building was the home of Greenberg & Hammer, dressmaking supplies, from 1962 until sometime after 2002. Now houses Le Sak purses, Atmosphere.

20: Brookstone electronics

18: Brite Smile dentistry

16: Metropolitan Antiques

14: Mackenzie Childs ceramics

12: Sharper Image electronics

10: Club Monaco clothing

4-6: Theodore Roosevelt's family built an Italianate mansion here in 1873, when the future president was 15. He was still living here on February 14, 1884, when his mother and wife both died on the same day.

2: Here was the home of W.C. Whitney, former Navy secretary, where on August 29, 1896 President Grover Cleveland met with Chinese viceroy Li Hung--the first meeting between a U.S. president and a representative of the Chinese government.

Crown Building

Crown Building by elPadawan, on Flickr

Corner (730 5th Ave): Built in 1921 as the Heckscher Building to a Warren & Wetmore design, it was one of the first office towers put up after the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which mandated setbacks. Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos secretly bought the building in 1981. The Museum of Modern Art's first home was here on the 12th floor; its Modern Architecture--International Exhibition show in 1932, curated by Philip Johnson, established the International Style as the reining architectural fashion. The American Mercury, edited by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan, opened here in 1923. Now houses the jewelry stores Bulgari (in the space that used to be I. Miller), Piaget and Mikimoto, as well as Playboy Enterprises.

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57 (corner): Cornerstone of Medical Arts Center, a rehab clinic, is in a 1928 gilt-trimmed office building. This was once home to Club Martinique, where Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford and Danny Thomas used to play; from 1977-84 it was the Ice Palace 57, a spin-off of a Fire Island disco that was said to have the best light show in town. The space later became the Silver Shadow.

Previously at this address was a rundown three-story brick building where Dorothy Parker lived in the early 1920s when her marriage was breaking up. Illustrator Neysa McMein (she created Betty Crocker) had a studio across the hall, which became a gathering place for the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Harpo Mark and George Gershwin. McMein is said to have popularized the game of Charades in America.

53: Marlon Brando lived here with his roommate Wally Cox from 1949 until 1951. "They lived a rather Bohemian existence together, with Cox pursuing his interests in silversmithing, model trains and playing his recorder while Brando delved into Zen Buddhism, bongo playing, yoga and fencing."--Streets Where They Lived Cox eventually moved out because Brando's raccoon kept eating Cox's shoes.

45: Fioravanti Bespoke Custom Tailors; Guy Laroche

43: Lladro, kitschy though expensive figurines

41: J. Sisters, beauty salon owned by seven Brazilian sisters named Jocely, Jonice, Janea, Joyce, Juracy, Jussara and Judeseia, is credited with introducing Brazilian bikini waxing to the United States in 1994. Also Shelly's Trattoria, Italian.

37: Was Harry Stewart's, tailor to the stars Now the address of Mondial, antiques.

33: Hammer Galleries by kramchang, on Flickr

31: Rizzoli Bookshop is in a c. 1905 building that got a snazzy restoration in 1986.

29: Bolton's is in the Ampico Building, built for the American Piano Company in 1923, designed by Cross & Cross. The piano company's star logo can still be seen on the eastern wall.

17: Linda Lee Thomas lived here in 1918-19 while she was being courted by Cole Porter.

Solow Building

big red 9 by Nick Sherman, on Flickr

9: Also known as the "Bellbottom Building" for its sloping glass facade, this is a 1974 office building designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill. There's a large red sculpture of a 9 on the sidewalk out front. Brasserie 8 1/2 is in the basement.

7: The Foundation for Hellenic Culture. On the ground floor is Ascot Chang.

3: Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg Van Cleef & Arpels by Sinbadblue Kong, on Flickr

1 (corner): Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry store was built on the site of the mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, designed by George B. Post and built from 1882-94; it was demolished in 1927 to make way for the row of shops. (Its gate was salvaged and placed at Central Park's 103rd Street entrance.) This Cornelius was the grandson and namesake of Commodore Vanderbilt, the railroad tycoon.


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Tiffany's

Tiffany's on Fifth Avenue by hotdogger13, on Flickr

Corner (727 5th Ave): Where Holly Golightly has breakfast. Tiffany & Co. was founded as a stationery store in 1832 by Charles Lewis Tiffany (and co.); by 1853 it had become the noted jewelry store that it is today. On Charles' death in 1902, his son, the glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, became the firm's artistic director. Tiffany's is largely responsible for establishing the carat as the standard unit of measurement for diamond size.

The company moved here in 1940 to a not particularly distinguished building by Cross & Cross. It replaced the Collis P. Huntington mansion, built 1892 to a George B. Post design. The nine-foot Atlas holding a clock above the entrance has graced various Tiffany's stores since 1853; it's wood painted to look like bronze, made by a sculptor of ship figureheads. Previously on this site lived Cole Porter with his wife Linda Lee Thomas.

6: Niketown opened in 1996.

24: This address in the IBM Building is the home of the Marian Goodman Gallery, founded 1977.

IBM Building

The IBM Building, 590 Madison Ave by xrrr, on Flickr

Corner (590 Madison Ave): A 40-story wedge-shaped glass office building erected in 1983, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes for the computer giant, which moved out in the early 1990s. The dramatically cantilevered entrance reportedly added $10 million to the construction cost; a red Alexander Calder sculpture ( Saurien, 1975) was added later. NYC - 590 Madison Avenue - Saurien by wallyg, on Flickr The building includes a bamboo-filled atrium, whose entrance features the fountain Levitated Mass by Michael Heizer. The former IBM Gallery served as the home for the Dahesh Museum of Art, a collection of academic art founded by a Persian mystic, from 2003 until 2008.

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by kramchang, on Flickr

1 (corner): The site of Mary Mason Jones' own home on Marble Row. It was replaced in 1931 with the New York Trust Co. Building, by Cross & Cross, which followed the white-marble tradition that Jones had set. From 1993-2001, this was home to the whimsical Warner Brothers Store. Now Luis Vuitton, which came in with a remodeling that replaced much of the white marble with a glossy green plastic-like substance. "Every dog and every cat and every people has Louis Vuitton" -- Shonen Knife

3: Yves Saint Laurent

























9: Burberry









15: The Chanel Building, featuring the New York flagship of the clothing line, is a restrained 1996 work by Platt Byard Dovell.

19: The flagship of Christian Dior is in a 1999 building by Christian de Portzamparc featuring a folded glass facade. The offices above belong to LVMH, the parent company of Luis Vuitton and Moet Hennessy champagne.

Corner (598 Madison Ave): Furla purses, Mont Blanc pens


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South:

Corner (575 Madison Ave): A 25-story building by Emery Roth & Sons put up in 1950.

32: The Pace/MacGill gallery shares a building with Victoria's Secret.

36: Christian LaCroix clothing

38: Frank Muller Watchland

40: Marlborough New York gallery is one of a number of reminders of the days when 57th Street was the center of the art world. On the ground floor is Audomars Piquet, jewelry.

42: Turnbull & Associates, clothing

46: Dalva Brostine antiques NYC: Jacob & Co. by wallyg, on Flickr

48: Jacob & Co. jewelry, founded in 1986, was popularized by celebrities like Notorious BIG and Faith Evans in the 1990s. This flagship store, designed to resemble a diamond mine, opened in 2004.





Corner (450 Park): 450 Park Avenue, designed by Emery Roth & Sons and built in 1972, is "the handsomest black skyscraper in the city" (City Review). On the ground floor are Suarez purses, Tanagru jewelry.

Songwriter Jerome Kern collapsed on the sidewalk here on November 5, 1945; he died at Doctor's Hospital six days later.

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37: The Project is an art gallery located here.

Fuller Building

Fuller Building by cranberries, on Flickr

41 (corner): A 40-story Art Moderne tower built in 1929 by the Fuller Construction Company, who also made the Flatiron Building (which was also originally known as the Fuller Building), as well as the U.N. complex and Lever House. The lower floors were designed to be used by art galleries, several of whom (like Pierre Matisse Gallery) were located here before the art scene moved to Soho before moving to Chelsea. (The Cohen Amador and Howard Greenberg photography galleries are still located here.) FDR adviser Bernard Baruch also had an office here.

Four Seasons Hotel

TheCanadian by TravelingMango, on Flickr

57: Extremely pricey luxury hotel is in a 52-story Art Moderne I.M. Pei building from 1993--the city's tallest hotel. The tower's octagonal form has been likened to the Temple of Dendur at the Met.

Corner (460 Park): The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea (South, that is) is in this "rather prosaic and depressing" ( City Review) 22-story office building, built in 1954 to an Emery Roth & Sons design.


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South:

Universal Pictures Building

Corner (445 Park): A 1947 building by Kahn & Jacobs is considered the first "wedding cake" building--reducing its cross-section with setbacks as it goes up, in precise accordance with the zoning law. Houses Daralamb, women's clothing; Citishoes; Nelson & Nelson Silver; and T. Anthony purses.

110: Musician Phil Collins has lived here. On the ground floor are SJ Shrubsole, antiques; BLT Steak, part of the Laurent Tourondel empire; Gioia Galleria, jewelry; and Leo Kaplan Ltd., antiques.




































120: Cafe Fonduta

122: Palace Restaurant

124: Playwright Bertolt Brecht lived in this building for four months in 1943, staying with his lover Ruth Berlau. Now home to Wally Findlay Galleries.


130: Hotel 57 was the Habitat Hotel, before that the Allerton House for Women. Opia is the house restaurant.

Corner (694 Lexington): Kenneth Cole shoes

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Ritz Tower

Ritz Tower by Rafael Chamorro, on Flickr

Corner (455 Park): This 540-foot apartment hotel, designed by Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings, was a sensation when it was completed in 1926 as the city's first residential skyscraper-- "the actual arrival of the home 500 feet high," one critic marveled. It was bought in 1928 by William Randolph Hearst, who often stayed here with his mistress Marion Davies until he sold the place in 1938; other residents have included Greta Garbo, Paulette Goddard and Norman Lear. TV personality Arlene Francis lived here from the 1950s until 1995. The ground floor featured the celebrated French restaurant Le Pavillon, from 1957-71; the space later became the Women's Bank of New York and is now a Border's.

The Galleria

115-117: A 1973 57-story luxury apartment building by David Kenneth Specter, named for the seven-story lobby that allows passage to 58th Street. The strange-looking penthouse, looking a bit like a giant robot, results from the demands of eccentric philanthropist Stewart Mott, who demanded a peculiar layout and then never moved in to the apartment. Magician David Copperfield bought it in 1997. Guitarist Eric Clapton's four-year-old son Conor fell from the 53rd floor of this building in 1991, a tragedy Clapton wrote about in the songs "Tears in Heaven," "The Circus Left Town" and "Lonely Stranger." Actor Buck Henry has also been a resident here. Marvin Kagan Carpets and the Jewish deli Mendy's are on the ground floor.

123: Alice Kwarther Antiques

125: Daffy's Midtown East by Randy Levine, on Flickr

135 (corner): A 31-story Post-Modern office tower with a concave facade facing the intersection, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and completed in 1987. The plaza in front features a temple-like ring supported by columns. Originally there was a three-level antiques center here called Place des Antiquaires, but it didn't really get off the ground.


S <===           LEXINGTON AVENUE           ===> N

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Corner (695 Lexington): In 1906, this was the address of one Henry A. Newburger, described as the 16-year-old son of a New Jersey dancing teacher, who tried to kill himself by throwing himself off a ferry at West 41st Street; he said he was afraid to tell his father that he had lost his job selling cutlery. Four years later, still living at the same address but now described as a dancing teacher himself, Newburger was arrested for trying to extort $25 from a dentist to expunge a nonexistent complaint. The current building, dating to 1931, has Barami clothing on the ground floor.



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139: Belmora Pizza

141: Tiodara, Italian

147: Hammacher Schlemmer, gadget chain; Le Conial, Vietnamese

153: Royal Athens Antiques; Gotta Have It collectibles; Crush Wine Co.

157 (corner): Bassano Jewelry


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Corner (935 3rd Ave): Includes Maurice Villenchy furniture

High School of Art & Design

Corner (1075 2nd Ave): Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, it moved to this present location in 1960.

252 (corner): A 65-story highrise completed in 2016, part of "Billionaire's Row." One resident is shoe mogul Steve Madden.

Previously on this end of the block, from 1960 to 2012, was the High School of Art and Design — now moved around the corner to 56th Street. Alumni who graduated when the school was located here include playwright Harvey Fierstein, designer Calvin Klein, graphic novelist Art Spiegelman, rap duo Mob Deep and prankster Joey Skaggs

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300 (corner): J.D. Salinger lived in a small apartment here in 1951-52, just after the publication of Catcher in the Rye.

320: Novelist Erich Maria Remarque and his wife, actor Paulette Goddard, lived in the two-story penthouse here. Remarque lived here from 1951 until his death in 1970; Goddard lived here for several years more.

322: Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford have lived in a 1930 studio building by Harry M. Clawson with striking two-story windows.





























Corner (360 E 57th): The Morrison, 25-story apartment building from 1983.

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Corner (300 E 58th): Excelsior Apartments are 47 stories from 1967, called a "white-brick monstrosity" by City Review.





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Queensboro Bridge by Darks Adria, on Flickr Also known as the 59th Street Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge is the one Simon & Garfunkel sing about in "Feeling Groovy." Completed in 1909, the bridge is mentioned in The Great Gatsby: "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world." It features as an icon in Woody Allen's Manhattan and the TV series Taxi. Sparkles of Queensboro Bridge by midweekpost, on Flickr

357 (corner): This 19-story building opened in 1958 was home to "Preppie Killer" Robert Chambers after he was released from his 15-year prison sentence for killing Jennifer Levin in Central Park. He was arrested in 2007 for selling cocaine out of his apartment here and sent back to prison for 19 years.


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400 (corner): 1931 Art Moderne apartment building; includes Sutton Cafe Restaurant.

430: Silent film star Lillian Gish lived here for many years starting in the 1950s. She described the Sutton Place neighborhood as being "like a village where everyone knows you."

444: A 15-story red-brick apartment building from 1927. Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller moved here after their marriage in 1956. Miller moved out when they divorced in 1961, but this was Monroe's residence until her death in 1962. Designer Bill Blass later lived here.

Corner (2 Sutton Place S): Writer William Saroyan lived here in the 1940s, his last New York address; actor George Jessel lived here as well.

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East 57th Street, NYC by DigiDragon, on Flickr


431: A tiny three-story townhouse dwarfed by its neighbors.

447: Actress Tallulah Bankhead lived here from 1962 until her death in 1968. Pianist Bobby Short also lived here.




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Corner (1 Sutton): Financier and art collector J. Paul Getty lived here starting in the mid-1930s.


















What am I missing on 57th Street? Write to Jim Naureckas and tell him about it.

"Life Is an Art on 57th Street," a walk across 57th Street by New York Times writer Sandee Brawarsky.

New York Songlines Home.

Sources for the Songlines.

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