Metropolitan Museum Historic District
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Historic Districts

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM

The Metropolitan Museum Historic District epitomizes the architectural development of the Upper East Side in a variety of architectural styles and building types ranging from later 19th-century brownstone houses to mid-20th century apartment buildings.

The cosmopolitan Metropolitan Museum Historic District was designated in 1977 and runs along Fifth Avenue from 78th to 86th Street and incorporates many of the houses on the mid-blocks between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Development began in the area in the late 1860s, with the construction of several rows of brownstones in the Italianate style on 78th, 80th and 81st Street. By the end of the 1890s a number of large elegant mansions had been erected on Fifth Avenue. By the turn of the century many of the rows of brownstones were replaced with large mansions. The fashionable new mansions were primarily built in the Beaux-Arts and neo-Renaissance styles.

Across Fifth Avenue from the Historic District, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is an individual landmark. It was designed by various architects between 1864 and 1990 including Calvert Vaux, Richard Morris Hunt, McKim Mead & White, and Kevin Roche. The quality of architecture in the district is extraordinary. Highlights in the district include East 79th Street, inarguably the finest collection of turn-of-the-century town houses in New York, 998 Fifth Avenue, McKim Mead and White’s paradigm of luxury apartment house living, and works by major early-twentieth century architectural firms like Carrère & Hastings (architects of the main branch of the NY Public Library) and Warren & Wetmore (architects of Grand Central Terminal).

The district has an artistic importance beyond the world-famous museum. The district became a center of the arts in the 1960s and 1970s and boasted a large number of art galleries in former townhouses and mansions. This artistic past is evident in a special piece of public art, the Alexander Calder Sidewalk. The owners of three adjacent galleries (1014-1018 Madison Avenue) commissioned Calder to design their sidewalk. Calder donated the design and the three galleries split the construction costs. Installed September 18, 1970, the sidewalk is 75 by 15 feet, and made up of black-and-white parallel and diagonal lines and crescents.

Metropolitan Museum Historic District map

Recent LPC Hearing Items in The Metropolitan Museum District

  • 1 East 78th Street 11 Dec

    1 East 78th Street

    A French Classical style mansion designed by Horace Trumbauer and built in 1909-1912. Application is to modify a masonry opening, construct a breezeway, and install

    EXPLORE
  • 10 Oct

    22 East 81st Street

    A rowhouse, originally designed by Thom & Wilson and built in 1883-84, and remodeled c. 1977 with a new stucco façade. Application is to reclad

    EXPLORE
  • 3 East 78th Street 10 Oct

    3 East 78th Street

    A neo-French Renaissance style town house designed by C. P. H. Gilbert and built in 1897-99. Application is to modify a window opening.

    EXPLORE
  • 20 Jul

    1014 Fifth Avenue

    A Beaux-Arts style townhouse designed by Welch, Smith & Provot and built in 1906-1907. Application is to alter the areaway, modify windows and doors, and

    EXPLORE
  • 07 Mar

    20 East 79th Street

    A French neo-Classical style house designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and built in 1912. Application is to install signage.

    EXPLORE
  • 18 Oct

    7 East 81st Street

    A rowhouse designed by Griffith Thomas and built in 1878-79. Application is to reconstruct and redesign the façade.

    EXPLORE
  • 10 Feb

    26 East 78th Street

    An Italianate style rowhouse designed by Silas M. Styles and built in 1871. Application is to demolish an existing rear yard addition, and construct rear

    EXPLORE
  • 1045 Fifth Avenue 14 May

    1045 Fifth Avenue

    An apartment building constructed in 1965-67 and designed by Starrett Brothers & Eken. Application is to enclose a portion of the 15th floor terrace, construct

    EXPLORE
  • 4 East 79th Street 04 Dec

    4 East 79th Street

    A Beaux-Arts style building originally designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and constructed in 1899-1900. Application is to install a fence.

    EXPLORE
  • 13 Apr

    16 East 84th Street

    An altered neo-Georgian style rowhouse designed by Clinton & Russell and built in 1899-1900. Application is to replace windows.

    EXPLORE
  • 990 Fifth Avenue 06 Apr

    990 Fifth Avenue

    A neo-Classical style apartment house designed by Rosario Candela and built in 1925-27. Application is to alter window openings and replace windows.

    EXPLORE
  • 15 East 84th Street 27 Sep

    15 East 84th Street

    A house designed by Renwick, Aspinwall and Owen, and built in 1899 and altered in 1928 by Adam Lanfear Norris in the neo-Italianate Renaissance style.

    EXPLORE
  • 7 East 84th Street 13 Jun

    7 East 84th Street

    A rowhouse built in 1884-85 and redesigned as a neo-Regency style residence by Augustus N. Allen in 1906, and further modified with a garage at

    EXPLORE
  • 3 East 84th Street 03 May

    3 East 84th Street

    An Art Deco style apartment building designed by Raymond Hood and John M. Howells and built in 1928. Application is to legalize the installation of

    EXPLORE
  • 1048 Fifth Avenue 26 Feb

    1048 Fifth Avenue

    A French Classic style mansion designed by Carrere & Hastings and built in 1912-14. Application is to expand existing visible rooftop mechanical equipment.

    EXPLORE
  • 26 East 80th Street 18 Dec

    26 East 80th Street

    A neo-Renaissance style rowhouse designed by Charles Graham & Sons and built in 1887-88. Application is to construct a rooftop bulkhead.

    EXPLORE
  • 13 Apr

    16 East 84th Street

    An altered neo-Georgian style rowhouse designed by Clinton & Russell and built in 1899-1900.

    EXPLORE
  • 10 East 78th Street 13 Apr

    10 East 78th Street

    A rowhouse built in 1886-1887, and altered in 1946.

    EXPLORE
  • 17 Nov

    17 East 80th Street

    A French-classic style mansion designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and built in 1906-08. Application is to replace windows.

    EXPLORE
  • 1 East 78th Street 17 Sep

    1 East 78th Street

    A French Classical style mansion designed by Horace Trumbauer and built in 1909-1912. Application is to modify a masonry opening, construct a breezeway, and install

    EXPLORE
  • 3 East 78th Street 19 May

    3 East 78th Street

    A Francois I style town house designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and built in 1897-99. Application is to modify a masonry opening, construct a breezeway, and

    EXPLORE
  • 12 East 82nd Street 18 Nov

    12 East 82nd Street

    A house built in 1888-89 and altered in the neo-Federal style by Bradley Delehanty in 1920.

    EXPLORE
  • 19 East 79th Street 18 Nov

    19 East 79th Street

    A row house designed in the neo-Grec style by D. & J. Jardine, built in 1880, and altered at the first two floors in the

    EXPLORE
  • 973 Fifth Avenue 18 Nov

    973 Fifth Avenue

    A neo-Italian Renaissance Revival style town house designed by McKim, Mead, and White, and built in 1902-05. Application is to construct rooftop additions.

    EXPLORE
  • 12 East 78th Street 10 Sep

    12 East 78th Street

    A neo-Italian Renaissance style row house built in 1886-87. Application is to legalize painting the facade in non-compliance with Certificate of No Effect 11-0771.

    EXPLORE
  • 18 Apr

    122 East 95th Street

    A French neo-Classical style house designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and built in 1912. Application is to install signage.

    EXPLORE
  • 18 Apr

    121 East 64th Street

    A French neo-Classical style house designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and built in 1912. Application is to install signage.

    EXPLORE
  • 18 Apr

    120 East 64th Street

    A French neo-Classical style house designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and built in 1912. Application is to install signage.

    EXPLORE
  • 21 Mar

    12 East 79th Street

    A French neo-Classical style house designed by C.P.H. Gilbert and built in 1912. Application is to install signage.

    EXPLORE
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