Tag Archives: Walking Gramercy Park

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Four Exploring the Streets of Gramercy Park from East 22nd Street to East 15th Streets from Park Avenue South to First Avenue September 8th-October 11th, 2024

The school year has started and that means that classes at the college have resumed for the Fall semester and it back to work time. Coming into New York becomes less and less as I am starting to grade papers and put together lectures.

I was able to sneak in on Sunday, September 8th for the monthly Sunday Supper at Holy Apostles Church where I volunteer. I find the church service before the supper very inspiring and I enjoy listening to Reverend Ann as the talks are less preachy and more uplifting about the issues of life and what is going on in the world.

After the service is over, then it is time to set the tables and eat. It is always a nice meal and you have some interesting conversations while you are at the table. We always have a nice crowd of the people and it is perfect time for me to meet up with other volunteers that i have not seen in a while.

Everyone breaks bread with each other after the service

Sunday Supper at Holy Apostles Church

It was a nice dinner with Chicken Fried Steak with gravy, Baked Ziti, Mixed Salad, Broccoli and cauliflower and Fresh rolls. For dessert, there was Bread Pudding and assorted cookies for dessert. It was quite the feast. After lunch was over, it was time to walk around the streets of Gramercy Park.

I started my walk on the border of the neighborhood at Park Avenue South and East 22nd Street. Like most of the neighborhood, the most beautiful architecture was around Gramercy Park itself. The first building I passed was the Sage Building. I had not noticed the beauty of this building by just looking at the front of it.

The side of the Sage Building

Across the street from CUNY campus, the Sage House at Four Lexington Avenue. Sage House was built in 1913 for the Russell Sage Foundation, a social welfare nonprofit that was an early advocate of social work and urban planning (Streeteasy.com).

The details of The Sage Building

The grill work on the building was so beautiful

The historic Sage House at Four Lexington Avenue

https://www.corcoran.com/building/gramercy-park/3917

https://streeteasy.com/building/the-sage-house

The building is a pre-war office building designed by Grosvenor Atterbury in the Italian Renaissance palazzo style. It has a rusticated red sandstone façade, vaulted ceilings, and carved decorative shields (Wiki). The building was converted to Coop apartments in 1986. The building next to it was the Hotel Gramercy Park which is currently closed and under renovation. Even though the hotel is closed, you can still peek through the scaffolding and see its elegance.

The core of Gramercy Park surrounds the park itself with most of its classic older buildings surrounding the park. Some of the streets were tree lined and looked like classic old New York.

The tree lined streets of Gramercy Park

The end of East 22nd Street is the Peter Cooper complex. Every thing is in bloom and the complex is so nicely landscaped.

Peter Cooper Village in the Summer of 2024

On the way back down East 22nd Street. I passed the Church of the Epiphany at 375 Second Avenue and passed an interesting sculpture dedicated to the victims of 9/11. If you do not walk on the side streets, you will miss this beautiful park with this interesting sculpture in the garden. It looks like a burst of sun.

The sculpture in the Peace Garden, ‘Light Overcomes Darkness’

The plaque for the sculpture ‘Light Overcomes Darkness’

The sculpture was designed by artist Witkor Szostalo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiktor_Szostalo

https://www.hillstream.com/artist/wiktor-szostalo

Artist Witkor Szostalo

Artist Witkor Szostalo is a Polish born artist who graduated with MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He is known for his works in stainless steel, wood and bronze. Mr. Szostalo works in both Poland and St. Louis, MO (Artist Bio/Wiki).

The sculpture was part of the larger Peace Garden that landscaped this side of the church.

The Epiphany Peace Garden by the Church

The plaque for the church’s Peace Garden

I made my way back down through the neighborhood and never noticed the Gramercy House private gardens behind a fence. Some of the residents were outside enjoying the afternoon and having a nice conversation as I was snapping pictures of this private garden.

The private garden of the Gramercy House

This is what always amazes me about New York City is the tiny pockets of green that you come across when you walk the streets. It was so beautiful to look at that I envied the residents. It was such a fantastic sunny day.

I made the turn at Park Avenue South and made my way down East 21st Street and passed the Baruch College campus again, with its beautiful architecture and interesting artwork.

The beauty of the Admission Building of Baruch College

The building on the Baruch Campus that I admired was the was the Baruch College Administration Center whose entrance is at 135 East 22nd Street. I loved the Art Deco details on the building. These seemed to represent all aspects of business.

The beauty of the College seal

The front of the Baruch College Administration Center at 135 East 22nd Street

https://plexuss.com/u/cuny-bernard-m-baruch-college/history

The elaborate details on the building give it its Art Deco appearance. The Art Deco Administrative Center at 135 East 22nd Street was built in 1937–1939 as the Domestic Relations Court Building, and was connected to the Children’s Court next door (Baruch College Website).

The Art Deco side of the building

Each of the panels represents a part of the business world.

The Art Deco details of the building

The buildings on the Baruch Campus are interesting in their details. Some of the buildings were being renovated at the time I was exploring the neighborhood but has the scaffolding came down on later walks, you really could see the beauty of this Art Deco Buildings.

As I walked down East 21st Street, I came across The Parish of Calvary-St. Georges. The elegant Episcopalian church was founded in 1832 and moved to Gramercy Park in 1846.

The Parish of the Calvary of St. Georges at 61 Gramercy Park North

https://www.calvarystgeorges.org/

The church’s design was inspired by parishioner Leopold Eidlitz, who designed the plain interior and the original openwork spires of St. George’s Church. The congregation was so satisfied with the design that they rebuilt the church after a disastrous fire in 1865 following the same design, under Eidlitz’ supervision. By that time the design was also influenced by Dr. Stephen Tyng, a new pastor hired for what had become a changing urban congregation (Church website).

Just before I turned the corner onto East 21st Street, just above the restaurant, Nico, I admired the ceramic details of 102 East 22nd. There is a real beauty in the Art Deco details around the windows and doorways.

The beauty is in the details

A better view above the restaurant awning at the Gramercy Arms Building

https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/gramercy-park/gramercy-arms-102-east-22nd-street/review/5974

Gramercy Arms is a handsome, 10-story Art Deco-style apartment building at 102 East 22nd Street that was designed by Sugarman & Burger and erected in 1928 (City Reality). You have to admire all the ceramic work all over the building and see a peek of the rooftop garden at the top of the building.

The Novita Restaurant at the base of 102 East 22nd Street whose reviews were mixed when I read them on TripAdvisor.

https://novitarestaurant.com/

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d424105-Reviews-Novita-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The unique details of 121 East 21st Street

The ceramic and grill work is beautiful. When you pass this part of the neighborhood you enter the center of Gramercy Park and that is the park itself.

What I always love about Gramercy Park is the interesting combination of beautiful brownstones, elegant mansions and interesting apartment buildings that line all sides of the park. The old Gramercy Park Hotel is currently under renovation so there was not much to see under all the scaffolding.

The homes surrounding Gramercy Park have access to the park with a key

Gramercy Park in the summer of 2024 at Gramercy Park West and East 21st Street

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramercy_Park

https://www.cityneighborhoods.nyc/gramercy

The park is amazing to walk by in any season by the end of the summer on a sunny day there was nothing like it. It almost shined against the sun.

The historic One Lexington Avenue at the corner of Lexington Avenue and Gramercy Park North

The historical apartment building had replaced the home of Cyrus West Field, who helped lay the first Transatlantic cable line across the Atlantic Ocean.

One Lexington Avenue facing Gramercy Park

https://streeteasy.com/building/1-lexington-avenue-new_york/9-d

https://www.corcoran.com/building/gramercy/3916

Built in 1910 by noted architect Herbert Lucas. This twelve-story intimate cooperative features extraordinary design details including a stately limestone and brick façade, timeless-elegant marble lobby and wood-paneled elevator still attended full-time by the elevator operator (Streeteasy.com).

The Cyrus West Field plaque on One Lexington Avenue where his home once stood

Cyrus West Field

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_W._Field

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/cable-cyrus-field-1819-1892/

One Lexington Avenue was once the home of Cyrus West Field, who was considered the ‘Father of the American Cable” and helped lay the first trans Atlantic cable in 1858. When it broke, it was laid again in 1866 (American Experience).

The original house on the same corner in 1866 (NY Public Library)

Just across One Lexington Avenue was one of the best views facing the southern end of the neighborhood. The gardens just stood out this afternoon and with the clear sunny skies, it looked like a postcard.

Looking South from Gramercy Park down Irving Place

The park was at its peak of blooming and foliage in the beginning of September. I thought this was a beautiful shot of the true elegance of the park.

Looking at Gramercy Park East in the summer of 2024

The beauty of Gramercy Park is that all sides of the park are so pretty to look at. You can admire this park from all sides with the beautiful shrubby, flowers and the elegant architecture of homes and apartment buildings that surround the park.

As I continued to walk around East 21st Street, I passed the outdoor cafe of Grill 21 at 346 East 21st Street. I loved this picture painted outside the restaurant and the menu looked very interesting. I noted it to maybe try it later. The people who were eating outside that afternoon looked like they were enjoying their meal.

Walking past Grill 21 Restaurant at 346 East 21st Street

https://www.instagram.com/grill21_/

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d844501-Reviews-Grill_21-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The seating area of Grill 21

As I passed the NYPD 13th Precinct, I passed this very touching memorial to those on 9/11. Being now twenty years ago, it still seems like yesterday for those of us who lived through it. It means something to us every September but it seems lost to a newer generation who were born after it.

The memorial to the officers that died in the attacks on 9/11 outside the 13th Precinct at 230 East 21st Street

https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/13th-precinct.page

Walking around Gramercy Park West at East 22nd Street

After walking one side of Gramercy Park, I did a semi circle around park admiring the park from all angles. The park stretches from East 22nd to East 21st Streets and is the only private park left in New York City. The park is all that is left of the original Rose Hill Farm estate.

Gramercy Park North at East 22nd Street is all that is left of the corner of the Rose Hill Farm

Gramercy Park East

Gramercy Park East

Gramercy Park East

The plaque at 3 Gramercy Park East to former Mayor James Harper

Mayor James Harper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harper_(publisher)

https://a860-collectionguides.nyc.gov/agents/people/42

Mayor James Harper served as Mayor of New York City for one term as a Republican from 1844-1845. Before that he established the publishing firm J & J Harper with his brother which eventually in time became Harper’s Brothers in 1825 (which became Harper & Row in 1962). He was only served as Mayor for one year (Wiki). He lived in Gramercy Park from 1847 to 1869 when he passed away (Wiki).

Walking around 4 Gramercy Park East

https://www.elliman.com/newyorkcity/buildings-communities/detail/527-c-725-41984/4-gramercy-park-west-gramercy-park-new-york-ny

The historic buildings of Gramercy Park West

https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/goldilocks-blocks/the-keys-gramercy-park-history-full-list-buildings-park-access/38081

The park side of Gramercy Park West

The former Stuyvesant-Fish Mansion at Gramercy Park South

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_Gramercy_Park_South

I love passing the old Stuyvesant Fish Mansion. I have always thought this was an apartment building but I just read that it is still a private home. This home was originally built in 1854 by William Samuel Johnson and it was expanded by architect Stamford White for the Fish family in 1887. When the family moved uptown to the more fashionable Fifth Avenue, the house was broken up into apartments. Many incarnations later it was sold as a private residence in the past few years (Wiki).

The beautiful brownstones and brick buildings at Gramercy Park South

This delightful little embellishment at East 20th Street

Street art on East 20th Street near Second Avenue

Street art on East 20th Street

Street art on East 20th Street-I thought this was so profound and so true!

Street art on East 20th Street

Just outside the edge of the neighborhood is the extension of East 20th Street is the border of Gramercy Park, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The middle class enclave is beautifully landscaped and East 20th Street to the even nicer landscaped Stuyvesant Cove.

https://www.stuytown.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Town%E2%80%93Peter_Cooper_Village

The shade trees on East 20th Street

The street art at the entrance to Stuyvesant Cove

Stuyvesant Cove in the Summer of 2024

Stuyvesant Cove in the Summer of 2024

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Cove_Park

https://www.nyc.gov/site/ddc/about/press-releases/2023/pr-053123-Stuyvesant-Cove-Park.page

The view of the East River from Stuyvesant Cove

https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/3756/stuyvesant-cove-park/

It was a brilliant sunny afternoon in the late summer. The temperatures had reached in the mid 80’s and it was clear and slightly cloudy when I visited the park. Everything was in late bloom including the sunflowers which were brilliant. I could not believe what a spectacular day it was that afternoon. I just relaxed for a bit and enjoyed the beautiful views.

The beautiful sunflowers in the Stuyvesant Cove Gardens

The sign welcoming you to Stuyvesant Cove Park

Walking back down East 20th Street into Gramercy Park South

The beautiful gardens of East 19th Street

Easy 19th Street at the end of the summer of 2024

The side of the apartment building at Irving Place

The old Carriage Houses at West 19th Street

The beauty of urban gardens on East 19th Street

I thought this was just gorgeous on a sunny afternoon

The building itself at East 19th Street was rather plain but I thought the archway was beautiful

I loved the creative Halloween decorations at 318 East 19th street

The decorations at 318 East 19th Street

The decorations at 318 East 19th Street

Halloween seemed to come early to parts of the neighborhood.

As I walked along the blocks along East 19th Street, I came across interesting street art around the neighborhood. Here and there things popped up that I thought were interesting to see.

Street art along East 19th Street

Street art along East 19th Street. The was right near a restaurant at 358 East 19th Street

The historic home of George Bellows

The plants surrounding the front of the home at East 19th Street

The George Bellows House

Artist George Bellows

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bellows

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2012/bellows

Artist George Bellows was an American artist who was self taught and left college to move to New York to pursue the life of a painter. He works were well known in art circles for their social and political themes (Wiki).

I thought this series of brownstones were just classic New York

Walking down East 18th Street has its charming blocks of brownstones with gardens and potted plants

The charming urban gardens of Gramercy Park

The elegant Halloween decorations in the neighborhood

The Stuyvesant Houses on 18th Street

The Stuyvesant Houses on 18th Street

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=151071

What was interesting about passing the Stuyvesant Houses on East 18th Street is how old these homes are and that they are still part of the fabric of the neighborhood in the 21st Century. They were built by Cornelia Stuyvesant Ten Broeck in 1852 on land that was part of the original Stuyvesant Farm. This could be considered part of the development of ‘suburban housing’ in New York City. This was built beyond the core of Manhattan which was located below Wall Street (Historic Market of the New York Community Trust).

The sign for the designated historic part of the neighborhood

A smaller version of a Flatiron building at 141 East 17th Street

https://streeteasy.com/building/141-east-17-street-new_york

https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/united-states/properties/for-sale/apartment-buildings/ny/new-york/141-east-17th-street-new-york-new-york-10003/k26408k26408-s

This triplex apartment was originally designed and configured as a mid-century artist’s studio by New York architect Bernard Rothzeid, who was commissioned to modernize the space by the painter and print-maker Al Blaustein (Streeteasy.com). It looked like a smaller version of the Flatiron Building and stands out in a neighborhood of brownstones and apartment buildings.

I was impressed by this series of flower boxes along East 17th Street

Here and there along all the streets of this part of Gramercy Park were pocket gardens and decorations outside buildings all over the neighborhood.

327 East 17th Street is home to the Robert Mapplethorpe Treatment Center and the home of composer Antonin Dvorak on this site. This is the home of the Mapplethorpe Foundation.

https://www.mapplethorpe.org/

The home for the Mapplethorpe House

Artist Robert Mapplethorpe

https://www.mapplethorpe.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe was an American Artist known for his black and white photography and his study of celebrity, gay life and self portraits. He had attended Pratt Institute in his early education. Before he died, he founded the Mapplethorpe Institute, which handled his estate to help promote his work and has been instrumental in raising millions of dollars for AIDS research (Wiki/Mapplethorpe Foundation website).

The historic sign for the once home of composer Antonin Dvorak

https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/life/biography/

There was an interesting statue dedicated to the composer inside of Stuyvesant Park. All along East 17th Street I came across more interesting street art.

Street art along East 17th Street

Street art along East 17th Street

Stuyvesant Square at East 17th Street

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/stuyvesant-square

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Square

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d218637-Reviews-Stuyvesant_Square-New_York_City_New_York.html

The beautiful flowers in Stuyvesant Square in the very late Summer of 2024

The brilliance of Stuyvesant Park in the late summer. The park was in full bloom with summer flowers showing off their beauty and colors. The park still could use some work on the beds and lawns though.

The famous statue of Composer Antonin Dvorak inside Stuyvesant Square at the corner of the park at East 17th Street

Composer Antonin Dvorak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton%C3%ADn_Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k

https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/life/biography/

Composer Antonin Dvorak was born just outside of Prague and came from a long line of business people who were innkeepers and butchers. His father recognized that when he was young the talent he had with music and encouraged this. While in Prague, he was sent off to a music school that started his career. The Institute for Church Music, as the school was officially known, was located in Konviktská street in the Old Town and provided instruction in organ playing, harmony and counterpoint. This was the beginning of his career (Dvorak website/Wiki).

The historic plaque in the park in Stuyvesant Square

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/stuyvesant-square/monuments/1784

Artist Ivan Mestrovic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Me%C5%A1trovi%C4%87

https://www.ivanmestrovic.com/

Artist Ivan Mestrovic was a Croatian born American artist who was a known sculptor, writer and architect. He is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He was known for his romantic and classical style sculptures (Wiki).

In 1963, this bronze portrait bust was given by the Czechoslovak National Council of America to the Philharmonic, but never put on public display. It is believed to be the last work of the noted sculptor Mestrovic, a student of Rodin and the first living artist to receive a one-person exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYCParks.org).

The beautiful brownstones along the northern part of Stuyvesant Square at East 17th Street

I rounded Stuyvesant Square on both sides, exploring all the historical buildings from all angles of the park. While I was in the park, I admired all the flowers in the gardens and the statuary.

I saw this sculpture by Lee Tal was also in the park

Artist Lee Tal

https://www.leetalart.com/

Artist Lee Tal is an Israeli born artist now based in New York City. He received a BA in History and an additional BA in Art and Photography from Open University in Tel Aviv. He received a B.F.A studies at the Royal College of Art, London, England. In his early works, Tal draws inspiration from everyday objects found in our daily lives, seeking to transcend their original purpose (Artist’s bio website). This interesting work was commissioned by the Stuyvesant Park.

The sculpture by Lee Tal ‘Blooming Reflections- Yellow Trout Lily’

I walked through the gardens from all sides and walked out to Rutherford Place and admired the old churches along the street. On the northern side of Rutherford Place was the historic St. George’s Church.

St. George’s Church at 209 East 16th Street

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St.George%27s_Episcopal_Church(Manhattan)

https://www.calvarystgeorges.org/

St. George’s Church at 209 East 16th Street

St. George’s Church was founded in 1752 and the church moved around several times until 1846 when this new church was started and finished in 1854. The church was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by architects Charles Blesch and Leopold Eidlitz. Mr. Belsch designed the interior and was influenced by the Rundbigenstil, the round arch style. The church has been altered and rebuilt over the years after a devastating fire in 1865 (Wiki).

The historic plaque of the church

The church‘s official sign

Next to St. George’s Church is the Quaker Friends building that has been part of the neighborhood since the 1700’s. This historical building is part of a full complex of modern buildings that stretch down East 16th Street from the park.

The historical Friends Meeting House at 15 Rutherford Place

This building was built in the Restrained Greek Revival Design in 1861 and has been in use since that time for the annual meetings (New York Landmark Preservation).

The historic Friends Meeting House at 15 Rutherford Place

https://quaker.org/legacy/15stfriends/

https://www.americanlandmarks.org/post/friends-meeting-house

The front of the Friends Meeting House at 15 Rutherford Place

The Friends Meeting House at 15 Rutherford Place on the west side of Stuyvesant Square.

The views of Stuyvesant Square Park in the late Summer months

I walked around the park before exploring East 16th and 15th Streets and just like Gramercy Park there is a true beauty in the architecture that surrounds this green space.

The historic beauty of East 15th Street on the southern eastern side of the park.

Somehow this tree just stuck out at the entrance of 146 East 16th Street

Another view of this tiny garden in front of 146 East 16th Street

The historical buildings that are part of the church seminary along East 16th Street

This is classic Old New York with brownstones covered in ivy is part of the church’s housing

I cross-crossed so much through Stuyvesant Square that the homeless guys and the delivery drivers thought I was an undercover cop watching them.

The park is still so colorful in the late summer

The beautiful stained glass windows in from of the East 15th side of St. Mary’s Church at East 15th Street

St. John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church at 143 East 17th Street

https://www.stjohn.ny.goarch.org/

https://www.facebook.com/StJohnBaptistNYC/

Built in 1885, designed by Schwartzmann & Buchman, with a baroque façade that was altered in 1957 by Kyriacos A. Kalfas (Wiki).

Finishing my walk along East 15th Street with the elegant townhouses that line the southern half of Stuyvesant Square

For dinner that evening, I had Chinese food at Mee’s Noodle House at First Avenue. I had eaten at their branch years ago at their uptown branch near Sutton Place and ordered the same meal as a comparison, the Seafood Steamed Dumplings and the Shrimp Lo Mein. It’s nice to know that nothing changes. The food was excellent.

The sign inside of Mee’s Noodle House at 922 Second Avenue

https://www.seamless.com/menu/the-original-mee-noodle-shop–grill-223-1st-ave-new-york/287771

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d502666-Reviews-Mee_Noodle_Shop_Grill-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Steamed Seafood Dumplings

These dumplings were as light as air and perfectly cooked. The dumplings were plump and filled with a mixture of Shrimp and other seasonings. They tasted perfect with just a touch of soy sauce.

The delicious Shrimp Lo Mein

The Shrimp Lo Mein was studded with lots of perfectly cooked shrimp, vegetables and freshly made noodles that are made inhouse. The only problem with the dish was the button mushrooms that I had to pick out. I do not know why they use these since they are not used in dishes in China. I discovered that the restaurant is quite the neighborhood hang out for people living at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Everyone was talking neighborhood gossip.

The front of Tipsy Scoop Barlour at 217 East 26th Street

https://tipsyscoop.com/pages/manhattan-location?srsltid=AfmBOopr75Tvfffnfo_tWMcxMMpFSQGkQafCkqMpUkBe_sfH3nAmlhDV

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d12194385-Reviews-Tipsy_Scoop-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

On my way home, I stopped at Tipsy Scoop Ice Cream store for dessert. I wanted to have one of their infused ice cream sandwiches. So I ordered the Sprinkle Cookie Cake Batter Vodka Martini ice cream sandwiches. Talk about a dessert that takes the edge off after a long day.

The inside of Tipsy Scoop at night

The neon lights of this popular ice cream shop where all the ice cream is infused with liquor

The ice cream sandwiches here are fantastic. The alcohol in the ice cream is so subtle and sweet you don’t notice until you finish it. Then it hits you and relaxes you. This is the best dessert after a long day.

The Sprinkle Cookie Cake Batter Vodka Martini infused ice cream sandwich

The Sprinkle Cookie Cake Batter Vodka Martini infused ice cream sandwich

Yum!

I took the long walk through Madison Square park on the way back to the Port Authority at night. The pictures I get from that park are just breathtaking at night and I never get tired of the views.

The views of Manhattan at night are quite spectacular from Madison Square Park

I finished walking the streets of Gramercy Park in the early evening while watching the lights turn on in all the buildings surrounding the area. It is quite a site seeing all the homes lit while watching the office buildings all over the neighborhood work their magic. It is quite the place both day and night and in all seasons. Gramercy Park is a true Manhattan neighborhood.

I never tire of the views of Manhattan at night.

Please read my other blogs on Gramercy Park:

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Walking the Borders of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/51647

Day Three Hundred and Twenty One Walking the Avenues of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/53432

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Four Walking the Streets of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/53788

Places to Visit:

Stuyvesant Square Park

9 Rutherford Place

New York, NY 10003

(212) 639-9675

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/stuyvesant-square

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Square

Open: Sunday-Saturday 7:00am-11:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d218637-Reviews-Stuyvesant_Square-New_York_City_New_York.html

Gramercy Park

Private Park that you need a key to get into.

Stuyvesant Cove

24-20 FDR Drive

New York, NY 10010

(646) 576-5664

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Cove_Park

https://www.nyc.gov/site/ddc/about/press-releases/2023/pr-053123-Stuyvesant-Cove-Park.page

Open: Sunday-Saturday 7:00am-10:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

Places to Eat:

Mee’s Noodle House

922 Second Avenue

New York, NY

(212) 888-0027

https://menupages.com/mee-noodle-shop/795-9th-ave-new-york

Open: Sunday-Saturday 11:00am-11:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d502666-Reviews-Mee_Noodle_Shop_Grill-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Tipsy Scoop Ice Cream Shop

217 East 26th Street

New York, NY 10010

(917) 388-2862

https://tipsyscoop.com/pages/manhattan-location?srsltid=AfmBOoq3P7RwM_mpTYZSd-uFo5d0wnAO07zRpeBAgxD25EALYbmFi1kT

Open: Sunday 2:00pm-10:00pm/Monday 4:00pm-9:00pm/Tuesday 4:00pm-7:00pm/Wednesday-Thursday 4:00pm-9:00pm/Friday-Saturday 2:00pm-11:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d12194385-Reviews-Tipsy_Scoop-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-One Walking the Avenues of Gramercy Park Irving Place, Lexington, Third and Second Avenues August 27th, 2024

It has been one busy summer. In between walking the neighborhoods of Manhattan, I have been revisiting neighborhoods, attending events that I had in the past like the Coney Island Sand Castle Building contest and the Dutchess and Ulster County Fairs. I wanted to spend more time at them and I needed new pictures at all of these events (see my full blog, MywalkinManhattan.com for all these interesting blogs). That and I have been exploring the Jersey Shore towns like Point Pleasant and Seaside Park and Heights to really see what is beyond their Boardwalks. It has been a productive summer since graduation running back and forth between the Hudson River Valley and the Jersey Shore.

As I get ready for the school year to begin in a week and a half, I have more places to see and experience. Still in between all this I want to volunteer time at the Soup Kitchen and planning trips outside the City too experience more of New Jersey. Each day of the Month of August is like planning “D Day”.

Gramercy Park is such an interesting neighborhood. From the vibrant commercial areas to the historical parks, Gramercy Park has a lot of hidden treasures tucked here and there throughout the neighborhood. It seems though, along the neighborhoods Avenues, I would have been expected to see more classic architecture and beautiful stonework, I experienced experienced a more commercial environment with modern buildings. Still tucked here and there along the Avenues were many gems of the past and some beautiful little parks.

The Gramercy Park Historic District plaque

I started my walk along the Avenues of the neighborhood with a walk up the Irving Place Street and walked around the park to Lexington Avenue on the other side of the park. Irving Place and Lexington Avenue are separated by Gramercy Park’s north and South borders.

Gramercy Park in full bloom in the Summer of 2024

The section of the neighborhood is shared with the Union Square neighborhood as the lines are blurred from street to street between Gramercy Park, Union Square and the Flatiron District. This neighborhood has distinct architecture, beautiful parks including Gramercy Park, part of the old Rose Hill Farm estate and Stuyvesant Square, part of the former estate of Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant.

I started my walk on the southern part of Gramercy Park along the historical Irving Place with its historic homes and restaurants. I passed 4 Irving Place which the first couple of floors were under scaffolding. I admired the clocktower on the top of the building, the beautiful embellishments and just the elegance of the building. The building is home to Consolidated Edison (ConEd).

The was designed by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh and architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore in the Neo-Classical design. The first phase of the building was started in 1911 and both phases were finished by 1929. The original section of the building is in the picture with the wings of the building to both sides (Wiki).

I passed 4 Irving Place, the Con Ed Building, just as twilight hit the building and you could see the beauty in its shadows.

Its clock told the time of the early evening.

The next morning when I walked past it again, you could see the true beauty of its design.

I also noticed that the roof top held a more intricate design than I noticed the night before. Look up at its intricate details to admire its beauty. This is part of the originally designed building.

Once I turned onto Irving Place, the old core of its industrial past gave way to the bohemian village it would become and stay in the future. This was once ‘THE’ neighborhood to live in and has stayed that way since even through the rough times of Union Square.

The most impressive object you will see in the neighborhood is this bust of Washington Irving that sits outside the Washing Irving Campus on Irving Place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving_Campus

This bust of Washington Irving was created by artist Friedrich Beer

Artist Friedrich Beer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Beer

https://www.artprice.com/artist/112959/friedrich-beer

Artist Friedrich Beer was a German born artist known for his works on busts of famous individuals.

The neighborhood goes from commercial to more residential as you get further up Irving Place and closer to Gramercy Park. The borders of Union Square overlap with Gramercy Park and the Flatiron District between East 18th and East 20th streets so I revisited buildings that J had seen before. If people went in a Time Machine to Manhattan from 100 years ago they would still see the same buildings but with totally different uses.

The Washington Irving house at 122 East 17th Street and Irving Place (Washington Irving never lived here)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-irving-house-new-york-new-york

The “Irving House” was built by Peter Voorhis between 1843 and 1844, along with the adjacent two houses at 45 and 47 Irving Place. The original tenants of 49 Irving Place (at that time referred to as 122 East 17th Street) were Charles Jackson Martin, an insurance executive, and his wife, who would reside there from 1844 until 1852. Henry and Ann E. Coggill would live in it in 1853, and in 1854 it would become the home of banker Thomas Phelps and his wife Elizabeth, who would remain until 1863 (Atlasobsucra.com).

The front of the house facing Irving Place

The first mention in print of Irving having lived in the house came in the Sunday Magazine Supplement of the New York Times on April 4, 1897. The article is a human interest story about Elsie de Wolfe and the means and methods she used to decorate “Irving’s house.” In 1905, de Wolfe would become known as the first professional interior decorator and it appears this article is an early attempt at publicity for her. As for the information about Irving, the article takes enormous liberties (actually, it flat-out makes things up), claiming that Irving had conceived of the house himself and was very particular about the architecture and design (Atlasobsucra.com).

The entrance to the house at 122 East 17th street

The plaque on the house dedicated to the writer created by artist Alexander Finta

In 1930, a restaurant called the Washington Irving Tea Room was operating in the basement of the building and in 1934 a plaque sculpted by Rodin-student Alexander Finta was put up on the north facade that would cement the story in the public consciousness. Today, the surrounding area remains covered in references to Irving, from the large art installations in the nearby W Hotel to the Headless Horseman pub on 15th Street(Atlasobsucra.com).

Artist Alexander Finta

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Finta

https://www.askart.com/artist/Alexander_Finta/108330/Alexander_Finta.aspx

Artist Alexander Finta was a Hungarian born artist who moved to the United States in 1923. He had studied mechanical engineering in his own country and had studied with Auguste Rodin. His is known for his elaborate busts. He spent the remainder of his career at 20th Century Fox Studios (Wiki)

All along the Irving Place corridor, the street is lined with interesting and historical buildings many of them turned into restaurants or inns. There are many historic plaques in this neighborhood and some creative architecture. The first building that caught my eye was 53 Irving Place, which is the home of Pierre Loti Wine Bar.

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d2136974-Reviews-Pierre_Loti_Wine_Bar-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The home of Pierre Lotte Mediterranean Restaurant at 53-55 Irving Place was the home of O Henry

When I looked at the side of the building near the entrance, I was this historic plaque that said that this was the home of author William Sidney Porter (O. Henry). The author lived here from 1903-1907 and wrote the “Gift of the Magi” while living here and eating at Pete’s Tavern across the street (Wiki).

The historic plaque for author O Henry at 53-55 Irving Place

Author William Henry Porter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry

Down the road at is Pete’s Tavern, one of the most famous and the oldest literary restaurants in the City. The restaurant was founded in 1864 as the Portman Hotel and then in 1899 when changed to Healy’s Cafe when it was run by John and Tom Healy. Then in 1899, it was bought by Peter D’ Belles and renamed Pete’s Tavern. The restaurant was a ‘Speakeasy’ during prohibition and the dining rooms have not changed much over the last over hundred years (Pete’s Tavern website).

Pete’s Tavern was busy on the night of my first part of the walk.

Pete’s Tavern at 129 East 18th Street

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete%27s_Tavern

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d527869-Reviews-Pete_s_Tavern-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The entrance of Pete’s Tavern

The entrance to Pete’s Tavern on Irving Place

The painting outside of Pete’s Tavern of the Speakeasy years

Pete’s Tavern was busy both nights that I passed it. I had not eaten there in over a decade when I had a holiday dinner there with friends by I remember the food and service being excellent. The restaurant is really special during the Christmas holiday season from what I can remember.

My friends Barbara, Lillian and I after dinner at Pete’s Tavern in the early 2000’s

Another restaurant I went to before my friend, Barbara, moved to Florida was a Friend of the a Farmer at 77 Irving Place, a farm to table concept before it became very popular. I remember the food being wonderful but the place being a bit noisy. She lived on the fringe of Gramercy Park and had passed this restaurant many times and had wanted to try it that evening.

Another great restaurant is Friend of a Farmer at 77 Irving Place

https://www.friendofafarmer.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d496790-Reviews-Friend_of_a_Farmer-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

Across the street, I passed this apartment building at 76 Irving Place. I loved the outside embellishments on the building and the friendly looks you get from the statuary. The building was built in 1897 by architect Lyndon P. Smith (Corcoran Group).

You have to look up to admire the details of 76 Irving Place

https://www.corcoran.com/listing/for-sale/76-irving-place-manhattan-ny-10003/23012133/regionId/1

https://streeteasy.com/building/76-irving-place-new_york

The entrance to 76 Irving Place with its tiny angels

This woman guards the front of Irving Place like guard

This woman greets you at 76 Irving Place

The classic architecture of the block especially as you get closer to Gramercy Park changes from smaller apartment buildings to brownstones lining the parks southern border. Gramercy Park offers some of the most interesting architecture. This ivy covered building that impressed me so much as the sun was going down is at 80 Irving Place.

This building at East 19th street and Irving Place is typical for the buildings that once lined this neighborhood

80 Irving Place is currently under renovation

https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-1854-house-at-no-80-irving-place.html

https://www.trulia.com/home/80-irving-pl-new-york-ny-10003-31506439

The house was built as a single family mansion between 1853 and 1854 and had been the home of the prominent Wood family and then to actress Agnes Ethel Tracy. Since 1987, it has been a single family home again. What I thought was interesting was that the house was used in the movie “Working Girl” as Sigourney  Weavers character’s home (DaytoninManhattan.com).

Look up at the beautiful details of 81 Irving Place

81 Irving Place in all its glory

https://www.elliman.com/newyorkcity/buildings-communities/detail/527-c-725-2766/81-irving-pl-gramercy-park-new-york-ny

https://streeteasy.com/building/81-irving-place-new_york

https://www.apartments.com/81-irving-pl-new-york-ny-unit-8a/5q6z3mp/

81 Irving Place is one of the most beautiful apartment complexes in the city that I have come across. The embellishments along the building are some of most detailed and elegant I have seen. This prewar Co-Op was built in 1929.

The details along the windows

The embellishments of the building

The dragons and demons that adorn the windows

The embellishments of the building

The unusual creatures at the doorways

The embellishments of the building

The creatures guarding the windows

The embellishments of the building

The rooftop gardens are protected by these griffins

The building has a whimsical almost storybook imagine of creatures protecting their home.

Where I want my future home to be when I retire to the City and can afford it is 19 Gramercy Park South. I have always loved this building since I fell in love with the neighborhood over thirty years ago. I always wanted a home with a key to Gramercy Park. The building has that classic turn of the last century look about it and it has always been my dream to live here when I retire. I need to hurry and win the lottery.

My dream home would be at 19 Gramercy Park South with a key to the park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_Gramercy_Park_South

I had thought this was a apartment building but it is actually a single family mansion with 37 rooms. It was built in 1845 and when the mansion was extended by Stamford White in 1887 was the home of socially prominent Stuyvesant-Fish family. It is currently back to being a single family mansion (Wiki).

I did the walk around the Park and continued along Lexington Avenue from East 20th to East 23rd Street. There is more magnificent architecture along the way. Small details that will surprise you and things that will stare you along the walk.

I walked along Lexington Avenue where the campus of Baruch College, which is part of the CUNY system, starts. One of its stand out buildings is The Lawrence and Eris Field Building, also known as the 23rd Street Building by the college. This building opened in 1929 and the ornamented Italian Renaissance revival style façade on 23rd Street  is constructed of limestone and brick and engraved with “The College of the City Of New York.” (CUNY Website)

17 Lexington Avenue-The Lawrence and Eris Field Building, also known as the 23rd Street Building on the Baruch College Campus.

https://17lexupdate.baruch.cuny.edu/history/

The beautiful details of the building

The Baruch College campus is located on the border of Gramercy Park and Kips Bay showcasing the unique architecture of the campus. Many of the buildings on this side of campus are going through a renovation so watch the scaffolding.

The coat of arms on the side of the building

The middle coat of arms on the side of the building

Coat of arms on the side of the building

The building on the Baruch Campus that I admired was the was the Baruch College Administration Center whose entrance is at 135 East 22nd Street. I loved the Art Deco details on the building. These seemed to represent all aspects of business.

The side of the Baruch College with its Art Deco details

Details on the CUNY building-The Baruch College Administration Center Building in its glory

The front of the Baruch College Administration Center at 135 East 22nd Street

https://plexuss.com/u/cuny-bernard-m-baruch-college/history

The elaborate details on the building give it its Art Deco appearance. The Art Deco Administrative Center at 135 East 22nd Street was built in 1937–1939 as the Domestic Relations Court Building, and was connected to the Children’s Court next door (Baruch College Website).

Across the street from CUNY campus, the Sage House at Four Lexington Avenue. Sage House was built in 1913 for the Russell Sage Foundation, a social welfare nonprofit that was an early advocate of social work and urban planning (Streeteasy.com).

The historic Sage House at Four Lexington Avenue

https://www.corcoran.com/building/gramercy-park/3917

https://streeteasy.com/building/the-sage-house

The building is a pre-war office building designed by Grosvenor Atterbury in the Italian Renaissance palazzo style. It has a rusticated red sandstone façade, vaulted ceilings, and carved decorative shields (Wiki). The building was converted to Coop apartments in 1986. The building next to it was the Hotel Gramercy Park which is currently closed and under renovation. Even though the hotel is closed, you can still peek through the scaffolding and see its elegance.

I myself have some wonderful memories of this hotel. I had stayed at the hotel back in 1993 while working at Macy’s Herald Square, when it was a European style old hotel with the large rooms with a view of the park. It had the most amazing bathtubs to sink into the night before I left to assist in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Years later, when Danny Meyers opened the Italian restaurant, Maialino, in the lobby in the early 2000’s, I remember taking my father there for Father’s Day and having the most delicious Roast Pork with potatoes that were cooked in the roast’s juices. It was a fantastic meal and the most perfect Father’s Day. Funny how I still remember that meal almost twenty years later.

The Hotel Gramercy Park at Two Lexington Avenue

The Hotel Gramercy Park was designed by architect Robert T. Lyons and was built by brothers Bing & Bing in 1924 and the hotel opened in 1925. The extension of the hotel along East 21st Street was designed by architects from Thompson & Churchill and built between 1929-1930. The hotel is designed in the Renaissance Revival style (Wiki). Across the street from the hotel is the historic One Lexington Avenue.

One Lexington Avenue facing Gramercy Park

https://streeteasy.com/building/1-lexington-avenue-new_york/9-d

https://www.corcoran.com/building/gramercy/3916

Built in 1910 by noted architect Herbert Lucas. This twelve-story intimate cooperative features extraordinary design details including a stately limestone and brick façade, timeless-elegant marble lobby and wood-paneled elevator still attended full-time by the elevator operator (Streeteasy.com).

The Cyrus West Field plaque on One Lexington Avenue where his home once stood

Cyrus West Field

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_W._Field

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/cable-cyrus-field-1819-1892/

One Lexington Avenue was once the home of Cyrus West Field, who was considered the ‘Father of the American Cable” and helped lay the first trans Atlantic cable in 1858. When it broke, it was laid again in 1866 (American Experience).

The original house on the same corner in 1866 (NY Public Library)

Looking back up Lexington Avenue in the Summer of 2024, you can see how this neighborhood just keeps changing and still getting better. The old buildings are finding new uses and this part of the neighborhood is still very exclusive.

Looking up Lexington Avenue from Gramercy Park

The views uptown are so beautiful and will look even better when all the scaffolding comes down on all of these buildings. Still this part of the neighborhood is very impressive.

I walked down East 23rd Street to Third Avenue and it is not as impressive. This part of the neighborhood is more commercial the further you go from the park and most of the architecture here and on Second and First Avenue is mostly businesses housed in new buildings. Here and there though, tucked in the corners there is still a glimpse of the neighborhood’s past. You just have to look up to appreciate it.

Walking down Third Avenue from East 23rd Street

It may be all new construction but it is still impressive. Just a different feel and character. Third Avenue is more of a commercial district of larger stores and small restaurants.

Interesting street art on a Third Avenue mailbox. At least someone has some optimism

Tucked in between the modern architecture and some older brick buildings was this elaborate white building that stood out amongst its more plain neighbors and was one of the few older buildings left on Third Avenue.

The beauty of 190 Third Avenue known as Scheffel Hall

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheffel_Hall

Scheffel Hall was designed by architects Henry Adams Weber and Hubert Drosser and was built between 1894 to 1895. This part of Gramercy Park was known as ‘Kleindeutschland’, ‘Little Germany”, when it had a large German immigrant population. The building served as a beer hall and restaurant at that time and was modeled after an early 17th Century building in Heidelberg Castle, the “Friedrichsbau” (Wiki). The building stands out for its beauty and elegant details that make this building special. There is nothing like it in the neighborhood and it a testament to its German past.

I finished my walk down Third Avenue and turned the corner at Second Avenue. As I walked down Second Avenue past Church of the Epiphany at 375 Second Avenue, I came across the historical plaque for the marker of the original “Rose Hill Farm” that was once part of this neighborhood and whose borders now make up the ‘Rose Hill’ neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan. All that remains of the farm today is the current Gramercy Park, which is a corner of the old farm.

The site of ‘Rose Hill Farm’, the home of General Horatio Gates and his second wife, Mary Valens

Rose Hill was originally a farm owned by James DeLancey and it was sold to Honorable John Watts, a member of the Colonial Assembly in 1747. The farm was 130 acres between East 30th to East 21st Street from what is now Irving Place to the East River. John Watts later married Ann DeLancey and they raised their family here. At the start of the Revolutionary War, as Loyalists they returned to England and left the estate to their son, John, who inherited it in 1789 (Wiki).

My blogs on Visiting the Rose Hill section of Manhattan:

Walking the Borders of Rose Hill:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/16580

Walking the Streets and Avenues of Rose Hill:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/16776

General Horatio Gates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Gates

Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates and his second wife, Mary Valens, bought the farm in 1790 and built a new mansion on the corner of what is now Second and East 22nd Street. They lived here for the next twenty years with him a member of the assembly in 1800 and active in New York Society at that time. He died on the farm in 1806 and the estate was parceled out later on when the new grid pattern for Manhattan was created (Wiki/Horatio Gates website).

Rose Hill Farm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Hill,_Manhattan

The beautiful windows of the church of the Church of the Epiphany at 373 Second Avenue

https://epiphanychurch.nyc/

As I looked up from the plaque, I admired the front windows of the Church of the Epiphany at 373 Second Avenue and all the beautiful plantings in front of the church. The original church that had been built in 1870 burned down in 1963. The current church was designed by the architectural firm of Belfatto & Pavarini and was finished in 1967. The stained glass windows of the Madonna and Child were from the original church (Wiki/Church of the Epiphany website).

Walking down at East 23rd Street, it was a short walk down the Avenue where I passed 303 Second Avenue and the beautiful details of this famous piece of the neighborhood history. This is the one really standout building on the block with interesting embellishments all along the windows and doorways.

303 Second Avenue-The Rutherford Place Medical Building

https://streeteasy.com/building/rutherford-place/a

https://www.compass.com/building/the-rutherford-manhattan-ny/319539373204573973/

The Rutherford Medical Building was designed by architect Robert H. Richardson and was finished in 1902. This was a very active hospital delivering sixty percent of the infants in Manhattan at that time before a full part of the hospital. It was converted to luxury condos in recent years (Wiki/Streeteasy.com).

The historic plaques

The historic plaques

The elegant details of the The Rutherford Building

You have to look at the top of this building to really appreciate it

As you cross over from East 17th Street on both sides of Second Avenue, you are greeted by the greenery of Stuyvesant Square, what is left of the former estate of ‘Peg Leg’ Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. The park was in full bloom and on a hot day, the shade trees are a pleasure to be under.

As I walked down Second Avenue, I passed the beauty of Stuyvesant Square Park

The sign welcoming sign to Stuyvesant Square Park

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/stuyvesant-square

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Square

I walked through the park, admiring the paths of flowers and flowering trees. People were outside reading books and listening to the makeshift concert that a resident was putting on. There is a dirty little secret to Stuyvesant Square Park is on the edges of the park there is a lot of loitering by delivery guys and homeless in the corners of the park. The park could also use a little pruning and sprucing here and there.

Looking up Second Avenue from Stuyvesant Square

Stuyvesant Square in full bloom

The Stuyvesant family was the influence of this wonderful park. In 1836, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant, the great great grandson of Peter Stuyvesant and his wife, Helen Rutherfurd sold four acres of the original Stuyvesant Farm to the City for $5.00 as a public park under the stipulation that the City build a fence around it. It took an almost lawsuit from the city to finally build the fence in 1847, which is the fence that surrounds the park today (NYCParks.org).

The colorful flowers surrounding the fountains

In the middle of the park on the right side as you are walking down Second Avenue is the statue of Governor Peter Stuyvesant in all of his glory.

The statue of ‘Peg Leg’ Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor of the Dutch Colony

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/stuyvesant-square/monuments/1516

This famous public statue of Governor Peter Stuyvesant was designed by artist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in

Artist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Vanderbilt_Whitney

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was an American born New York artist who had studied at the Arts Student League of New York and apprenticed under several well known artists.

The Stuyvesant Square Park in the Summer of 2024

Around the corner from the park as I walked its perimeter was the beautiful testament to God in the form of St. John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church at 143 East 17th Street

St. John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church at 143 East 17th Street

https://www.stjohn.ny.goarch.org/

https://www.facebook.com/StJohnBaptistNYC/

Built in 1885, designed by Schwartzmann & Buchman, with a baroque facade that was altered in 1957 by Kyriacos A. Kalfas (Wiki).

The detailed windows of St. John’s Church at East 143 17th Street

As I reached East 14th Streets, I could see that the neighborhood along Second and Third Avenue did not have the same historic appearance as the side streets of the neighborhood. Here and there tucked in between modern buildings, there were a few gems,

This building was at 231 Second Avenue

https://streeteasy.com/building/231-2-avenue-new_york

https://www.elliman.com/newyorkcity/buildings-communities/detail/527-c-725-135503/231-second-ave-gramercy-park-new-york-ny

This prewar apartment building was built in 1910. You have to really look up to see the elegant details of the building and its decorative embellishments.

The beautiful entrance to the apartment building

The classic embellishments of the building

Walking through the other side of Stuyvesant Square I got better views of 303-305 Second Avenue

This city squirrel just ignored me as it chopped away at some nuts

The beauty of Stuyvesant Square in the Summer of 2024

The historic plaque at Stuyvesant Square

Lunch was a slice of Sicilian pizza at Lunetta Pizza at 245 Third Avenue. I had passed Lunetta Pizza many times while walking through the neighborhood and noticed that it was one of the few restaurants in the neighborhood that did not change their prices after COVID. They are still one of the most reasonable pizzerias in Manhattan (See my review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).

The slice was amazing. Their red sauce is spiced perfectly and that is what makes the structure of the pizza. The Sicilian pizza here is crisp and pillowy, the way it should be.

Lunetta Pizza at 245 Third Avenue

https://www.lunettapizzaandrestaurant.com/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d23657421-Reviews-Lunetta_Pizza_Restaurant-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/diningonashoestringinnyc.wordpress.com/6060

The prices are extremely fair and are still pre-COVID. They do not rip you off.

The selection of pizzas is extensive

The Sicilian slices were pillowy and crisp with a deep, rich flavor because of their amazing red sauce.

I finished walking the Avenues of Gramercy Park with enough time to take the trip out to Brooklyn for the pre-West Indian Parade event at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

My blog on the special event at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/53496

The fountain in the Cherry Blossom Esplanade

The private members night

The Carnival like atmosphere right before the West Indian Parade

After the event was over, I headed back to Manhattan for dinner. I had been so impressed by Lunetta Pizza’s food the afternoon, that I bypassed my favorite restaurants in Brooklyn and went back to dinner there.

I had a very impressive Linguini with a Meat Sauce and I then made a better judgement call on the food and it is truly excellent. The meat sauce was so flavorful and the pasta perfectly cooked and a very generous portion size that it made the perfect dinner.

My dinner at Lunetta Pizza, the Linguini with Meat Sauce

Yum!

As I left the neighborhood that night I passed a plaque in the sidewalk from the Mayor Abe Beame Administration (now these were some bad years in the City) dedicating a tree for the beautification of the neighborhood. It just shows has the City just keeps morphing with the cycles the City goes through over the years. Manhattan just keeps changing.

The plaque from the neighborhood beatification program in the 1970’s. This plaque is near East 23rd and Third Avenue. It is also coming out of the ground.

Mayor Abe Beame

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Beame

As I passed Bryant Park that evening, twilight had come and the lights of the City were coming on. New York City may have its problems, but there still is a beauty to it.

Passing Bryant Park that evening

The next part of the walk will be visiting the Streets of Gramercy Park.

Places to Visit:

Stuyvesant Square Park

9 Rutherford Place

New York, NY 10003

(212) 639-9675

Open: Sunday-Saturday 7:00am-11:00pm

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/stuyvesant-square

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Square

My TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d218637-Reviews-Stuyvesant_Square-New_York_City_New_York.html

Places to Eat:

Lunetta Pizzeria

245 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10010

(212) 432-5200

https://www.lunettapizzaandrestaurant.com/

Open: Sunday-Saturday 10:00am-4:00am

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d23657421-Reviews-Lunetta_Pizza_Restaurant-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/diningonashoestringinnyc.wordpress.com/6060

Please read my other blogs on Gramercy Park:

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Walking the Borders of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/51647

Day Three Hundred and Twenty One Walking the Avenues of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/53432

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Four Walking the Streets of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/53788

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Exploring the Borders of Gramercy Park from Park Avenue South to First Avenue to East 23rd to 14th Streets August 2024

The beauty of Gramercy Park in the Summer of 2024

I started my exploration of Gramercy Park having walked many of its borders in other walks. It seems that the borders between the Flatiron District, Union Square, Rose Hill and NoMAD have become blurred. All these beautiful buildings with their protective lions, mythical creatures and mysterious faces watching and protecting them have a home on all of them.

The elegant brownstones that line the park

Gramercy Park is probably one of the nicest neighborhoods in Manhattan with its historic brownstones, beautiful park and excellent restaurants and shops. The neighborhood is steeped in history and it had been enjoyable to walk around the buildings and read their history.

The Union Square Market is always packed

https://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/manhattan-union-square-m

As I walked around the Farmers Market, looking over the very over-priced fruits, vegetables and bakery products, I noticed more of the medallions that line the border of Union Square Park. The first one I admired without the sunlight distracting me was the medallion of the layout of the park from the 1800’s.

This is the original layout of the park in 1876 plaque

The collection of medallions around the park’s fringes

The Union Square collection of plaques

The collection of plaques in Union Square Park

The plaques around Union Square Park

The plaques around Union Square Park

I walked around the park and marveled at it on a very hot afternoon. Like most parks in former edgy neighborhoods, it fascinates me how a bunch of twenty year old’s and families sun themselves and socialize where thirty years earlier you would be harassed by homeless, drug dealers and methadone addicts. You still might see them on the fringes of the park but not like in the early 1980’s.

The expansive lawn of Union Square Park

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/union-square-park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Square,_Manhattan

The park now has a business partnership and I believe a Friends group as well. There are so many activities going on in the park, that I am sure people don’t notice all the chess hustlers and counterculture types on the 14th Street perimeter.

Looking at the southern part of the park facing 14th Street and the southern entrance to Broadway

From Park Avenue South/Union Square East is the extension of the street that lines the eastern end of the park. At the corner of East 15th Street and Union Square East is 101 East 15th Street the old Union Square Savings Bank building.

101 East 15th Street-The Union Square Savings Bank Building/Daryl Roth Theater

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Roth_Theatre

The side of the Union Square Savings Bank building

The bank itself was founded in 1848 and moved to this location in 1895. This building was designed by architect Henry Bacon in the neo classical design in 1905 and the building was finished in 1906. The bank closed in 1992 (Wiki).

I walked to the small triangle of Union Square Park that sits between East 15th and 14th Streets and came across a sculpture that I had never seen before on all my walks back from NYU. Maybe I just missed it when it was dark out. It was a depiction of an urban legend of the NYC sewers.

The alligator sculpture ‘N.Y.C. Legend’

The sewer cover top of the sculpture

The sign for artist Alexander Klingspor

Artist Alexander Klingspor

Artist Alexander Klingspor is Swedish born artist who works both in the United States and Sweden. He apprenticed under American artist Mark English. He is known for his paintings and sculptures (Wiki).

I then started my walk up Park Avenue South which is actually the western border of Gramercy Park. I have always been impressed by the W Hotel on the corner of 16th Street and Park Avenue South at 201 Park Avenue South.

The W Hotel at 201 Park Avenue South

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W_New_York_Union_Square

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/nycnu-w-new-york-union-square/overview/

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60763-d220243-Reviews-W_New_York_Union_Square-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

This luxury hotel has an impressive history of being one of the innovators of luxury in the Marriott chain. The W Hotel concept was known for its edginess in design and the creativity in its restaurants. Things must be progressing as their customer gets older because their General Manager spoke to our Leadership class before I graduated from NYU and said they are softening the music (finally!) and changing the designs in the rooms. Maybe there will finally be a place to put your clothes.

The historic plaque on the building

This historic building was designed by the architects D’oench & Yost in the Modern French mode and built in 1911. Like most historic office buildings below 23rd Street, the are being refitted as hotels and condos as the desire for high ceilings and soaring lobbies have become desirable. This building had been designed for the Germanic Life Insurance Company Wiki).

I continued up Park Avenue South to East 20th Street to see another familiar building on the border of the neighborhood, 250 Park Avenue South. This building seems to be on the border of many Manhattan neighborhoods.

250 Park Avenue South

https://250parkave.com/

The embellishments on 250 Park Avenue South

The embellishments on 250 Park Avenue South on both sides of the building

On the street level of the building is the restaurant Barbounia

Barbounia 250 Park Avenue

https://barbounia.com/

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d611431-Reviews-Barbounia-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

250 Park Avenue South was designed by architects Rouse & Goldstone in 1911 in the Neo-Classical design. You have to look at the building from a distance to appreciate all the interesting embellishments on the sides and top of the building.

237 Park Avenue with it’s lion guardians

https://www.apartments.com/237-park-ave-new-york-ny/kcb010c/

The building 237 Park Avenue was plain but I thought these lions the adorned the build were pretty cool.

https://www.corcoran.com/building/flatiron/303

The building was designed by William Dilthey and built in 1898. The building’s style, scale and materials contribute to the special architectural and historic characteristics of the Ladies Mile District (Corcoran Group).

As you walk up Park Avenue South, the first building that makes an impression is 251 Park Avenue South. This elegant office building with its large display windows and clean lines shows of the store inside. The office building was built in 1910 and has large windows both on the ground level and towards the top of building.

251 Park Avenue South

https://moovitapp.com/index/en/public_transit-251_Park_Avenue_South-NYCNJ-site_22867315-121

One building that does standout from the others on Park Avenue South is the Calvery Church at 277 Park Avenue. The church was established in 1832 and moved to its current location in 1842. The current church was designed in the Gothic Revival style by James Renwick Jr., who designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

277 Park Avenue South-Church of the Calvery

https://www.calvarystgeorges.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvary-St._George%27s_Parish

Another interesting building, I looked up and admired while walking up Park Avenue South was 281 Park Avenue South, the former Church Mission House. The building was designed by architects Robert W. Gibson and Edward J. Neville in the Medieval style and was built between 1892 and 1894. It was built for the Episcopal Church’s Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (Wiki). It now houses the photography museum The Fotografista Museum.

281 Park Avenue South-The Fotografiska Museum (The Church Mission House)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Missions_House

https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/

Another impressive building, I passed before East 23rd Street is 105 East 22nd Street the former United Charities Building. This is the final building in what was once known as “Charity Row” (Wiki). The building was designed by architect R. H. Robertson and the firm of Rowe & Baker. It was built by John Stewart Kennedy in 1893 for the ‘Charity Organization Society’ (Wiki).

105 East 22nd Street-United Charities Building

The details of 105 East 22nd Street

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Charities_Building

The embellishments on the building

The embellishments on the building

I started walking down East 20th Street from Lexington Avenue. I crossed East 23rd Street which is the edge of the neighborhood shared with Gramercy Park, Rose Hill and Peter Cooper Village further down the block. This busy thoroughfare is lined with a lot stores, restaurants and many interesting buildings that leads to the East River.

I stopped for lunch at a Dim Sum restaurant named Awe Sum Dim Sum at 160 East 23rd Street and it was just excellent. I took my friend, Maricel, here for lunch when it first opened and we ate through most of the menu (see my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).

The Awe Sum Dim Sum at 160 East 23rd Street

https://awesumdimsum.us/

The menu items that the restaurant carries.

The restaurant has the most amazing appetizers to choose from that are all made in house and served fresh to you either at your table inside or one of the many tables outside (while the weather holds out). On my trip with Maricel, we ate our way through the Fried Dumplings, the Chicken Siu Mai, the Spring Rolls, the Baked BBQ Pork Buns, the Scallion Pancakes and the Soup Dumplings. On my trip today, I ordered the Soup Dumplings, Crispy Shrimp Rolls and the Siu Mai with pork and shrimp.

The Soup Dumplings here are the best

So are the Spring Rolls when they are fresh out of the fryer

On one of the trips I had the Pan Fried Pork Buns, Spring Rolls and Roast Pork Buns.

With the cost for each running between $4.00-$6.00, I could eat my way through the menu. The nice part is what a nice contemporary designed restaurant the place is to dine in. Everyone is kept ‘socially distanced’ so it is a nice place to eat.

The inside of Awe Sum Dim Sum

After a nice relaxing lunch, I was ready to continue down East 23rd Street. Criss crossing the street again, I noticed the beauty of 219-223 East 23rd Street. The building has all sorts of griffins and faces glaring out. When you stand across the street, you can admire the beauty of all the carvings on the building along the archways above and the faces staring at you from the tops of windows.

219-223 East 23rd Street

The window details of 221 East 23rd Street

https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/gramercy-park/219-east-23rd-street/7437

Another building that stands out is 304-310 East 23rd Street. This former factory building was built in 1900 and now is the “The Foundry”, a converted condo complex. The amazing detail on the building stands out and you have to admire the stonework and details in the carvings along the building.

304-310 East 23rd Street is a former factory

https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/gramercy-park/the-foundry-310-east-23rd-street/3880

The stone work is a standout on this building

Reaching the end of East 23rd Street, you will see the planned middle class complex of Peter Cooper Village, which has gone market rate and is now getting very upscale and seems to have a younger resident walking around then the usual middle aged residents who used to be on the list to get one of these very desirable apartments.

The entrance to Peter Cooper Village at First Avenue

https://www.petercoopervillage.com/

Across from Peter Cooper Village is the Asser Avery Recreational Center and Playground 392 Asser Avery Place with the famous baths and pools that have been part of the neighborhood for generations.

The Asser Levy Recreation Center and Park at 392 Asser Levy Place

When the baths opened in 1908, the facility was called the East 23rd Street Bathhouse. It was by architects Arnold W. Brunner and William Martin Aiken. Based on the ancient Roman Baths, the architecture was inspired by the “City Beautiful” movement, a turn of the century effort to create civic architecture in the United States that would rival the monuments of the great European capitals (NYCParks.org). The playground next to it opened in 1993.

The architecture by Arnold Brunner and William Martin Aiken resembled a Roman Bath

The fountain at the bathhouses.

The historic plaque.

The Baths and Park was named for Asser Levy, a Jewish trailblazer in colonial times when Mr. Levy and 23 Jews fled from Brazil in 1654 to seek refuge in New Amsterdam. He challenged Governor Peter Stuyvesant when he tried to evict the Jews from the colony. He was the first Jew to serve in the militia and own property in the colony (NYCParks.org).

Asser Levy

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9876-levy-asser-asser-levy-van-swellem

The border to the east of the neighborhood is combination of the East River Esplanade, FDR Drive and First Avenue. Since First Avenue and FDR Drive are surrounded by a combination of college campus and hospital space, it makes walking around the neighborhood tricky.

When you walk across East 23rd Street to FDR Drive, you have to cross over FDR Drive at East 25th Street behind the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System Hospital complex and the CUNY/Hunter College campus and then cross over the bridge to the Waterside Plaza complex.

The Waterside Plaza complex and the Greenway walkway

https://streeteasy.com/building/waterside-plaza

This series of apartment buildings faces the East River and FDR Drive that leads to the East River Greenway walkway and the Waterside Plaza walkway both surround the complex. The views are breathtaking on a sunny afternoon of the East River and Long Island City.

The East River Greenway and the view of Long Island City.

East River Greenway looking at East 23rd Street

I turned around from the river (which is technically not part of the neighborhood) and walked down First Avenue. First Avenue is an unusual border for the neighborhood in that on one side is the gated communities of Peter Cooper Village from East 23rd to East 20th Streets and Stuyvesant Town which is from East 20th to East 14th Streets and on the border of Avenue C at the very eastern border. These once middle-income housing that once catered to teachers, fire fighters and police have gone market rate in the last twenty years, and you can see the changes in the chain businesses that now line their side of First Avenue.

Peter Cooper Village lining East 23rd Street

https://www.apartments.com/townhomes/stuyvesant-town-peter-cooper-village-new-york-ny/?bb=21mx4myuvHnj_9a

Peter Cooper Village on the corner of East 14th Street and First Avenue

Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village was one of the biggest post WWII private developments created in Manhattan. It consists of 110 red brick buildings that spreads over 80 acres of land below East 23rd Street. The complex was developed by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company based on the earlier success of the Parkchester complex in the Bronx. The first buildings opened in 1947. The complex used to be catering to middle class/middle income rent controlled apartments but since 2006 has gone more market rate (Wiki).

I found that you are not allowed to walk around the complex without permission so I just walked around the borders of the complex that had open roads. Please just don’t ‘walk around the complex’ without permission or know someone in the complex. Still I was able to walk through some of the well landscaped corners of the complex. They do a nice job maintaining the complexes.

On the other side of First Avenue just below East 20th Street starts Stuyvesant Town

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Town%E2%80%93Peter_Cooper_Village

The gardens in between the buildings in Stuyvesant Town in the Summer of 2024

On the other side of the street, there are small brick and brownstone buildings housing businesses that cater to the complex with a combination of chain and independent stores. I thought the whole Avenue could use a bit of a makeover. So much of the neighborhood was under scaffolding. Walking down First Avenue I noticed a lot of newer businesses on the complexes side of the street with more upscale restaurants and bars. Now that this is market rate housing and there have been renovations in the complex, a wealthier clientele has moved into the two complexes.

On the business side of First Avenue, it’s a combination of small restaurants such as pizzerias, delis and bodegas and services catering to the residents in both complexes. Here and there are some very reasonable places to eat. From 23rd Street to about 16th Street are businesses that cater not just to the housing complexes across the street but to the office buildings around the corner at East 14th Street.

The independent businesses lining First Avenue and East 21st Street

The independent businesses along First Avenue and 19th Street

Turning onto this part of 14th Street just above Alphabet City, I found I was far away from the old Ladies Shopping District and the beautiful architecture that once housed those stores. That is closer to Fifth Avenue and Broadway. On one side of East 14th Street are new buildings catering to office workers. The northern side of East 14th Street is a series of old brick and brownstone buildings that house small restaurants and bars.

The East 14th Street shopping district is made up of small businesses

Looking up Second Avenue at East 14th Street

As you enter the heart of East 14th Street as I rounded the corner, I saw a tiny fire fighter outside Engine 5 at 340 East 14th Street.

Engine 5 at 340 East 14th Street

https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/32846714/fdny-engine-5-14-st-express/

https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-1881-engine-company-5-340-east-14th.html

Engine 5 was founded as a Volunteer Fire Company in 1865. This firehouse was designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Son in 1881 and is still used today (DaytonianinManhattan.com).

Little Fire Fighter at Engine 5

Looking down East 14th Street shopping and dining district

There is a real diversity of businesses down this stretch of East 14th Street from First to Third Avenues.

Coyote Ugly Bar, famous of the film, at 233 East 14th Street

https://www.facebook.com/CoyoteUglySaloonNYC/

Review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d259689-Reviews-Coyote_Ugly-New_York_City_New_York.html

The bar was made famous by the movie of the same name back in 2000.

The trailer for the movie “Coyote Ugly”

Here I noticed a lot of newer buildings that have changed the dynamic of the neighborhood housing small businesses, city agencies and some of the buildings that have become part of the NYU campus. 14th Street is now a hodge lodge of different businesses such as restaurants and stores and a lot of fast-food places catering to the college students and the office workers.

328-330 East 14th Street

https://streeteasy.com/building/328-east-14-street-new_york

https://www.apartments.com/328-e-14th-st-new-york-ny/svj96n5/

This six story walk up apartment building was built in 1900 and is one of the last holdovers in this neighborhood. You have to look up at all the faces staring at you to appreciate it (Streeteasy.com).

The entrance to 328 East 14th Street

The faces staring at you from the entrance of 328 East 14th Street

As you get closer to Union Square Park, you see more of the classic architecture and upscale housing. In an ever-changing Manhattan, this area like every other section of island is being knocked down and rebuilt. The closer to the parks you get, the more upscale things get.

At 124 East 14th at the base the NYU campus at part Palladium Hall is Urbanspace Union Square. There is a selection of upscale restaurants catering not just to NYU students but to the business community as well. This just opened in August 2024 so I had not noticed it when I was recently attending NYU.

Urbanspace Union Square at 124 East 14th Street

https://www.urbanspacenyc.com/union-square

https://www.facebook.com/urbanspace/

I took a quick walk through the food court and looked over the over-priced menus of the restaurants. I could not believe the prices of these places and how it catered to college students but the place was packed. I also saw two young plain clothed policemen looking over the food court and that was a little unnerving but a sign of the times.

The food court in the afternoon

Some of the upscale restaurants at the Urbanspace Food Court

When I arrived back at my starting point in Union Square Park, it was nice to sit on the benches and listen to the street performers practicing their music. The park has been such a relief from the heat and a place to cool down is probably the reason why the wealthy called this home before the Civil War. There is a lot of calm in the park in this very busy crossroads to uptown.

Looking down East 14th Street from Irving Place

Arriving back at Union Square Park in the Summer 2024

Union Square Park in the late summer is quite spectacular

Union Square Park is just spectacular during the Summer and it is nice to just relax on the lawn or sit on the benches and read a book. It is nice to just calm down and relax and enjoy the day. The Gramercy Park area is unique in architecture, parks, restaurants and shops and there will be more to explore in the future.

Please read my other blogs on Gramercy Park:

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Walking the Borders of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/51647

Day Three Hundred and Twenty One Walking the Avenues of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/53432

Day Three Hundred and Twenty Four Walking the Streets of Gramercy Park:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/53788