Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent
thoroughfare
A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way as a transit route through regularly trafficked areas, whether by road on dry land or, by
extension, via watercraft or aircraft. On land, a thoroughfare may refer to anything from a multi-lane highway ...
in the
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It stretches north from
Washington Square Park in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
to
West 143rd Street in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
. It is one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world.
Fifth Avenue carries
two-way traffic from 142nd to
135th Street and carries
one-way traffic
One-way traffic (or uni-directional traffic) is traffic that moves in a single direction. A one-way street is a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction. One-way streets typical ...
southbound for the remainder of its route. The entire street used to carry two-way traffic until 1966. From 124th to 120th Street, Fifth Avenue is cut off by
Marcus Garvey Park, with southbound traffic diverted around the park via Mount Morris Park West. Most of the avenue has a bus lane, though not a bike lane. Fifth Avenue is the traditional route for many celebratory
parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
s in New York City, and is closed on several Sundays per year.
Fifth Avenue was originally only a narrower thoroughfare but the section south of
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
was widened in 1908. The midtown blocks between
34th and
59th Streets were largely a
residential area until the turn of the 20th century, when they were developed as commercial areas. The section of Fifth Avenue in the 50s is consistently ranked among the most expensive shopping streets in the world, and the section between 59th and
96th Streets across Central Park was nicknamed "
Millionaire's Row" in the early 20th century due to the high concentration of mansions there. A section of Fifth Avenue running from 82nd to 110th Streets, also alongside Central Park, is also nicknamed Museum Mile due to the large number of museums there.
History
Early history
Fifth Avenue between
42nd Street and
Central Park South (59th Street) was relatively undeveloped through the late 19th century.
The surrounding area was once part of the common lands of the city of New York, which was allocated "all the waste, vacant, unpatented, and unappropriated lands" as a result of the 1686
Dongan Charter
The ''Dongan Charter'' is the 1686 document incorporating Albany, New York, as a city. Albany's charter was issued by Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York, a few months after Governor Dongan issued a similarly worded, but less det ...
.
The city's
Common Council came to own a large amount of land, primarily in the middle of the island away from the
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Henry Hudson, English explorer
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...
and
East River
The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens ...
s, as a result of grants by the Dutch provincial government to the colony of New Amsterdam. Although originally more extensive, by 1785 the council held approximately , or about 9 percent of the island.
The lots along what is now Fifth Avenue were laid out in the late 18th century following the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
The city's
Common Council had, starting in June 1785, attempted to raise money by selling property. The land that the Council owned was not suitable for farming or residential estates, and it was also far away from any roads or waterways.
To divide the common lands into sellable lots, and to lay out roads to service them, the Council hired
Casimir Goerck
Casimir Theodor Goerck (born c.1755Koeppel (2015), pp.20-21 – died November 19 or December 11, 1798) was one of a handful of officially recognized "city surveyors" for New York City from 1788 until his death from yellow fever in 1798. Goerc ...
to survey them. Goerck was instructed to make lots of about each and to lay out roads to access the lots. He completed his task in December 1785, creating 140 lots of varying sizes, oriented with the east–west axis longer than the north–south axis.
As part of the plan, Goerck drew up a street called Middle Road, which eventually became Fifth Avenue.
The topography of the lots contributed to the public's reluctance to buy the lots. By 1794, with the city growing ever more populated and the inhabited area constantly moving north towards the Common Lands, the Council decided to try again, hiring Goerck once more to re-survey and map the area. He was instructed to make the lots more uniform and rectangular and to lay out roads to the west and east of Middle Road, as well as to lay out east–west streets of each. Goerck's East and West Roads later became
Fourth and
Sixth Avenues, while Goerck's cross streets became the modern-day numbered east–west streets. Goerck took two years to survey the 212 lots which encompassed the entire Common Lands.
The
Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which prescribed the street plan for Manhattan, was heavily inspired from Goerck's two surveys.
19th century
![Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street by Robert L](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Fifth_Avenue_at_42nd_Street_by_Robert_L._Bracklow.jpg)
From the early 19th century, some plots on Fifth Avenue in Midtown were acquired by the wealthy and by institutions. In the mid-19th century, Fifth Avenue between 40th and 59th Streets was home to several institutions such as the
Colored Orphan Asylum
The Colored Orphan Asylum was an institution in New York City, open from 1836 to 1946. It housed on average four hundred children annually and was mostly managed by women. Its first location was on Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets in M ...
, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, the
Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, and
St. Luke's Hospital.
Other uses such as a cattle farm remained until the 1860s.
The portion of Fifth Avenue in Midtown became an upscale
residential area following the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
Among the first people to develop such structures was Mary Mason Jones, who built the "Marble Row" on the eastern side of Fifth Avenue from 57th to 58th Streets between 1868 and 1870.
Her sister Rebecca Colford Jones erected ornate houses of her own one block south.
Further development came in the late 1870s with the construction of three
Vanderbilt family
The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthr ...
residences along Fifth Avenue between 51st and 59th Streets (the
William H.,
William K., and
Cornelius II mansions).
In the 1880s and 1890s, the ten blocks of Fifth Avenue south of Central Park (at 59th Street) were known as "Vanderbilt Row".
The Vanderbilts' relocation prompted many business owners on Fifth Avenue between Madison Square and 34th Street to
move uptown.
The upper section of Fifth Avenue on the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
, facing the newly created
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, was not developed at that time because of what the ''Real Estate Record and Guide'' described as the presence of "no opposite neighbors", as the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
was not yet developed.
Early 20th century
The midtown blocks were largely a residential area until the turn of the 20th century, when they were developed as commercial areas.
As early as 1900, rising traffic led to proposals to restrict traffic on the avenue. The section south of Central Park was widened starting in 1908, sacrificing wide sidewalks to accommodate the increasing traffic. As part of the widening project, the New York City government ordered the removal of stoops and other "encroachments" onto the sidewalk in February 1908. The buildings that needed to be trimmed included the
Waldorf–Astoria hotel. By early 1911, the avenue had been widened south of 47th Street. Later that year, when widening commenced on the section between 47th and 59th Streets, many of the mansions on that stretch of Fifth Avenue were truncated or demolished. In addition, the front facades of
St. Patrick's Cathedral and the
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) church in New York City. The church, on Fifth Avenue at 7 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, has approximately 2,200 members and is one of the larger PCUSA congregations. The ...
were relocated, and the gardens in front of the
St. Regis and
Gotham hotels had to be destroyed.
![Fifth Avenue after a snow storm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Fifth_Avenue_after_a_snow_storm.jpg)
The first commercial building on Fifth Avenue was erected by
Benjamin Altman
Benjamin Altman (July 12, 1840 – October 7, 1913) was a New York City department store owner and art collector who is best known today for his large art collection, which he donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Life and career
Benjami ...
who bought the corner lot on the northeast corner of
34th Street in 1896.
The
B. Altman and Company Building
The B. Altman and Company Building is a commercial building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, that formerly served as B. Altman and Company's flagship department store. It occupies an entire city block between Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, ...
was erected between 1906 and 1914, occupying the whole of its block front. The result was the creation of a high-end shopping district that attracted fashionable women and the upscale stores that wished to serve them.
The
Lord & Taylor Building
The Lord & Taylor Building is an 11-story commercial building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that formerly served as Lord & Taylor's flagship department store in the city. It is at 424–434 Fifth Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets.
...
, formerly
Lord & Taylor's flagship store and now a
WeWork office, was built at Fifth Avenue and 38th Street in 1914. The
Saks Fifth Avenue Building, serving as
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...
's flagship, opened between 49th and 50th Streets in 1924. The
Bergdorf Goodman Building between 57th and 58th Streets, the flagship of
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman.
To ...
, opened in stages between 1928 and 1929.
By the 1920s, Fifth Avenue was the most active area for development in Midtown, and developers were starting to build north of 45th Street, which had previously been considered the boundary for profitable developments.
The most active year for construction in that decade was 1926, when thirty office buildings were constructed on Fifth Avenue.
The two-block-wide area between Fifth and
Park Avenue
Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...
s, which represented eight percent of Manhattan's land area, contained 25% of developments that commenced between 1924 and 1926.
In the 1920s, traffic towers controlled important intersections along the lower portion of Fifth Avenue.
The idea of using patrolmen to control traffic at busy Fifth Avenue intersections was introduced as early as 1914. The first such towers were installed in 1920 upon a gift by Dr. John A. Harriss, who paid for patrolmen's sheds in the middle of Fifth Avenue at
34th, 38th,
42nd
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
,
50th and
57th Streets.
Two years later, the Fifth Avenue Association gave seven bronze traffic towers, designed by Joseph H. Freedlander, at important intersections between 14th and 57th Streets for a total cost of $126,000. The traffic signals reduced travel time along Fifth Avenue between 34th and 57th Streets, from 40 minutes before the installation of the traffic towers to 15 minutes afterward.
Freedlander's towers were removed in 1929 after they were deemed to be obstacles to the movement of traffic. He was commissioned to design bronze traffic signals at the corners of these intersections, with statues of Mercury atop the signals. The Mercury signals survived through 1964,
and some of the statues were restored in 1971.
Mid-20th century to present
In 1954, rising traffic led to a proposal to limit use of the avenue to buses and taxis only. On January 14, 1966, Fifth Avenue below 135th Street was changed to carry only one-way traffic southbound, and
Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
was changed to one-way northbound. Both avenues had previously carried bidirectional traffic.
Through the late 1960s and early 1970s, many of the upscale retailers that once lined Fifth Avenue's midtown section moved away or closed altogether.
According to a 1971 survey of the avenue, conducted by the Office of Midtown Planning under the leadership of
Jaquelin T. Robertson
Jaquelin Taylor Robertson, FAIA, F AICP, informally known as "Jaque," (March 20, 1933 – May 9, 2020) was an American architect and urban designer, working at Cooper Robertson. He was a representative of New Urbanism and New Classical Architectu ...
, only 57 percent of building frontages between 34th and 57th Street were used as stores. The remaining frontage, including was used for companies such as banks and airline ticket offices. The section between 34th and 42nd Street, once the main shopping district on Fifth Avenue, was identified in the survey as being in decline. The section between 42nd and 50th Street was characterized as having almost no ground-level retail. The section between 50th Street and
Grand Army Plaza was identified as having a robust retail corridor that was starting to decay.
In February 1971, New York City mayor
John Lindsay proposed a special
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
district to preserve the retail character of Fifth Avenue's midtown section. The legislation prescribed a minimum percentage of retail space for new buildings on Fifth Avenue, but it also provided "bonuses", such as additional floor area, for buildings that had more than the minimum amount of retail. The legislation also encouraged the construction of several mixed-use buildings with retail at the lowest stories, offices at the middle stories, and apartments at the top stories.
The types of retail included in this legislation were strictly defined; for example, airline ticket offices and banks did not count toward the retail space. Furthermore, new skyscrapers on the eastern side of the avenue were allowed to be built up to the boundary of the sidewalk. To align with the buildings of
Rockefeller Center, new buildings on the western side had to contain a
setback at least deep at a height of or lower.
The
New York City Planning Commission approved this legislation in March 1971. The legislation was adopted that April.
Just before the legislation was enacted,
American Airlines
American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
leased a ground-level storefront on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street; Robertson initially disputed the move, even though it had been finalized before the legislation was proposed.
As part of an experiment in 1970, Lindsay closed Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 57th Street to vehicular traffic for seven hours on Saturdays.
In 1998, a midblock crosswalk was installed south of the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, part of an experiment to allow vehicular traffic to turn without conflicting with pedestrians. At the time, it was one of a few midblock crosswalks in the city. The former southern crosswalk at Fifth Avenue and 50th Street was fenced off. A similar crosswalk was later installed south of 49th Street. Both crosswalks were removed in 2019.
During three Sundays in December 2022, the NYCDOT closed Fifth Avenue between 48th and 57th Streets to all vehicular traffic. Excluding special events such as parades, this was the first time since the 1970s that the midtown section of Fifth Avenue was closed to vehicular traffic.
Description
Fifth Avenue originates at
Washington Square Park in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
and runs northwards through the heart of
Midtown, along the eastern side of
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, where it forms the boundary of the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
and through
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
, where it terminates at the
Harlem River at 142nd Street. Traffic crosses the river on the
Madison Avenue Bridge.
Fifth Avenue serves as the dividing line for
house numbering and west–east streets in Manhattan; for example, it separates East 59th Street from West 59th Street. Higher-numbered avenues such as
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
are to the west of Fifth Avenue, while lower-numbered avenues such as
Third Avenue
Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...
are to the east.
Address numbers on west–east streets increase in both directions as one moves away from Fifth Avenue. A hundred street address numbers were provided for every block to the east or west of Fifth Avenue; for instance, the addresses on West 50th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues were numbered 1–99 West 50th Street, and between Sixth and Seventh Avenues 100–199 West 50th Street.
The building lot numbering system worked similarly on the East Side before Madison and Lexington Avenues were added to the street grid laid out in the
Commissioners' Plan of 1811. Unlike at other avenues, west–east street addresses do not increment to the next hundred to the east of Madison and Lexington Avenues.
The "most expensive street in the world" moniker changes depending on currency fluctuations and local economic conditions from year to year. For several years starting in the mid-1990s, the shopping district between 49th and
57th Streets was ranked as having the world's most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis.
[Foderaro, Lisa W]
"Survey Reaffirms 5th Ave. at Top of the Retail Rent Heap"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', April 29, 1997. Retrieved February 5, 2008. In 2008, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine ranked Fifth Avenue as being the most expensive street in the world. Some of the most coveted real estate on Fifth Avenue are the penthouses perched atop the buildings.
The
American Planning Association
The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. APA was formed in 1978, when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Pla ...
(APA) compiled a list of "2012 Great Places in America" and declared Fifth Avenue to be one of the greatest streets to visit in America. This historic street has many world-renowned museums, businesses and stores, parks, luxury apartments, and historical landmarks that are reminiscent of its history and vision for the future.
Traffic pattern
Fifth Avenue from
142nd Street to
135th Street carries
two-way traffic. Fifth Avenue carries
one-way traffic
One-way traffic (or uni-directional traffic) is traffic that moves in a single direction. A one-way street is a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction. One-way streets typical ...
southbound from 143rd Street to 142nd Street and from 135th Street to
Washington Square North. The changeover to one-way traffic south of 135th Street took place on January 14, 1966, at which time
Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
was changed to one way uptown (northbound).
From 124th Street to 120th Street, Fifth Avenue is cut off by
Marcus Garvey Park, with southbound traffic diverted around the park via Mount Morris Park West.
Parade route
Fifth Avenue is the traditional route for many celebratory
parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
s in New York City; thus, it is closed to traffic on numerous Sundays in warm weather. The longest running parade is the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. Parades held are distinct from the ''
ticker-tape parades'' held on the ''"
Canyon of Heroes
Broadway () is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for through the borough of Manhattan and through the Bronx, exiting north from New York City to run an additional through the Westcheste ...
"'' on lower
Broadway, and the
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...
held on Broadway from the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
downtown to
Herald Square. Fifth Avenue parades usually proceed from south to north, with the exception of the
LGBT Pride March, which goes north to south to end in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
. The Latino literary classic by New Yorker
Giannina Braschi, entitled "Empire of Dreams", takes place on the
Puerto Rican Day Parade on Fifth Avenue.
Bicycling route
Bicycling on Fifth Avenue ranges from segregated with a
bike lane south of
23rd Street, to scenic along
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, to dangerous through Midtown with very heavy traffic during rush hours. There is no dedicated bike lane along most of Fifth Avenue. A protected bike lane south of 23rd Street was added in 2017, and another protected lane for bidirectional bike traffic between 110th and 120th Streets was announced in 2020.
In July 1987, then
New York City Mayor
The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...
Edward Koch proposed banning bicycling on Fifth, Park, and Madison Avenues during weekdays, but many bicyclists protested and had the ban overturned.
When the trial was started on August 24, 1987, for 90 days to ban bicyclists from these three avenues from 31st Street to 59th Street between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays,
mopeds
A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typi ...
would not be banned. On August 31, 1987, a state appeals court judge halted the ban for at least a week pending a ruling after opponents against the ban brought a lawsuit.
Public transportation
Bus
Fifth Avenue is one of the few major streets in Manhattan along which
streetcars did not operate. Instead, transportation along Fifth Avenue was initially provided by the
Fifth Avenue Transportation Company
The Fifth Avenue Transportation Company was a transportation company based in New York which was founded in 1885 and operated of horse-and-omninbus transit along Fifth Avenue, with a route running from 89th Street to Bleecker Street using horse-d ...
, which provided horse-drawn service from 1885 to 1896. It was replaced by
Fifth Avenue Coach, which continued to offer bus service.
Double-decker buses were operated by the Fifth Avenue Coach Company until 1953 and again by
MTA Regional Bus Operations
MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...
from 1976 to 1978.
A
bus lane for Fifth Avenue within Midtown was announced in 1982. Initially it ran from 59th to 34th Streets. The bus lane opened in June 1983 and was restricted to buses on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In June 2020, mayor
Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...
announced that the city would test out busways on Fifth Avenue from 57th to 34th Street.
Despite a deadline of October 2020, the Fifth Avenue busway was not in place at that time.
Today, local bus service along Fifth Avenue is provided by the MTA's
M1, M2, M3, and M4 buses. The
M5 and
Q32 also run on Fifth Avenue in Midtown, while the
M55 runs on Fifth Avenue south of 44th Street. Numerous express buses from
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, and
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
also run along Fifth Avenue.
Subway
The
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
has never built a line underneath Fifth Avenue, likely because wealthy Fifth Avenue residents would have objected to any such line.
However, there are several subway stations along streets that cross Fifth Avenue:
* at
* at
* at
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street
* at
Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street
Nicknames
Upper Fifth Avenue/Millionaire's Row
In the late 19th century, the very rich of New York began building mansions along the stretch of Fifth Avenue between 59th Street and
96th Street, looking onto Central Park. By the early 20th century, the portion of Fifth Avenue between 59th and 96th Streets had been nicknamed "
Millionaire's Row", with mansions such as the
Mrs. William B. Astor House
The Mrs. William B. Astor House was a mansion on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was located at 840 and 841 Fifth Avenue, on the northeast corner of 65th Street, completed in 1896 and demolished a ...
and
William A. Clark House
The William A. Clark House, nicknamed "Clark's Folly", was a mansion located at 962 Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner of its intersection with East 77th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It was demolished in 1927 an ...
. Entries to Central Park along this stretch include Inventor's Gate at 72nd Street, which gave access to the park's carriage drives, and Engineers' Gate at 90th Street, used by equestrians.
A milestone change for Fifth Avenue came in 1916, when the grand corner mansion at 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue that
James A. Burden Jr.
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
had erected in 1893 became the first private mansion on Fifth Avenue above 59th Street to be demolished to make way for a grand apartment house. The building at
907 Fifth Avenue
907 Fifth Avenue is a luxury residential housing cooperative in Manhattan, New York City, United States.
The 12-story, limestone-faced building is located at Fifth Avenue and 72nd Street on a site once occupied by the 1893 residence of James A ...
began a trend, with its 12 stories around a central court, with two apartments to a floor. Its strong cornice above the fourth floor, just at the eaves height of its neighbors, was intended to soften its presence.
In January 1922, the city reacted to complaints about the ongoing replacement of Fifth Avenue's mansions by apartment buildings by restricting the height of future structures to , about half the height of a ten-story apartment building.
[J. E. R. Carpenter, The Architect Who Shaped Upper Fifth Avenue](_blank)
''The New York Times'', August 26, 2007, Christopher Gray
Christopher Stewart Gray (April 24, 1950 – March 10, 2017) was an American journalist and architectural historian,Schneider, Daniel B (August 27, 2000)"F.Y.I. Hell's Kitchen in the Raw" ''The New York Times''. March 4, 2010. noted for his week ...
. Architect
J. E. R. Carpenter
James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter Jr. (January 7, 1867 – June 11, 1932) was the leading architect of luxury residential high-rise buildings in New York City in the early 1900s.
Biography
He studied at the University of Tennessee and at the Mas ...
brought suit, and won a verdict overturning the height restriction in 1923. Carpenter argued that "the avenue would be greatly improved in appearance when deluxe apartments would replace the old-style mansions."
Led by real estate investors
Benjamin Winter, Sr.
Benjamin Winter Sr. (February 5, 1881 – June 16, 1944) was a real estate developer in New York City and founder of Winter Incorporated. Winter served as president of the American Federation of Polish Jews.
Biography
Born in Łódź, Poland, to ...
and Frederick Brown, the old mansions were quickly torn down and replaced with apartment buildings.
This area contains many notable apartment buildings, including
810 Fifth Avenue
810 Fifth Avenue is a luxury residential housing cooperative on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City.
Overview
The building is on the northeast corner of East 62nd Street, across the street from the Knickerbocker Club. Designed by J ...
and the
Park Cinq, many of them built in the 1920s by architects such as
Rosario Candela and
J. E. R. Carpenter
James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter Jr. (January 7, 1867 – June 11, 1932) was the leading architect of luxury residential high-rise buildings in New York City in the early 1900s.
Biography
He studied at the University of Tennessee and at the Mas ...
. A very few post-
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
structures break the unified limestone frontage, notably the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
between 88th and 89th Streets.
Museum Mile
Museum Mile is the name for a section of Fifth Avenue running from 82nd to 110th streets on the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
, in an area sometimes called Upper
Carnegie Hill. The Mile, which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world, is actually three blocks longer than one mile (1.6 km). Nine museums occupy the length of this section of Fifth Avenue.
A ninth museum, the
Museum for African Art
The Africa Center, formerly known as the Museum for African Art and before that as the Center for African Art, is a museum located at Fifth Avenue and 110th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, near the northern end of Fifth Avenue' ...
, joined the ensemble in 2009; its museum at
110th Street
110th Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park, along which it is known as Central Park North. In the west, between Central Park West/Frederick Dougl ...
, the first new museum constructed on the Mile since the
Guggenheim in 1959,
opened in late 2012.
In addition to other programming, the museums collaborate for the annual Museum Mile Festival to promote the museums and increase visitation.
The Museum Mile Festival traditionally takes place here on the second Tuesday in June from 6 – 9 p.m. It was established in 1979 by
Lisa Taylor to increase public awareness of its member institutions and promote public support of the arts in New York City.
The first festival was held on . The nine museums are open free that evening to the public. Several of the participating museums offer outdoor art activities for children, live music and street performers. During the event, Fifth Avenue is closed to traffic.
Museums on the mile include:
*110th Street –
The Africa Center
*105th Street –
El Museo del Barrio
El Museo del Barrio, often known simply as El Museo (the museum), is a museum at 1230 Fifth Avenue in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is located near the northern end of Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile, immediately north of the Museum of the Cit ...
*103rd Street –
Museum of the City of New York
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...
*92nd Street –
The Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum is an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the former Felix M. Warburg House, along Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The first Jewish museum in the Unit ...
*91st Street –
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (part of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
)
*89th Street –
National Academy Museum
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fi ...
and School of Fine Arts
*88th Street –
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
*86th Street –
Neue Galerie New York
The Neue Galerie New York (German language, German for "New Gallery") is a museum of early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design located in the William Starr Miller House at 86th Street (Manhattan), 86th Street and Fifth Avenue i ...
*82nd Street –
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Further south, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th Street, lies the
Henry Clay Frick House
The Henry Clay Frick House was the residence of the industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick in New York City. The mansion is located between 70th and 71st Street and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It was constructed in 19 ...
, which houses the
Frick Collection
The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the 945 Madison Avenue#2021–present: Frick Madison, Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and Europe ...
.
Historical landmarks
Buildings on Fifth Avenue can have one of several types of official landmark designations:
* The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
is the New York City agency that is responsible for identifying and designating the city's landmarks and the buildings in the city's historic districts. New York City landmarks (NYCL) can be categorized into one of several groups: individual (exterior), interior, and scenic landmarks.
* The
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
(NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance.
* The
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
(NHL) focuses on places of significance in American history, architecture, engineering, or culture; all NHL sites are also on the NRHP.
*
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
s are designated by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
as having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, and are legally protected by international treaties.
Individual landmarks
Below is a list of historic sites on Fifth Avenue, from north to south.
Historic districts are not included in this table, but are mentioned in . Buildings within historic districts, but no individual landmark designation, are not included in this table.
Historic districts
There are numerous historic districts through which Fifth Avenue passes. Buildings in these districts with individual landmark designations are described in . From north to south, the districts are:
* The
Carnegie Hill Historic District
Carnegie Hill is a neighborhood within the Upper East Side, in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Its boundaries are 86th Street on the south, Fifth Avenue (Central Park) on the west, with a northern boundary at 98th Street that continue ...
, a city landmark district, which covers 400 buildings, primarily along Fifth Avenue from 86th to 98th Street, as well as on side streets extending east to Madison, Park, and Lexington Avenues.
* The Metropolitan Museum Historic District, a city landmark district, which consists of properties on Fifth Avenue between 79th and 86th Streets, outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as properties on several side streets.
* The
Upper East Side Historic District
The Upper East Side Historic District is a landmarked historic district on the Upper East Side of New York City's borough of Manhattan, first designated by the city in 1981. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Its b ...
, a city and NRHP district. The city district runs from 59th to 78th Streets along Fifth Avenue, and up to Third Avenue at some points.
* The
Madison Square North Historic District __NOTOC__
The Madison Square North Historic District is in Manhattan, New York City, and was created on June 26, 2001 by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The Historic District lies primarily within the Manhattan neighborhood known as ...
, a city landmark district, which covers 96 buildings from 25th to 29th Streets around Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and side streets.
* The
Ladies' Mile Historic District, a city landmark district, which covers 440 buildings from roughly 15th Street to 24th Street and from
Park Avenue South
Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...
to west of
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
.
* The
Greenwich Village Historic District
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village al ...
, a city landmark district, which covers much of Greenwich Village and includes almost all buildings on Fifth Avenue south of 12th Street.
In the 1980s, there was also a proposal for a historic district on Fifth Avenue between 48th and 58th Streets. At the time, St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Thomas Church, the Cartier Building at number 651, the University Club, the Rizzoli Building at number 712, and the Coty Building at number 714 were official city landmarks. However, other structures on that strip had no protection yet, including Rockefeller Center, the Elizabeth Arden Building at 689 Fifth Avenue, the St. Regis Hotel, the Peninsula Hotel, and the Bergdorf Goodman Building.
Other
In addition, the
cooperative apartment building at 2 Fifth Avenue was named a New York cultural landmark on December 12, 2013, by the Historic Landmark Preservation Center, as the last residence of former New York City Mayor
Ed Koch.
Economy
![Fifth Avenue looking north from 51st Street Manhattan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Fifth_Avenue_looking_north_from_51st_Street_Manhattan.jpeg)
Between
49th Street and
60th Street, Fifth Avenue is lined with prestigious boutiques and flagship stores and is consistently ranked among the most expensive shopping streets in the world.
Many
luxury goods
In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...
,
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
, and sport
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
boutiques are on Fifth Avenue, including
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...
,
Tiffany & Co. (whose
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
is at 57th Street),
Gucci
Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragrance ...
,
Prada
Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding t ...
,
Armani
Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...
,
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.
After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...
,
Cartier Cartier may refer to:
People
* Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player
Places
* Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australia' ...
,
Omega
Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...
,
Chanel
Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...
,
Harry Winston
Harry Winston (March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1963 in exchang ...
,
Salvatore Ferragamo,
Nike,
Escada
Escada SE is a luxury women's designer clothing company headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company is owned by Regent, L.P., an international private equity firm led by investor Michael Reinstein.
The company was founded in 1978 by designe ...
,
Rolex,
Bvlgari,
Emilio Pucci
Don Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento (; 20 November 1914 – 29 November 1992) was an Italian aristocrat, fashion designer and politician. He and his eponymous company are synonymous with geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colors.
Early l ...
,
Ermenegildo Zegna,
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three other offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of Februar ...
,
Hollister Co.
Hollister Co., often advertised as Hollister or HCo., is a retail brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co, selling apparel, accessories, and fragrances. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store. Hollister uses a narrativ ...
,
De Beers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...
,
Emanuel Ungaro
Emanuel Ungaro (13 February 1933 – 21 December 2019) was a French fashion designer who founded the eponymous fashion house in 1965.
Early life
Ungaro's Italian father fled to France from Francavilla Fontana of Brindisi province because of th ...
,
Gap,
Versace
Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as w ...
, Lindt Chocolate Shop,
Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel, Inc. (pronounced BEN-del), established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its New York Ci ...
,
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
Store,
Oxxford Clothes
Oxxford Clothes is a luxury men's suit and sport coat manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. Individualized Apparel Group currently owns the brand. ''Forbes'' magazine has rated Oxxford as the best American-made suit. Oxxford Clothes was calle ...
,
Microsoft Store,
Sephora
Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products. Featuring nearly 340 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora Collection, Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skincare, body, fragrance, n ...
,
Tourneau
Tourneau, LLC, is a luxury watch retailer established in 1900 and based in the United States. In 2018 Tourneau was purchased by the European retailer, Bucherer AG. The company carries over 8,000 styles of men’s and women’s watches from nearly ...
, and
Wempe. Luxury department stores include
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...
and
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman.
To ...
. Fifth Avenue also is home to an
Apple Store.
Many
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
s at one time had ticketing offices along Fifth Avenue. In the years leading up to 1992, the number of ticketing offices along Fifth Avenue decreased.
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
went out of business, while
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
,
Finnair, and
KLM
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
moved their ticket offices to other areas in
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
.
[POSTINGS: Air France Takes Flight; Au Revoir, Fifth Avenue]
" ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. May 24, 1992. Page 101, New York Edition. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
Gallery
File:(King1893NYC) pg319 BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF FIFTH AVENUE; NORTH OF 51ST STREET.jpg, Bird's-eye view looking north from 51st St. c. 1893
File:New York NY 5th Ave Presby PHS821.jpg, Street view looking north from 51st St. c. 1895
File:5 Av 51 St North March 2015b jeh.jpg, The same shot in March 2015
File:Christmasonfifthavenue 1896.jpg, Christmas on Fifth Avenue in 1896
File:5thavenue1.jpg, Fifth Avenue, 1918
File:Washington Square by Matthew Bisanz.JPG, Fifth Avenue begins at the Washington Square Arch
The Washington Square Arch, officially the Washington Arch, is a marble memorial arch in Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by architect Stanford White in 1891, it commemora ...
in Washington Square Park
File:Manhattan Central Park Richard Morris Hunt Memorial.JPG, Memorial to New York architect Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa ...
, Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st Streets
File:Plaza Hotel.jpg, The Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...
, c.1907
See also
*
List of shopping streets and districts by city
*
Jerome Avenue, a shopping street and major thoroughfare in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
*
Fifth Avenue Mile, annual road race
References
Notes
Further reading
*
*
* (Note: Erroneously states the northern boundary of Museum Mile is East 104th Street.)
External links
Fifth Avenue PhotosFifth Avenue Directory and ImagesGreek Independence Day Parade, Fifth Avenue
APA Great Places in AmericaNational Historic Landmarks in New York State
{{Authority control
*05
Economy of New York City
Art gallery districts
Culture of Manhattan
Museum districts
Museums in Manhattan
Tourist attractions in Manhattan
East Harlem
Flatiron District
Greenwich Village
Harlem
Midtown Manhattan
Upper East Side
Upper class culture in New York City