110th Street (Manhattan)

For other places with the same name, see 110th Street (disambiguation).

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 Douglass Boulevard and Riverside Drive, it is co-signed as Cathedral Parkway.

The elevated railroad, pictured in 1915, reached its highest elevation in New York City at the 110th Street curve.

Central Park North and Fifth Avenue

Lincoln Correctional Facility

Frederick Douglass Circle

110th Street seen from Broadway in the west toward Riverside Park

Route

110th Street is an eastbound street between First Avenue and Madison Avenue. The small portion between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue is westbound. West of Fifth Avenue, the road widens to accommodate two-way traffic.

The Duke Ellington Memorial, a statue of Duke Ellington, stands in Duke Ellington Circle, a shallow amphitheater at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, at the northeast corner of Central Park. Unveiled in 1997, the statue, by sculptor Robert Graham, is 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, and depicts the Muses—nine nude caryatids—supporting a grand piano and Duke Ellington on their heads.^[1] Duke Ellington Circle is also the site of the future Museum for African Art.

110th Street crosses Central Park West and Frederick Douglass Boulevard at the northwest corner of Central Park, Frederick Douglass Circle. West of there it is called Cathedral Parkway after the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.^[2]

The Parkway forms the south edge of Morningside Park between Manhattan Avenue and Morningside Drive.^[3] It forms the south edge of the Cathedral Close of St. John the Divine between Morningside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue, and ends at Riverside Drive before Riverside Park.

Central Park North

For the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis album, see Central Park North (album).

Central Park North is a section of West 110th Street. As the name implies, it lies at the northern end of Central Park. It is bounded by Central Park West on the west and Fifth Avenue on the east. It is notable for its incongruities; the Lincoln Correctional Facility—originally constructed in 1914 for the Young Women's Hebrew Association—stands a few blocks away from new luxury condo developments.

Central Park North has three of the original gates of Central Park. Farmers Gate is located at the southern end of Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard, while Warriors Gate is located at the southern end of Seventh Avenue/Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard. Pioneers Gate is at Fifth Avenue (Duke Ellington Circle).

The original Polo Grounds was located along Central Park North, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Originally hosting polo, it was the home for the New York Metropolitans baseball club from 1880 to 1886 and for the New York Gothams—subsequently the Giants—from 1883 to 1888.

In the first decade of the 21st century, there was significant real estate development on properties with a view of Central Park. In 2003, Manhattan-based developer Athena headed by Louis Dubin bought a property on this street.^[4][5] The building was pitched as "an opportunity for New Yorkers to be on the park at roughly half the price of Central Park South."^[6] The rebirth of Harlem along Central Park north had attracted celebrities such as Marcia Gay Harden, Maya Angelou, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.^[7] The finished building was 20 stories tall with 48 residential units, 9,500 of ground floor retail space, 48 parking spaces, and each unit had a view of Central Park.^[8]

Notable places

• Congregation Ramath Orah
• The Africa Center
• Duke Ellington Circle
• Frederick Douglass Circle
• Avalon Morningside Park
• Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Transportation

The elevated IRT Ninth Avenue Line used to reach a great height at its 110th Street station, before its demolition in 1940; it was infamous as a suicide location.^[9][10] Today, there are four New York City Subway stations on 110th Street:

• Cathedral Parkway–110th Street at Broadway serving the 1 train
• Cathedral Parkway–110th Street at Central Park West serving the A, ​B, and ​C trains
• Central Park North–110th Street at Lenox Avenue serving the 2 and ​3 trains
• 110th Street at Lexington Avenue serving the 4, ​6, and <6> trains

110th Street is served by the following New York City Bus routes, all heading west from Madison Avenue or east until Fifth Avenue:

• The M2 heads north on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.
• The M3 heads north on Manhattan Avenue.
• The M4 heads north on Broadway. It is the primary server of 110th Street.

Additional service is provided by the downtown M11, running east from Amsterdam to Columbus Avenues.^[11]

The New York Central Railroad's 110th Street station previously existed on Park Avenue, which now carries the Park Avenue main line of the Metro-North Railroad. The station opened in 1876^[12][13] and closed in 1906.^[14]

West 110th Street is the southern boundary of the area where boro cabs may be hailed by passengers.^[15]

Notable people

George Gershwin lived in 501 West 110th Street, on the northwest corner of 110th and Amsterdam, where he composed his seminal piece Rhapsody in Blue.^[16] Arthur Miller lived in 45 West 110th Street as a child.^[17]

In popular culture

• The street is known from the Bobby Womack song "Across 110th Street," which describes prostitution and drug dealing in the area, and from the 1972 movie of the same title (starring Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn).
• The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band released a highly regarded jazz album in 1969 entitled Central Park North.
• It was the billed hometown of professional wrestling tag team Harlem Heat.
• George Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Blue at 501 West 110th Street where he and his brother Ira lived from 1924 to 1929.

References

Note

1. Duke Ellington Memorial Dedicated in Harlem, artnet. Accessed September 16, 2007.
2. Johnson, Kirk (May 5, 1985). "Rediscovering Cathedral Parkway". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
3. Morningside Park, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Accessed August 3, 2008.
4. Taylor, Candace (July 10, 2008). "Gourmet Market's Opening Signals Shift in East Harlem". The New York Sun. Retrieved November 2, 2009. A decade ago, however, the area had a reputation as one of the most dangerous and economically depressed in the city, Louis Dubin, the CEO of the developer of 111 Central Park North, the Athena Group, said.
5. Padalka, Alex; Stabile, Tom (February 2007). "Keeping Up with the New York Region's Leading Developers". New York Construction. Retrieved November 2, 2009. Principals: Louis Dubin, president, CEO; Lee Saltzman, COO; Barry Seidel, executive vice president
6. Keil, Braden (July 16, 2004). "Harlem High-Rise Planned". Wired New York. Retrieved November 2, 2009. The Post has learned that luxury condominium builder, The Athena Group, has bought three property parcels at the northwest corner of Central Park North and Lenox Ave.
7. Schoeneman, Deborah (May 21, 2005). "Above It All–Central Park North always had great views—and few takers. But the secret is finally getting out". New York. Retrieved November 3, 2009. "We call it Upper Manhattan," says developer Louis Dubin of the Athena Group. Dubin recently bought the shopping center at the corner of Central Park North and Lenox Avenue, and hopes—pending a construction-hardship variance—to build seventeen stories of condos there selling for $450,000 to $2 million.
8. Stoler, Michael (December 4, 2006). "The Tale of Three Harlems". The New York Sun. Retrieved November 2, 2009. Approximately 30% of the units have been presold, including a complete floor of 5,200 square feet, for $6.6 million, or approximately $1,200 per square foot,' the president of the Athena Group, Louis Dubin, told my class at the New York University Real Estate Institute last week
9. Douglas, George H. (2004): Skyscrapers: A Social History of the Very Tall Building in America. McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-2030-8. (110th St station popular for suicides: p. 170).
10. "Merchants Complain Suicides Hurt Business; Seek Way to Guard 100th St. Elevated Station". The New York Times. January 31, 1927. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
11. "Manhattan Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
12. "Partial Rapid Transit: From The Grand Central Depot. Arrangements For Quick Trains On The Harlem Road Trains To Run Next Monday Fares, Time, Rates of Communication" (PDF). The New York Times. May 12, 1876. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
13. "Rapid Transit To And From Harlem" (PDF). The New York Times. April 13, 1876. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
14. "N. Y. Central Closes 110th Street Station". Buffalo Evening News. June 13, 1906. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
15. "Taxis · NYC311". Portal.311.nyc.gov. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
16. Pollack, Howard (2006). George Gershwin: His Life and Work. University of California Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-520-93314-9.
17. Meyers, Jeffrey (2012). The Genius and the Goddess: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe. University of Illinois Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-252-07854-5.

External links

• Media related to 110th Street (Manhattan) at Wikimedia Commons

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