Carnegie Hill, Manhattan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carnegie Hill is a neighborhood within the Upper East Side, in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Roughly speaking, it is bounded by 86th Street on the south, Third Avenue on the east, 98th Street (i.e., Spanish Harlem) on the north, and Fifth Avenue (i.e., Central Park) on the west. The neighborhood is part of Manhattan Community Board 8.

Carnegie Hill townhouses, circa 2003. The building in the center is identical to the one cut off on the left. The two are remnants of a row of Reconstruction-era homes.

1 History
2 Community
- 2.1 Museum Mile
3 Noted residents
4 In popular culture
5 See also
6 External links

The neighborhood is named for the mansion that Andrew Carnegie built at Fifth Avenue and 91st Street in 1901. The mansion is today the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution. A number of other mansions in the area have been converted to schools, including the recent purchase of the Smithers' Mansion, a former rehabilitation center for New York's elite by the Spence School. The Lycee Francais held a mansion space on 95th between Fifth and Madison Avenue until 2005, when the property was sold to a private owner.

The architecture of the neighborhood is an eclectic mix of taller residential buildings, lush mansions, townhouses, and even wood-built homes built over a nearly 200-year span. Many of the neighborhood's esteemed townhouses were actually built during the Reconstruction period, with four or five houses being cheaply laid down in row. While some of the facades of these older homes have been remodeled, there are still many identical houses running the length of the numbered streets in the area. A number of wooden houses still survive in the area.

One of New York's most prestigious and expensive neighborhoods, most of the neighborhood's opulent townhouses are protected as part of the Carnegie Hill Historic District. Many of the townhouses are single family residences, although some have been converted to apartments.

Known for its "suburban" family-friendly atmosphere, Carnegie Hill boasts many fine restaurants, upscale boutiques, and gourmet food stores. Following New York City's tradition of similar stores residing next to one another, the stretch of Madison Avenue that runs through Carnegie Hill is known for its numerous children's clothing boutiques. The neighborhood also includes several schools, including Dalton, St. David's, Nightingale-Bamford, Spence, Trevor Day School, Convent of the Sacred Heart, and Hunter College High School .

Also within Carnegie Hill along Fifth Avenue is the National Academy Museum in the former Huntington mansion, and the Jewish Museum in the former Warburg mansion. The El Museo del Barrio and the Museum of the City of New York are both just north of Carnegie Hill also along Fifth Avenue, and the Neue Gallerie in the former Vanderbilt mansion just to the south. Together these museums partly comprise the famed "Museum Mile". The 92nd Street Y is a cultural institution located on Lexington Avenue.

Carnegie Hill during a blizzard, circa 2004

Noted current and former residents include:

Woody Allen, who sold his Carnegie Hill townhouse in 2004 for well over $20,000,000.
Katie Couric, anchor of the CBS Evening News
Kevin Kline, stage and film actor
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former first lady, lived here for thirty years in her fifteen room apartment on Fifth Avenue.
Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward

Movies set in Carnegie Hill include Devil's Advocate, A Perfect Murder, and Ransom. One of the characters from Sex and the City resided on Carnegie Hill.