Lenox Hill

Lenox Hill (/ˌlɛnəks ˈhɪl/) is a neighborhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It forms the lower section of the Upper East Side—east of Park Avenue in the 60s and 70s.[1]

For the Netflix docuseries, see Lenox Hill (TV series).

1st Avenue in Lenox Hill

A significant portion of the neighborhood lies within the Upper East Side Historic District designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1981 and expanded in 2010.[2] The neighborhood is part of Manhattan Community Board 8.

Geography

Based on the location of the original Lenox Hill, which was on a farm that spanned present-day 68th Street to 74th Street, east of Fifth Avenue, The Encyclopedia of New York City defines the neighborhood as the area between 60th Street and 77th Street, from Fifth Avenue on the west to Lexington Avenue on the east.[3] However, neighborhood boundaries can shift and most residents see the modern boundaries differently, as the Lenox Hill post office and the neighborhood's service-oriented retail shops are located east of Lexington Avenue.[1][4] Many city maps also place Lenox Hill in the lower east section of the Upper East Side,[5][6] including maps of Manhattan Community District 8[7] and by the Friends of the Upper East Side.[4]

History

The neighborhood is named for the hill that "stood at what became 70th Street and Park Avenue."[3] The name "Lenox" is that of the immigrant Scottish merchant Robert Lenox (1759-1839),[8] who owned about 30 acres (120,000 m²) of land "at the five-mile (8 km) stone", reaching from Fifth to Fourth (now Park) Avenues and from East 74th to 68th Streets.[9] For the sum of $6,420 ($107,000 in current dollar terms)[10] or $6,920 ($116,000)[9] he had purchased a first set of three parcels in 1818, at an auction held at the Tontine Coffee House of mortgaged premises of Archibald Gracie, in order to protect Gracie's heirs from foreclosure, as he was executor of Gracie's estate.[9] Several months later he purchased three further parcels, extending his property north to 74th Street.[11] According to one source, "Thereafter these two tracts were known as the 'Lenox Farm.'"[12] The tenant farmhouse stood on the rise of ground between Fifth and Madison avenues and 70th and 71st Streets, which would have been the hill, if the property had ever been called "Lenox Hill." The railroad right-of-way of the New York & Harlem Railroad passed along the east boundary of the property.

Union Theological Seminary on Park Avenue, in Lenox Hill (1883).

Robert Lenox's son James Lenox divided most of the farm into blocks of building lots and sold them during the 1860s and 1870s;[13] he also donated land for the Union Theological Seminary along the railroad right-of-way, between 69th and 70th Streets, and just north of it a full square block between Madison and Fourth Avenue, 70th and 71st streets, for the Presbyterian Hospital, which occupied seven somewhat austere structures on the plot;[14] He built the Lenox Library on a full block-front of Fifth Avenue, now the site of the Frick Collection.

Structures

Lenox Hill Hospital, the former German Hospital, is located in this area, on East 77th Street.

Luxury residences built in the 1910s and '20s are now very expensive. Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue both pass through Lenox Hill, and along these avenues, there are many boutiques, art galleries and five-star hotels. Museums in the area include the Frick Collection.[15]

Demographics

Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Lenox Hill and Roosevelt Island, which are combined into one census tabulation area, was 80,771, an increase of 4,140 (5.4%) from the 76,631 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 511.71 acres (207.08 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 157.8 inhabitants per acre (101,000/sq mi).[16] The median income for a household living in Lenox Hill was $92,219.[17]

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 75.3% (60,831) White, 4.4% (3,571) African American, 0.1% (57) Native American, 10.6% (8,569) Asian, 0.1% (61) Pacific Islander, 0.3% (262) from other races, and 1.9% (1,558) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 7.3% (5,862) of the population.[18]

The racial composition of Lenox Hill / Roosevelt Island changed moderately from 2000 to 2010. The most significant changes were the increase in the Asian population by 38% (2,346) and the increase in the Hispanic / Latino population by 22% (1,064). The White population remained the majority with a slight increase of 1% (360), while the small Black population increased by 2% (61); the even smaller population of all other races increased by 19% (309).[19]

Transportation

Lenox Hill is serviced by the New York City Subway's 68th Street–Hunter College station on the 4, ​6, and <6> trains, as well as the 72nd Street station on the N, ​Q, and ​R trains.[20] Bus routes include M1, M2, M3, M4, M15, M66, M72, M98, M101, M102, M103.[21]

References

Notes

1. Bloom, Jennifer Kingson (December 31, 1995). "If You're Thinking of Living In: Lenox Hill;Fast-Paced, Often Noisy, Young at Heart". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
2. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot & Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 419. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
3. Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. (1995). The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 663. ISBN 0300055366. ("...bounded to the north by East 77th Street, to the east by Lexington Avenue] to the south by East 60th Street, and to the west by Fifth Avenue")
5. Manhattan: City Council, Assembly, and State Senate
6. "NYCdata: Maps - Boroughs with Community Districts". www.baruch.cuny.edu.
8. (New York Public Library) Guide to the James Lenox Papers; James Trager, The New York Chronology. s.v. "1840" [sic]. Archived December 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
9. "Miss Lenox's Heirs" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 September 1886. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
10. Morrison (1906), p. 85f
11. Wilson, James Grant. The Memorial History of the City of New-York from Its First Settlement... 1893, p. 10
12. Morrison (1906)
13. "Realty Romance in Old Lenox Farm", The New York Times (December 15, 1918); the occasion was the auction of the auction sale an 1874 map of the section of Robert Lenox's farm that lay between 71st and 74th Streets.
14. "Founded by James Lenox, the chief features of the Presbyterian Hospital..., The New York Times (July 3, 1892)
15. Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. (2010). The Encyclopedia of New York City (2nd ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11465-2..732
16. Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010, Population Division – New York City Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed May 18, 2016.
17. "Lenox Hill neighborhood in New York, New York (NY)". city-data.com. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
18. Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010, Population Division – New York City Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed May 18, 2016.
19. "Race / Ethnic Change by Neighborhood" (Excel file). Center for Urban Research, The Graduate Center, CUNY. 23 May 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
20. "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. October 21, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
21. "Manhattan Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. December 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2018.

Bibliography

• Morrison, George Austin. History of Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York, 1756-1906 (1906)

External links

• Media related to Lenox Hill at Wikimedia Commons