Gramercy Park, 1905
The residential enclave Gramercy Park was begun in 1831. At the center was a
private park resembling those found in London. Gramercy Park became an exclusive
upper class neighborhood of ornate row houses and mansions belonging to prominent
New York families. It remained so until the 1870s and 1880s, when large apartment
buildings, referred to as “French flats” to differentiate them from tenements,
began to appear in the area. After the Third Avenue elevated railroad opened
in 1878, middle class residents moved into these buildings and Gramercy Park
lost some of its exclusivity.
