Gramercy
Neighborhood Intelligence

Gramercy takes its name and its character from Gramercy Park, a gated, two-acre private park that was proposed in 1831 by the developer Samuel B. Ruggles. Only residents of the surrounding buildings hold keys, and the park is one of two private parks in New York City. The Gramercy Park Historic District, designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966, protects the surrounding rowhouses and early apartment buildings. The official area covered here, NYC Planning's Gramercy, extends from East 14th Street north to about East 28th Street and from Park Avenue South east to First Avenue.

Facing the park on its south side, the National Arts Club occupies a Victorian Gothic mansion that was once the home of Governor Samuel Tilden, and the Players, the club founded by actor Edwin Booth, stands next door. Irving Place runs south from the park to Irving Plaza, a long-running music venue, and Pete's Tavern is a longstanding neighborhood bar on East 18th Street. Stuyvesant Square, two small parks divided by Second Avenue, is flanked by St. George's Church, and the Brotherhood Synagogue sits on Gramercy Park South. Baruch College's Newman Vertical Campus occupies a block along Lexington Avenue.