Murray Hill Historic District
The pin is a point inside the NPS boundary polygon, not a surveyed location.
Why it's listed
Five blocks of Midtown Manhattan between Park and Lexington Avenues, from East 35th to East 39th Streets, make up this district of 88 contributing and 12 non-contributing buildings. Its character comes from rows of brownstone-fronted row houses built before the Civil War, mostly in an Italianate style, with many dating to the 1850s. Several have been covered in stucco or altered over time, yet most still read clearly as a mid-19th-century neighborhood. Park Avenue adds early 20th-century apartment houses and hotels in restrained neo-Classical and neo-Georgian styles, along with churches such as the Church of the New Jerusalem on East 35th Street. The district also contains the Lanier House and the Douglas House, which were listed individually in 1982. Residents over the years included a Union army captain, an illustrator who created the Gibson Girl, and stage actors. It is described as one of the last intact 19th-century residential districts in Midtown.
Significance in brief: The district is described as one of the last intact 19th-century residential districts in Midtown Manhattan. It keeps some of the city's oldest surviving brownstone-fronted row houses, mostly Italianate in style. Early 20th-century apartment houses and hotels along Park Avenue show the neighborhood's later development. The text available does not include the full Section 8 statement of significance.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 03000997, listed October 5, 2003. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by East 35th St., East 39th St., Park Ave. and Lexington Ave., New York |
|---|---|
| County | Manhattan |
| Listed | October 5, 2003 |
| Reference number | 03000997 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Builders and architects named include Washington A. Cronk, Samuel W. Cronk, Thomas Kilpatrick, James C. Hoe, Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White, Carrere & Hastings, York & Sawyer, and Hoppin & Koen. |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian (Italianate, Second Empire, Renaissance Revival); Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals (Beaux Arts, Colonial Revival, Classical Revival); neo-Moorish; neo-Romanesque; Art Deco |
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Social History, Community Planning and Development |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Buildings are overwhelmingly residential, some still single-family and others divided into apartments. Many row houses keep most of their historic features, while some have replacement windows or stucco over the brownstone. |
| Acreage | 8.5 |
| Coordinates | 40.74807, -73.97936 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 03000997.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.