Neighborhood

Since New York City’s Landmarks Law was enacted some 60 years ago, more than 1,500 sites throughout the city have been designated as landmarks, to be preserved for their historical, cultural, or aesthetic value. 

Thirteen of the landmarks are located within the Turtle Bay neighborhood (43rd to 53rd St., Lexington Ave. to the East River), of which 860-870 United Nations Plaza is a part. Residents and friends can easily take a self-guided “walking tour” of the Turtle Bay landmarks, using the descriptions below. The tour starts on East 53rd Street and wends its way south to East 44th Street. At a leisurely pace, the walk takes approximately 90 minutes.      

312 and 314 East 53rd St., between First and Second avenues:
Two 1860s clapboard houses: These twin side-by-side houses were built in 1866, just before a change in the city’s fire codes outlawed wood frame houses. In the French Empire style – popular in New York after the Civil War — each is two stories tall, with a high brick basement and mansard roofs. 

242 East 52nd St., between Second and Third avenues:
Rockefeller Guest House: This structure was built in 1950 for Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III as a space for her modern art collection. The architect, Philip Johnson, was relatively unknown at the time, but would go on to great fame. One of the earliest buildings in the city to reflect the modernist movement, it was donated to the Museum of Modern Art in 1955 and later sold. 

SE corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street:
Summit Hotel: This hotel – today “FOUND” housing – first opened in 1961. It was designed by Morris Lapidus, architect of some 200 hotels, known to be unusual and always lavish. The Summit was notable for its “S-shape” and its enormous sign of seven oval disks running down its northwest corner.  

No. 23 Beekman Place, between 50th and 51st streets:
Paul Rudolph House: This mid-1800s brownstone was home to legendary actress Katherine Cornell in the early 1900s. In the 1970s, architect Paul Rudolph bought the house and modified it with a multi-level penthouse and interiors of mirrored walls and glass floors. He died in 1997, and the interior has since been renovated, but the exterior remains virtually unchanged. 

NE corner of Mitchell Place (49th Street) and First Avenue:
Panhellenic Tower: Opened in 1929, this hotel (now, the Beekman Tower) was designed by John Mead Howels as a hotel for women. Known for its Gothic-inspired Art Deco exterior ornament, it was converted for use by both women and men in the 1930s. Its rooftop bar originally was a solarium. 

228 to 246 East 49th St. and 229 to 247 East 48th St.(20 houses between Second and Third avenues):
Turtle Bay Gardens: Distinguished by cast iron turtles adorning most of the exterior gates to the houses, Turtle Bay Gardens was the creation of Charlotte Hunnewell Martin, who, in 1919, bought 20 1850s brownstones on the two streets and converted them to townhouses with a lushly landscaped interior garden. The complex has been home to many creative residents over the years, from Katherine Hepburn to Stephen Sondheim. (Public entrance to the garden is not allowed.) 

211-215 East 49th St., between Second and Third avenues:
Amster Yard: This complex of buildings surrounding a courtyard was created by a well-known interior designer of the mid-1940s, James “Jimmy” Amster. He bought a group of run-down 1800s buildings and converted them into homes and offices for himself and some well-known designers of the time. Historically, the site had been a Boston stage coach stop on the old Eastern Post Road. Today the complex is home of the Cervantes Institute. (Courtyard is open to the public weekdays and Sat. mornings.) 

219 East 49th Street, between Second and Third avenues:
Morris Sanders Studio and Apartment): Built in 1935, this modern-style house was designed by architect Morris Sanders, using glass and dark blue bricks. Sanders was known primarily for design of modular furniture and ceramics. He used the house as his home and office.

211 East 48th St., between Second and Third avenues:
Lescaze House: Designed by architect William Lescaze in 1933, this house is known as the first truly “modern” residence in New York City. Altered from an 1865 brownstone purchased by Lescaze, its use of exterior glass bricks was controversial at the time. He used the house as his home and office.

333 East 47th St., between First and Second avenues:
Japan Society: Opened in 1971, the Japan Society building is a relatively new city landmark. Land for the building was donated by John D. Rockefeller III, who had a long association with Japan, including work on post-World War II planning in Japan. The building, noted for both its exterior and interior spaces, was designed by Junzo Yoshimura, and is considered a work of late modernism reflecting Japanese architectural heritage.

307 and 310 East 44th St., between First and Second avenues:
Beaux-Arts Apartments:  Located on both sides of 44th Street, these apartments, designed by Raymond Hood in the 1930s, are an example of the modern phase of the Art Deco movement. Originally financed by a syndicate of architects, they were designed as housing for artists, but marketed to others as well. 

304 East 44th St., between First and Second avenues:
Beaux-Arts Institute of Design: Built in 1928, and designed by Frederick Hirons, this building is Art Deco design, noted for its terra cotta plaques designed by Rene Chambellan, the sculptor who also designed the exterior decoration of the Panhellenic Tower on First Avenue/Mitchell Place (see above).Today it is the Egyptian mission to the UN.

Note: a full description of each landmark can be accessed by using the landmark’s name at:  www.nyc.gov/site/lpc/designations/designation-reports.page