Carnegie Hill

This neighborhood of beautiful townhouses — Irving Berlin used to live here — and grand co-ops are only a few squares blocks big. Because the neighborhood is so small, the number of Beekman Place apartments for sale at any one time, whether co-op or condo, is limited — but the Beekman area is worth the wait. The neighborhood centers on a two-blocks-long Beekman Place, with grand buildings like One Beekman Place, a co-op with a garage, and an Olympic pool. It contains what some believe to be New York City’s grandest and best apartments.

 

The Carnegie Hill section of Manhattan, full of magnificent townhouses that are rarely for sale because their owners tend to hang on to them, has wonderful access to Central Park. Larger buildings house prewar apartments of six or seven rooms, known as “Classic Sixes” and “Classic Sevens,” but the light in the area is generous as even these magnificent co-ops are usually not too tall. The resulting old-world feel, which bathes even modern condos in Carnegie Hill, shows you why steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie picked this quiet, countrified section of Manhattan as the place to build his ultimate family home (You can still visit it today on your way to buy or rent an apartment – it’s now a branch of the Smithsonian known as the Cooper-Hewitt museum).

 

 

Even now, Carnegie Hill feels like a grand village tucked away from some of Gotham’s hustle and bustle. Whether you’re walking on Park Avenue with its tulip plantings, past French and Italian renaissance apartment buildings with doorman luxury hidden behind their ornate facades, or along a side street with its well-preserved brownstones, you’ll realize that Carnegie Hill is a truly special section of the city.

 

 

Shopping is varied, which makes for a gracious uptown living. Madison Avenue offers designer duds, even for babies and toddlers. Many of the local shopkeepers have been here for decades. In keeping with the suburban feel of the area, entertainment is more museum mile than rock ‘n’ roll: Carnegie Hill is home to the Guggenheim Museum, the Jewish Museum, and the 92nd Street Y, which offers a variety of arts and cultural programming.

 

Uptown on the East Side, from 86th Street to 110th Street and from Lexington Avenue to Central Park.

 

4, 5, 6 to 86th St. | 6 to 96th St. | 6 to 103rd St. | 6 to 110th St.