Upper East Side History & Culture
Before it became the polished metropolitan neighborhood we know and love, the Upper East Side was considered a rural enclave, home to a series of villas. Gracie Mansion in Carl Schurz Park is the only relic of that period, but that mode of home set the stage for the refined residences of the present day. Aside from its adored architecture, the Upper East Side is nowadays renowned for its Museum Mile. Precisely what it sounds like, this near-30 block section of Fifth Avenue is inhabited by some of the world’s foremost cultural institutions. From 82nd to 110th Street, you’ll pass by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Africa Center, and several other halls of stature in between. There’s also no ignoring Central Park. Since all the grass and trees span the Upper East Side’s entire western border, nothing in that green wonderland is beyond reach.