History of 72nd Street

In the 1870s, before its building boom got underway, the Upper West Side was virtually open countryside and farmland. This isolated area first drew the attention of developers when construction of the 9th Avenue (present-day Columbus Ave) elevated train was announced. The "El" was completed in 1879.

In 1884 an enterprising developer named Edward Clark, together with architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, completed the area's first residential projects: the Dakota luxury apartment building and a block-long row of townhouses on 73rd Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. Other developers slowly followed Clark's lead, and by 1900, the Upper West Side was transformed into one of the finest residential districts in the City, its tree-lined streets home to elegant rowhouses and apartment buildings.

West 72nd Street, looking east towards Columbus Avenue. ca. 1898

Following the construction of the IRT subway beneath Broadway in 1904, 72nd Street between Broadway and Columbus Avenue served as the Upper West Side's primary retail center. At the same time, more elaborate high-rise residential construction appeared along 72nd Street, increasing pedestrian activity and further bolstering commercial development in the area.  

The economic pressures of commercialization intensified through the 1920s. Property owners converted the first and second floors of rowhouses to retail stores and offices, and demolished other rowhouses to make room for new apartment buildings containing ground level shops. The result was a distinct hybrid architectural form.

In 1936, the West Side Highway exit ramp opened, and the 72nd Street roadway was widened (and the sidewalks narrowed). To attract passing motorists' attention, merchants along 72nd Street began to install large-scale advertisements and signs on the facades of their buildings.

For 30 years the street continued to prosper as a retail center of the Upper West Side. In the 1970s, the City's lagging economy began to undermine investment in West 72nd Street's architecture and infrastructure. Neither the City nor property owners could afford maintenance or improvements. By the 1990s, this lack of investment, exacerbated by desperately gaudy and excessive advertising, became apparent. West 72nd Street was no longer one of the finest streets of the Upper West Side; it was, sadly, an urban landscape in an advanced state of decline.

Since Landmark West! initiated the RAP program in 1997, 72nd Street has made tremendous strides towards commercial and aesthetic revitalization. RAP continues to generate fresh ideas, new energy and growing community support. One block under its belt, in 2001 RAP expanded to include three additional blocks of 72nd Street: 1) Central Park West to Columbus Avenue, 2) Broadway to West End Avenue, and 3) West End Avenue to Riverside Drive. The phase brought additional improvements (Bishop's Crook lampposts, new sidewalks, muni-meters, removal of canopies) to unify the street along its entire length. Our goal: to re-establish West 72nd Street 's historic identity as one of New York's most beautiful streets from Riverside Park to Central Park.