Murray Hill Historic District

Borough and State: Manhattan, New York

Listed: Local historic district in 2002, extended in 2004; National Register historic district in 2003 (National Register boundaries are larger than local historic district boundaries.)

Type of district: National Register historic district, local historic district

Main Intersection: East 37th Street and Lexington Avenue

Reports: Historic District Designation Report, Historic District Designation Extension Report and National Register Nomination Report

Maps: Local Historic District Map and National Register Historic District Map

Murray Hill Historic District, New York, NY

The Murray Hill Historic District is located in Midtown. It is a residential district composed primarily of pre-Civil-War row houses and later apartment buildings. Murray Hill includes some of Manhattan’s oldest surviving brownstone-faced row houses, a building type that is usually associated with the late-19th-century development of northern Manhattan. Most of the row houses are Italianate in style.

Named for the 18th century country estate of Robert and Mary Murray, Murray Hill’s development began in 1847 when the Murray descendants partitioned the estate. Development proceeded apace until the Civil War, and then resumed in the 1890s as wealthy New Yorkers either renovated the earlier row houses or constructed new mansions. In the second quarter of the 20th century, many of these once-grand homes were converted into rooming houses or apartments. Most of the neighborhood’s apartment buildings date from the 1920s as apartment living became common for most people in Manhattan. Although many of the apartment buildings were designed in revivals of historical styles, including Classical, Federal, and Romanesque, there are early Modern styles in the district.