Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood is well known for museums along Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue, ultra expensive pre-war cooperatives on Park and Fifth Avenues and tree-lined residential streets.
Upper East Side is close to Central Park especially if one lives on Fifth, Madison or Park Avenues. White-gloved doorman apartments on Fifth Avenue that face Central Park are the highest priced properties in the UES.
In the late 19th and 20th centuries, mansions were built for the wealthy families like the Astors, Vanderbilts, Post, Hutton and Carnegie. The Andrew Carnegie house at 2 East 91 Street was converted to the Cooper Hewitt Museum.
Apartment living only became acceptable for the wealthy after 1910. That was when architects like Rosario Candela, Emery Roth and James Carpenter built grand apartments on Fifth Avenue. Those apartments featured high ceilings, fireplaces, grand stairways and huge rooms. Most apartments on Fifth Avenue are pre-war cooperatives. The most notable is perhaps 820 Fifth Avenue, which has only 12 floors with one apartment per floor. 820 Fifth is one of the grandest addresses in the world. In 2009, the 12th floor apartment sold for $40 million. To be a resident at one of these ultra prestigious buildings often requires an all-cash purchase, social and business references, and even liquid assets upwards of $100 million.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest and most visited art museum in America, is located on 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue. The Guggenheim, on 90th Street and Fifth, is home to a large collection of Impressionist work.
In Spring, Park Avenue is planted with large tulips which makes walking along Park Avenue a joy to the senses.
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