The proposed 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District consists of buildings facing Irving Place as well as buildings on East 17th and 18th streets, to the east and west of Irving Place. Within the district is a wide variety of buildings reflecting the complex developmental history of the Gramercy Park neighborhood. There are many single-family rowhouses from the 1840s and 1850s, typical of the early development period in the neighborhood. Beginning in the 1870s, the Gramercy Park area became one of the first sections of New York City to experience the construction of apartment houses planned for the middle class. In addition, the proposed historic district contains several important institutional buildings. The largest cluster of buildings is in the proposed historic district lines, the south side of East 17th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place. This is one of the most unusual blocks in New York, a block that the New York Times referred to in 1989 as "a minor urban masterpiece." The buildings on this street were erected over a period of more than half a century; yet the block has an extraordinary charm and cohesion that are rare in New York City. Learn more about the neighborhood's history.