116th Street (Manhattan)
Encyclopedia
116th Street runs from Riverside Drive
, overlooking the Hudson River
, to the East River
, through the New York City
borough
of Manhattan
. It traverses the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Harlem
, and Spanish Harlem
; the street is interrupted between Morningside Heights and Harlem by Morningside Park.
The western entrance to 116th Street at Riverside Drive is flanked by a pair of white apartment buildings with curved facades, The Colosseum
and The Paterno
.
The New York Times
has said that the "opposing curves, (form) a gateway as impressive as any publicly built arch or plaza in New York. The unusual curves of the road are the result of an 1897 plan to make the land between Claremont Avenue and Riverside Drive into a public park in order to give veterans parades a large park adjacent to Grant's Tomb
as a terminus. The street was redesigned so that a vehicle or a parade coming up Riverside Drive would swing onto 116th Street in a gracious curve, then immediately swing north onto Claremont Avenue following a second curve. The city never appropriated funds to buy the land, but the curves remain. The top of The Paterno is capped with an architectural fancy masking a water tower in a shape that conjures up a section of Mansard roof
, complete with dormer window. It is visible from the gates of Columbia University at Broadway and 116th Street.
The intersection of 116th Street and Broadway
, is the location of the main entrance of Columbia University
, the city's Ivy League
school. Until the 1950s, the street ran uninterrupted through Morningside Heights from Riverside Drive
to Morningside Park. In 1953, during Dwight D. Eisenhower
's presidency at Columbia, however, the block between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
was permanently closed to vehicular traffic and was turned into a pedestrian way called "College Walk." The street had been ceded to Columbia in exchange for a payment of $1,000. The street is again interrupted where it meets Morningside Drive, this time by the steep downward slope of Morningside Park.
The main, east-west thoroughfare portion of 116th Street begins at the eastern edge of Morningside Park and runs east through central Harlem. A large West Africa
n immigrant community has developed in central Harlem with stores, bakeries and cafés along 116th Street west of St. Nicholas Avenue
. This community has been called Little Senegal or Le Petit Senegal
.
At Lenox Ave., the street runs past the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque, formerly the Muhammad Temple of Islam. The building was erected as the Lenox Casino.
East of Fifth Avenue, 116th Street has historically been the primary business hub of Spanish Harlem
. From Lexington Avenue to First Avenue
, the street is lined with businesses selling food, clothing, and other specialty and ethnically-specific goods to a Spanish-speaking clientele. East 116th Street terminates at FDR Drive
, the site of the East River Plaza, a retail mall complex with large commercial tenants Costco
, Target
, Best Buy
and Marshalls
.
Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...
, overlooking the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, to the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
, through the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. It traverses the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, and Spanish Harlem
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
; the street is interrupted between Morningside Heights and Harlem by Morningside Park.
West Side and Columbia University
The Colosseum (apartment building)
The Colosseum is a Manhattan apartment building located at 116th Street and Riverside Drive.The building is noted for its curved façade and impressive marble lobby. Across 116th Street, The Colosseum faces The Paterno, another building with a similar curved facade...
and The Paterno
The Paterno
The Paterno is a Manhattan apartment building located at 116th Street and Riverside Drive and also known as 440 Riverside Drive. The building is noted for its curved facade, impressive marble lobby with a stained-glass ceiling, and substantial porte-cochère. Across 116th Street, The Paterno faces...
.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
has said that the "opposing curves, (form) a gateway as impressive as any publicly built arch or plaza in New York. The unusual curves of the road are the result of an 1897 plan to make the land between Claremont Avenue and Riverside Drive into a public park in order to give veterans parades a large park adjacent to Grant's Tomb
Grant's Tomb
General Grant National Memorial , better known as Grant's Tomb, is a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses S. Grant , American Civil War General and 18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant...
as a terminus. The street was redesigned so that a vehicle or a parade coming up Riverside Drive would swing onto 116th Street in a gracious curve, then immediately swing north onto Claremont Avenue following a second curve. The city never appropriated funds to buy the land, but the curves remain. The top of The Paterno is capped with an architectural fancy masking a water tower in a shape that conjures up a section of Mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
, complete with dormer window. It is visible from the gates of Columbia University at Broadway and 116th Street.
The intersection of 116th Street and Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
, is the location of the main entrance of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, the city's Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
school. Until the 1950s, the street ran uninterrupted through Morningside Heights from Riverside Drive
Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...
to Morningside Park. In 1953, during Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
's presidency at Columbia, however, the block between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue
Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)
Tenth Avenue, known as Amsterdam Avenue north of 59th Street, is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It carries uptown traffic as far as West 110th Street, also known as Cathedral Parkway for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine...
was permanently closed to vehicular traffic and was turned into a pedestrian way called "College Walk." The street had been ceded to Columbia in exchange for a payment of $1,000. The street is again interrupted where it meets Morningside Drive, this time by the steep downward slope of Morningside Park.
Harlem
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n immigrant community has developed in central Harlem with stores, bakeries and cafés along 116th Street west of St. Nicholas Avenue
Saint Nicholas Avenue (Manhattan)
Saint Nicholas Avenue is a major New York City street. It runs north-south between 193rd Street and 111th Streets in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It goes through the neighborhoods of Washington Heights, Harlem, Hamilton Heights, and Inwood...
. This community has been called Little Senegal or Le Petit Senegal
Le Petit Senegal
Le Petit Sénégal, or Little Senegal, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It has been called Le Petit Senegal by the West African immigrant community and Little Senegal by some people from outside the neighborhood....
.
At Lenox Ave., the street runs past the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque, formerly the Muhammad Temple of Islam. The building was erected as the Lenox Casino.
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
. From Lexington Avenue to First Avenue
First Avenue (Manhattan)
First Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Houston Street northbound for over 125 blocks before terminating at the Willis Avenue Bridge into The Bronx at the Harlem River near East 127th Street. South of Houston Street, the...
, the street is lined with businesses selling food, clothing, and other specialty and ethnically-specific goods to a Spanish-speaking clientele. East 116th Street terminates at FDR Drive
Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive
The Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive is a freeway-standard parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
, the site of the East River Plaza, a retail mall complex with large commercial tenants Costco
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...
, Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
, Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
and Marshalls
Marshalls
Marshalls, Inc., is a chain of American department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 750 conventional stores, as well as larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico. Marshalls expanded into Canada in March 2011...
.
Subway stations
Subway stations on 116th Street are, from west to east:- 116th Street – Columbia University serving the train at Broadway
- 116th Street116th Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line)116th Street is a local station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 116th Street and 8th Avenue in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, it is served by the C train at all times except late nights, and the B train on weekdays...
serving the trains at Central Park WestCentral Park WestCentral Park West is an avenue that runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the United States.... - 116th Street116th Street (IRT Lenox Avenue Line)116th Street is a station on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 116th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, it is served by the 2 and 3 trains at all times. It has two tracks and two side platforms....
serving the trains at Lenox AvenueLenox Avenue (Manhattan)Lenox Avenue / Malcolm X Boulevard is the primary north-south route through Harlem in the upper portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. This two-way street runs from Farmers' Gate at Central Park North to 147th Street. It is also considered the heartbeat of Harlem by Langston Hughes in... - 116th Street116th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)116th Street is a local station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 116th Street in Spanish Harlem, it is served by the 6 train at all times, the <6> during weekdays in peak direction and the 4 train during late...
serving the trains at Lexington AvenueLexington Avenue (Manhattan)Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
See also
- 116th Street Crew - a Mafia crew with the Genovese crime familyGenovese crime familyThe Genovese crime family , is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...