2 Park Avenue Building

Park Avenue

A view down Park Avenue, facing the MetLife Building and with the Waldorf Astoria hotel to the left
Other name(s)	Fourth Avenue, Union Square East, Park Avenue South
Former name(s)	Fourth Avenue
Owner	City of New York
Maintained by	NYCDOT
Length	10.9 mi (17.5 km)
Location	Manhattan and The Bronx, New York City
South end	Astor Place in Cooper Square
Major junctions	Park Avenue Tunnel and Viaduct in East Midtown Harlem River Drive in East Harlem
North end	Third Avenue in Fordham
East	Lexington Avenue
West	Madison Avenue
Construction
Commissioned	March 1811

Route map: Google

Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the borough of Manhattan. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east. Park Avenue's entire length was formerly called Fourth Avenue; the title still applies to the section between the Bowery and 14th Street. Meanwhile, the section between 14th and 17th Street is called Union Square East, and between 17th and 32nd Streets, the name Park Avenue South is used.

Park Avenue was originally known as Fourth Avenue and carried the tracks of the New York and Harlem Railroad starting in the 1830s. The railroad originally ran through an open cut through Murray Hill, which was covered with grates and grass between 34th and 40th Street in the early 1850s. A section of this "park" was later renamed Park Avenue in 1860, which was afterwards applied to the area leading up to 42nd Street. When Grand Central Depot was opened in the 1870s, the railroad tracks between 56th and 93rd Streets were sunk out of sight and, in 1888, Park Avenue was extended to north of Grand Central.

In 1927, the medians on Park Avenue north of Grand Central were trimmed to add one lane of traffic in each direction. This project eliminated the pedestrian path on the medians as they became much narrower. In 1941, the median was extended by one block from 96th Street to 97th Street, creating the only median on Park Avenue with a pedestrian path and seating.