Ladies' Mile Historic District
Coordinates: 40°44′24″N 73°59′31″W / 40.74000°N 73.99194°W
The Ladies' Mile Historic District was a prime shopping district in Manhattan, New York City at the end of the 19th century, serving the well-to-do "carriage trade" of the city. It was designated in May 1989, by the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission to preserve an irregular district of 440 buildings on 28 blocks and parts of blocks, from roughly 15th Street to 24th Street and from Park Avenue South to west of the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue). Community groups such as the Drive to Protect the Ladies' Mile District and the Historic Districts Council campaigned heavily for the status.
The Ladies' Mile Historic District contains mostly multi-story store and loft buildings. These buildings became common after 1899 when laws prohibited combined home and production areas without a permit as well as the rise of unions who advocated for better working conditions.
The area first came to prominence in 1860, when the Prince of Wales stayed at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, signalling to New York's high society that the neighborhood was acceptable to royalty. Between the Civil War and World War I, the district was the location of some of New York's most famous department stores and upscale retailers, including B. Altman, Best & Co., Arnold Constable, Bergdorf Goodman, Gorham Silver, W. & J. Sloane, Lord & Taylor, and Tiffany & Co.. The Ladies' Mile also boasted upscale restaurants, bookseller and publishers, offices and showrooms for piano manufacturers, such as in the Sohmer Piano Building. Performance venues in the district included the Academy of Music and Steinway Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art first location was there as well.
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