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250 YEARS OF SUTTON AREA HISTORY
Today the Sutton area is known as one of New York's most desirable residential neighborhoods. This has not always been the case, however. Closely tied to development not only of the East River but also of the Upper East Side and midtown Manhattan, the area has seen its fortunes change time and again over the past 250 years.
1700s-Sylvan Summerhouse Retreat. In the 1700s, the river-fronted rocky bluffs on which sits the present-day Sutton neighborhood were recognized for miles around. They soon attracted the gentry living in the built-up southern tip of Manhattan who were seeking attractive sites on which to erect retreats far from the town's warm-weather diphtheria epidemics. A surviving nearby example is the stone-faced structure that was originally part of the retreat of Abigail Adams Smith (daughter of President John Adams). Later the summer gentry was joined by a broader citizenry, and by the 1820s the Smith house had become the Mount Vernon Hotel. Today it is a museum.
1800-1850 Bustling Factory Precinct. By the early 1800s, industries that needed water for their manufacturing process were beginning to show interest in the area. Schmitt and Schwanenfluegel Brewery and a coal yard shared the present site of 1 Sutton Place South. The Upmann Cigar Factory was at 404 East 59th Street. And Shriver's Iron Foundry occupied the northwest corner of 56th Street and First Avenue.
1850-1900 Modest Rowhouse Neighborhood. The Sutton area was in a transitional state in the mid-1800s. The occasional resort hotel remained and established industries were still in place, but more and more land was being developed for middle- and working-class housing. In 1878, Effingham B. Sutton was one such developer, and he added cachet to the 24 row houses he put up ringing the river-fronted block between 58th and 59th Streets by renaming the streets on which they stood (originally Avenues A and B) Sutton Place and Riverview Terrace.
1900-1920 The Bridge Dramatizes All. The opening of the Queensboro Bridge in 1909 did not by itself effect any changes in the character of the neighborhood, but is did bring the area to the attention of many to whom it had been invisible. Wealthy New Yorkers in newly acquired motor cars began using the bridge to reach their Long Island estates, and socialite philanthropists soon sponsored construction nearby of Rockefeller Institute (now University) as well as a number of model tenements. The early 1900s also saw a few polite bohemians attracted to Sutton Place.
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