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1920s Trendsetting Townhouse Enclave. The years following World War I marked the end of the primacy of expensive-to-maintain mansions among New York's elite. In their stead, houses in the suburbs, a floor or two in a luxury apartment building, and Victorian brownstones ripe for remodeling began to appeal. The rowhouses between 57th and 59th Streets east of Sutton Place early joined the remodeling trend. The plan - to individually update the facades and open up rear yards as a common garden facing the river - quickly attracted some of the city's leading families, including Morgans and Vanderbilts, albeit those of an artsy, "rebel" bent.
1925-1938 Elegant Apartment-House District. By 1924, the wave of reconstruction sweeping Sutton Place had brought fame to the area. Developers had bought a piece of slum land, turned housing tradition on its head, and promptly sold every piece of property to the elite of New York society. It soon became apparent, however, that their scheme was not about redeveloping one block but an entire district, and not with rebuilt townhouses but with splendid apartment buildings. Thus the area saw construction of 1 Sutton Place South, one of the most luxurious apartment houses ever built in the city, followed by a distinguished group of others.
1938-1945 The Drive Democratizes All. The next project to affect the area was the East River Drive. Construction began in 1938, but not before special problems in the East 50s Sutton stretch were resolved. Property owners were not about to give up waterfront gardens and they mounted widely publicized protests. They were mollified by a scheme that double-decked the roadway and slipped it under their gardens. Artists continued to be drawn to the neighborhood, while the simultaneous privacy and urbanity also attracted show business people. All in all, the Sutton area remained remarkably diverse, with luxurious cooperative apartments cheek-by-jowl with tenements and fine shops next to mom-and-pop stores.
1945-1985 Highrise Transformation. Sutton Place after the Second World War began to lose some of its variety. Modest housing and incidental industry were pushed out by developers intent on big projects during the postwar building boom. A few modern apartment buildings constructed in the 1950s were certainly distinguished, although the dozen or so most recent architectural additions are notable primarily for their great scale and height. Nevertheless, the Sutton area has somehow managed to accommodate these new structures, just as it has always assimilated the new while still preserving its unique sense of place.
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