For many years after World War II, the west part of the Upper East Side, between Fifth and Lexington Avenues, was considered the most desirable area, but at one time, Washington Square was the most desirable, then Gramercy Park, then Murray Hill, then Fifth Avenue in midtown. As the city grew and commerce and industry required spaces, residential areas for decades pushed relentlessly northward.
The Upper West Side, which developed dramatically at the start of the 20th Century, highlighted by the fabulous Central Park West skyline that blossomed just before the Depression, began to decline after World War II, but witnessed a remarkable renaissance toward the end of the century as the Lincoln Center District became very vibrant and the fine architecture of the Upper West Side more appreciated.
Meanwhile, in the 1960's artists seeking large and inexpensive spaces began to move into SoHo, the old commercial and industrial section SOuth of HOuston Street, and it soon became full of art galleries and then restaurants and boutiques and one of the city's most exciting and desirable areas. SoHo was soon followed by the rediscovery of similar areas in TriBeCa (the Triangle Below Canal Street) and NoHo (North of Houston).
In the 1980's, rising office rents in Midtown drove many companies, especially those in advertising and publishing, to the Midtown South area near Madison Square Park and the famous Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street and the Flatiron District emerged as the city's newest "in" neighborhood especially since it included several other important parks such as Gramercy, Stuyvesant and Union Square.
The stock market crash of 1987, however, led to a severe decline in the occupancy of many office buildings in Lower Manhattan's Financial District and before long owners of older office buildings, which were suffering the most vacancies, successfully convinced the city to enact legislation to encourage the conversion of such properties to residential uses. The city was quick to comply because it wanted to reinforce and expand the area's residential character, which had been largely limited to the waterfront community on the Hudson River known as Battery Park City, probably the city's most spectacular but also relatively little known residential enclave. The response to the city's rezoning was impressive and several thousand units were quickly created and rented or sold, a reflection not only of the city's tight housing market, but also of the fact that "Downtown," from the Flatiron District and Greenwich Village to the tip of Lower Manhattan, had became immensely popular and offered a variety of housing choices quite different from the Upper East and West Sides.
For more inside information on a particular neighborhood of your choice check out our Neighborhood Guide.
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