PRESS

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Museum presented a series of lectures and programs that examined the catalytic connection of rail and real estate that drove the street's three major eras of development. In its first phase, Park Avenue was a zone of posh hotels, clubs, and apartments. The "highest and best use" began to shift toward tall office buildings in the mid-1920s. In the postwar years, a boom in speculative office towers answered growing demand for modern, air-conditioned space. Soon, the iconic Lever House, Seagram, and Union Carbide buildings recast Park Avenue as an elite corporate corridor. In the 21st century, incentivized by the City’s rezoning of East Midtown, shiny new skyscrapers of even greater height and density have continued to redefine its trophy architecture.

A range of historians, authors, architects, planners, and policy-makers examined and discussed the evolving history and identity of the avenue that was created out of thin air and has become the engine and anchor of modern Midtown.

Click here to view the lecture series landing page and watch the recorded programs.