Downtown on the East Side, from 14th Street to 23rd Street, from Park Avenue South to the East River.
If you’ve ever wanted a secret garden to call your own, the co-ops and townhouses for sale and rent alongside Gramercy Park are for you. The entire little enclave of Gramercy is the brainchild of a nineteenth-century real estate developer who created one of New York City’s most beautiful green spaces — a private park — and then built apartments and row houses with views of it. To add to the prestige, these wonderful homes come with keys to the gated oasis that’s Gramercy Park — it only opens to the public once or twice a year.
Many of these renovated townhouses along Gramercy Park, with their mahogany and marble details and their fine gardens, can best be called mansions. The surrounding area of Gramercy has some row-house character too, but also contains large apartment buildings with all the modern conveniences. The new Gramercy by Starck condo, for example, has a doorman — but it also has library lounge with fireplace and a screening room as well as a luxury outdoor deck with cabanas. If you want to drink in Gramercy’s back-in-time quality, head to Pete’s Tavern, the city’s oldest bar, which has a landmark-but-not-touristy feel. A couple of blocks away you can visit the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, a reconstruction of the 19th-century brownstone where Teddy was born, complete with a restored parlor, period bedroom, and Victorian-era gym equipment.
Gramercy boasts a collection of New York City's most distinctive dining establishments. Consider Veronika, an exquisite European cuisine destination housed within the iconic 281 Park Ave building, also home to Fotografiska, an art collective that brings in captivating shows and art exhibitions. Other cherished venues include Union Square Café and Cosme, the latter being a stylish Mexican eatery featuring a generous bar serving locally sourced shared plates along with tequila and mezcal cocktails. For dessert, indulge in Lysee, where a tantalizing tasting menu seamlessly blends Korean and French influences.