Why you should experience 106th Street in New York, NY.
106th Street is a contemplative corridor where Manhattan Valley's residential heritage, the Upper West Side's architectural refinement, and Upper Manhattan's enduring neighborhood traditions unfold across one of the borough's most distinctive cross-town streets.
Running through Manhattan Valley between the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights, the corridor connects historic residential blocks, neighborhood institutions, established commercial streets, and civic spaces that together reflect more than a century of urban evolution. Brownstone rowhouses, prewar apartment buildings, masonry churches, and mature tree-lined sidewalks preserve successive chapters of nineteenth- and twentieth-century development while reinforcing the street's unmistakably residential character. Walking along 106th Street reveals a corridor where thoughtful planning and architectural continuity have remained central to neighborhood life. The result is a corridor that quietly expresses one of Upper Manhattan's most enduring urban landscapes.
What you should know about 106th Street.
106th Street is best known for taking shape following adoption of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, with large-scale residential construction accelerating after the arrival of the Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad in 1879 and expanding further following the opening of the Interborough Rapid Transit subway in 1904, which transformed Upper Manhattan into one of New York City's fastest-growing residential districts. Between 1885 and 1925, speculative developers erected extensive rows of brownstones, limestone apartment houses, elevator buildings, and mixed-use commercial structures representing Romanesque Revival, Renaissance Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Classical Revival architecture that continue defining the corridor today. The surrounding 103rd Street, 110th Street, and Cathedral Parkway-110th Street subway stations strengthened accessibility while reinforcing long-term residential density and neighborhood commerce throughout the district. Continued façade restoration, adaptive reuse, masonry conservation, and contextual infill have preserved 106th Street as an architectural record of Manhattan's principal era of residential expansion.
Completion of the Manhattan Valley Viaduct in 1901 carried Broadway across one of Upper Manhattan's most challenging natural landforms, resolving a significant engineering obstacle while reshaping circulation through the surrounding neighborhood. Designation of the Riverside-West End Historic District by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1989, followed by subsequent district extensions, safeguarded one of Manhattan's finest collections of late nineteenth-century apartment houses and rowhouses representative of the same construction period that shaped the corridor. The Broadway Mall Association, established in 1989, continues restoring and maintaining the historic landscaped medians along nearby Broadway through coordinated preservation and horticultural stewardship. Together, these engineering achievements, preservation initiatives, and long-term civic investments demonstrate how 106th Street has retained its historic character while continuing to evolve.
How to fold 106th Street into your trip.
106th Street is best experienced through an afternoon exploring the Upper West Side's cultural landmarks and public spaces.
Begin at New-York Historical Society, where nationally significant collections and exhibitions trace more than four centuries of New York and American history. Continue to Straus Park, whose elegant memorial fountain and landscaped setting provide one of the Upper West Side's most intimate civic spaces. Conclude at Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where grand Gothic Revival architecture and one of the world's largest cathedral interiors create an unforgettable finale. The progression moves naturally from historical interpretation to neighborhood landscape before concluding with one of the world's great ecclesiastical landmarks, revealing the remarkable breadth of experiences connected by 106th Street.
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