Sutton Pl, Sutton Place

Sutton Place at 59th isn't quite as grand as one would expect of a neighborhood with this kind of cache. The block is taken up by apartment buildings. Most of New York is taken up by apartment buildings so this is nowhere near a crime, but we just come to expect a certain amount of gorgeous house and trees from Sutton Place and this block is a little lacking. It doesn't help that the building on the northwest corner is really ugly. But, these apartments are all the really nice, doorman kind so they're not bad to live in at all. It just looks like a regular, nice New York block instead of a Sutton block.
The block at 58th has some nice, beaux-arts kind of apartment buildings on the west side and gorgeous tree-lined townhouses on the east side. It must be kind of unfortunate to look out of your insanely expensive apartment and see insanely beautiful townhouses that you can't afford on the opposite side of the street, but that's first world problems for you, I guess. The townhouses on the east side are from the turn of the 20th century. They're all gorgeous and expensive and one of them has a really cool Medusa kind of head stone on the front door arch. I wonder if that keeps petty thieves away . . .
These homes have some pretty prominent former residents, with Elizabeth Marbury (Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw's agent) dying in 1933 in 13, JP Morgan's daughter living in 3, and the Vanderbilts living in 1. 3 is now the official residence of the UN Secretary General. And, 1, the Vanderbilt house is absolutely massive. It's not every day that you see an actual mansion in Manhattan, and it's an actual mansion. A quick jaunt down this block and you feel like you're in 1920's high society. It's pretty cool.
Sutton Place turns into another street at 57th so it has a pretty short run. There aren't any conveniences around like great local restaurants, cafes or grocery stores; and, public transportation is quite a hike from here. But, the architecture is gorgeous and the neighborhood is beautiful and pretty quiet for New York. The only downer is that it takes a pretty penny to buy that kind of house / tranquil environment so the people that live here are a little stuffy.