East 50 St, Turtle Bay

50th starts off in Turtle Bay with two gorgeous townhouses right on the East River. This kind of house situation is pretty rare in this part of town but quite abundant around Beekman Place which gives the neighborhood such a lovely breath of real neighborhood. The townhouses aren't even 100 years old so they don't have quite the history that the houses around neighborhoods like the West Village have, but they're grand and beautiful. Unfortunately, one of them is the Luxemburg consulate so even if you had a lot of money, you can't buy that one. Though, why anyone with that kind of money would want to live here eludes me. The next block leading up to 1st Avenue is a mix of beau arts apartment buildings and townhouses so it's quite a pretty street. It used to be all townhouses, however, and I wish they would have remained. It's still a beautiful walk and I recommend it for anyone that happens to be nearby with 15 minutes to kill.
The block between 1st and 2nd houses a big apartment building on the south side that replaced a mansion that was the site of a triple murder which was quite gruesome. The house was torn down shortly thereafter and I'm not sure if it was for different reasons or that the place couldn't sell because of that. There was a lot of damage done to the north side of the street when a crane collapsed over a few buildings a couple of years ago and I'm not sure what is going to be done with the buildings. One of them is a townhouse and I would hate to see that be an excuse to tear it down. There are a couple of little restaurants on this block and a darling pub right on the corner which gives this street something that most other in the area don't have: a real neighborhood feel.
Sadly, that doesn't last because once you cross 2nd, you are immediately hit with a big city, midtown aesthetic and energy. The buildings at 3rd are massive commercial spaces that house multiple consulates and publishing companies. There are restaurants but they have a very corporate catering kind of feel and the traffic and noise picks up significantly. If you want to live on 50th, it's a nice little street . . .as long as you stay east of 2nd Ave . . which makes public transport quite the nuisance.