110th Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park, along which it is known as Central Park North. In the west, it is also known as Cathedral Parkway.
110th Street is an eastbound street between First Avenue and Madison Avenue. The small portion between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue is westbound. West of Fifth Avenue, the road widens to accommodate two-way traffic.
A statue of Duke Ellington stands in Duke Ellington Circle, a shallow amphitheater at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, at the northeast corner of Central Park. Unveiled in 1997, the statue, by sculptor Robert Graham, is 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, and depicts the Muses — nine nude caryatids — supporting a grand piano and Duke Ellington on their heads.[1] Duke Ellington Circle is also the site of the future Museum for African Art.
The portion known as Central Park North is notable for its incongruities; the Lincoln Correctional Facility stands just a few blocks away from new luxury condo developments.
Where 110th Street crosses Central Park West and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at the northwest corner of Central Park, is Frederick Douglass Circle.
The south edge of Morningside Park lies along West 110th Street between Manhattan Avenue and Morningside Drive.[2]
The south edge of the close of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine is located along West 110th Street, known along this stretch as Cathedral Parkway, between Morningside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue. The street comes to a close at Riverside Drive before Riverside Park.
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George Gershwin lived in the apartment building on the northwest corner of 110th and Amsterdam Ave., where he composed his seminal piece, Rhapsody in Blue.
Arthur Miller lived there as a child.
The elevated IRT Ninth Avenue Line used to reach a great height at its 110th Street station and, according to Douglas (2004), was a popular site for suicide jumpers. In 1927, The New York Times reported that:
"the number of suicides from the 110th Street Station of the Sixth Avenue elevated is ruining the business of the merchants with shops below, according to [the merchants].... According to [a spokesperson] there were eleven suicides from that station in the past year, and the effect has been such that potential customers prefer to walk a little farther rather than risk seeing a person hurtle from above."
Today, there are four New York City Subway stations on 110th Street:
110th Street is served by the M2, M3, and M4 NYCT Buses.
Like 96th Street, 110th is seen to symbolically divide New York City by wealth, class and race, particularly on the East Side. On the West Side, west of Morningside Park especially, 125th Street is a more salient marker.
James Baldwin references 110th Street in his short story "Sonny's Blues" which takes place in Harlem.