SUTTON PLACE— AVANT-GARDE WOMEN CREATE A NEW ENCLAVE

Joyce Gold Walking Tour Meeting Place: E 57th St & Sutton Place, SE corner. Fee: $20 in cash at start of tour.

Starting in the 1920s, creative and influential women of means saw an intriguing alternative to Fifth Avenue residences. Together, Anne Morgan, Elisabeth Marbury, and Anne Vanderbilt chose to totally renovate townhouses on one far Eastside block between 57th and 58th Sts. called Sutton Place. The area had a checkered past of middle-class residences pushed out by industry and the working poor. These 3 women thoroughly changed that block, beginning the creation of the beautiful, off-the-beaten-path neighborhood of today.