Lenox Hill will undoubtedly thrive with new development and business expansion for quite some time. It currently has a plethora of restaurants, shops and entertainment - including a cluster of movie theaters near Bloomingdales. Unfortunately mass transit is limited to the Lexington Avenue line, but cross town buses run on 72nd, 79th and 57th Streets.

Lenox Hill's streets still house old tenement buildings, most of which have been renovated, and many of the side streets are known to have mansions and townhomes now owned by consulates, diplomatic missions and art galleries.

The easternmost area within Lenox Hill is bounded by Rockefeller University and the "Hospital Corridor" along York Avenue. The Art Deco tower of New York Hospital at 70th Street, designed by Coolidge, Shepley Bullfinch & Abbott, has long been a major architectural landmark.

The relocation of the Sotheby's auction house (from Madison Avenue and 76th Street to a new low-rise facility on the southeast corner of York Avenue at 72nd Street) changed this area significantly.

In the mid-1950's it bloomed as a luxury residential neighborhood following the demolition of the noisy "elevated" line along Third Avenue. With the demolition of this noisy line, Third Avenue underwent significant redevelopment with many impressive luxury apartment towers, especially in the 60's, that have dramatically altered the area's skyline. The tallest building on the Upper East Side is now Donald Trump's Trump Palace on East 69th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

Many of the area's most impressive new high-rise towers soon were clustered around Sotheby's, which considered redeveloping its site with a mixed-use tower designed by architect Michael Graves but finally decided against it after several years.

Developer Peter Kalikow tried, in the early 1990's, unsuccessfuly to redevelop much of the full-block City & Suburban Homes low-rise residential complex at York Avenue and 79th Street with "luxury" apartment towers. A very vocal community group, however, won landmark designation for the tenement block and Kalikow's plan was withdrawn. City & Suburban was an early attempt to improve housing conditions for the poor and has several courtyards, but it is not as attractive as the Cherokee apartments, a similar scheme, one block to the south.

Much of the post-World War II development of apartment houses in this area consisted of rather minimal, "white-brick" projects of little architectural distinction. The popularity of Post-Modern designs in the late 1970's, however, led to the construction of quite a few very handsome new apartment buildings, especially on the major cross-town streets such as 72nd and 79th Streets.

Many interesting restaurants are located along First, Second and Third Avenues and there is a cluster of movie theaters near Bloomingdale's on Third Avenue, not far from the very colorful tram station, designed by Prentice & Chan, Ohlhausen for the ride to and from Roosevelt Island at 60th & 2nd. Traffic on Second Avenue going to the Manhattan entrance to the Queensborough Bridge is quite heavy. One of the area's nicest looking thin towers is Evansview (originally Memphis Uptown) at 305 East 60th Street, designed by Abraham Rothenberg and Gruzen Samton Steinglass.

Subway access is limited to the Lexington Avenue line, but cross-town buses run on 72nd and 79th Streets and westbound on 57th Street.

The neighborhood is noted for its very attractive sidestreets, lined with many mansions and townhouses, many of which are now owned by consulates and diplomatic missions, and art galleries.

Lexington Avenue is a bustling hub of retail activity having been considerably upgraded in the 1990's with many attractive stores and restaurants.