The Harrison Grandelli Team, a residential real estate group at CORE, maintains this Kips Bay and Murray Hill neighborhood guide. We put it together to help clients understand what sets Manhattan's East Side between East 23rd and East 42nd Streets apart: its brownstone side streets and doorman towers, its hospital and library campuses, the East River waterfront, and the everyday rhythm of Lexington, Third, and Second Avenues.
Murray Hill and Kips Bay are separate neighborhoods that are often searched together. Murray Hill runs north from 34th Street toward Grand Central, with landmarked row houses and the Morgan Library near Madison Avenue. Kips Bay runs south of 34th Street to the East River, with a hospital corridor along First Avenue and postwar towers. They share avenues, subway lines, and much of the same housing stock.
Summary
Today, Kips Bay and Murray Hill are defined by:
Housing dominated by postwar doorman co-ops and condominiums, with prewar brownstones and carriage houses on Murray Hill's side streets and newer condo towers near the river
The Morgan Library & Museum and the Murray Hill Historic District on the western side
A medical corridor on First Avenue, including NYU Langone Health, Bellevue Hospital, and the Manhattan VA
Lexington Avenue's "Curry Hill" stretch in the upper 20s, plus everyday retail on Second and Third Avenues
Subway access on the 6, with the 4, 5, 7, and S at Grand Central, plus NYC Ferry at East 34th Street
History
The area was originally Lenape land. In the seventeenth century, Jacobus Kip farmed land along an East River inlet near today's 35th Street. On September 15, 1776, British troops landed at Kip's Bay during the Battle of New York. Local tradition holds that Mary Lindley Murray, whose family estate, Inclenberg, gave Murray Hill its name, delayed British officers at her house that afternoon while American troops withdrew north. The inlet was later filled in.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Murray family restricted their land to brick and stone houses, and Murray Hill became a fashionable residential district. J. Pierpont Morgan lived on Madison Avenue at 36th Street, and his private library, designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White, was completed next door in 1906.
Kips Bay developed differently. Bellevue Hospital, which traces its origins to 1736, moved to First Avenue in the nineteenth century, and the medical complex grew around it. Elevated trains on Second and Third Avenues ran until 1942 and 1955. After they came down, postwar co-ops and rental towers filled the eastern avenues, including Waterside Plaza on the river (1974).
Boundaries
Neither neighborhood has a single legally fixed outline. Brokers, maps, and civic sources use closely related edges. The core boundaries we use in this guide are:
Murray Hill
South: East 34th Street
North: East 42nd Street (toward Midtown East and Tudor City)
West: Madison Avenue
East: the East River (FDR Drive)
Kips Bay
South: East 23rd Street (toward Gramercy and Peter Cooper Village)
North: East 34th Street
West: Lexington Avenue
East: the East River (FDR Drive)
Primary ZIP codes: 10016, with 10010 on the southern edge and 10017 near 42nd Street. Both fall in Manhattan Community District 6.
Some maps run Murray Hill west to Fifth Avenue and south to 30th Street. The blocks west of Lexington in the upper 20s are often called Rose Hill or NoMad. Tudor City, between First and Second Avenues around 40th to 43rd Streets, is usually treated separately.
Real Estate & Prices
The Harrison Grandelli Team works across Kips Bay and Murray Hill co-ops, condominiums, and rentals. The stock is heavily postwar doorman co-op and condo, with full-service rentals on the avenues, landmarked brownstones and carriage houses on Murray Hill's side streets, and new condominium towers along First and Second Avenues and the river. Board requirements and building rules vary widely, so building-level diligence matters here.
Sales (NYC Department of Finance, October 2025 – September 2026)
Residential sales recorded by the city from October 2025 through September 2026, within each boundary used in this guide:
Murray Hill: median of $750,000 across 365 sales. By type, the median was $620,000 for co-ops (207 sales) and $1,055,000 for condominiums (155).
Kips Bay: median of $914,000 across 269 sales. By type, the median was $670,000 for co-ops (155 sales) and $1,395,000 for condominiums (111). Of these, 45 sales were closings at one newer co-op building, 201 East 23rd Street; without them, the median would be $788,000.
The Murray Hill figures do not include Tudor City. These figures count recorded co-op, condominium, and one- to three-family house sales. They leave out sales of whole rental buildings and count a purchase covering several tax lots once. They also exclude limited-equity co-op sales, non-home units such as storage, parking and staff rooms, sales under $100,000, small transfers on units that also recorded a market sale, and transfers that aren't home sales, such as commercial units and multi-property deals. Recorded sales lag closings by weeks to months, so the most recent months may be undercounted. Figures are rounded to the nearest $1,000.
Source: NYC Department of Finance recorded sales, October 2025 – September 2026.
Monthly and quarterly medians here swing with the mix of studios, one-bedrooms, and larger condos that close in a given period.
Notable Restaurants & Food Scene
Sarge's Deli (548 Third Avenue): Jewish deli and diner, open since 1964.
El Parador Café (325 East 34th Street): Mexican restaurant open since 1959, a fixture near the Midtown Tunnel.
Kalustyan's (123 Lexington Avenue): Spice and specialty-food store at the heart of Curry Hill, open since 1944.
Dhaba (108 Lexington Avenue): North Indian restaurant on the Curry Hill stretch of Lexington.
Hangawi (12 East 32nd Street): Korean vegetarian restaurant where diners remove their shoes, just west of Madison Avenue.
Lexington Avenue between roughly 26th and 31st Streets holds Curry Hill's cluster of South Asian restaurants and grocers. Second and Third Avenues carry most of the casual dining and bars. Koreatown, on West 32nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, is a short walk west of the boundary.
Sources: restaurant websites and Yelp listings (checked October 2026). Hours change, so confirm before visiting.
Parks & Outdoor Spaces
East River Esplanade and Greenway: Waterfront path along the FDR Drive for walking, running, and cycling, with access near 34th Street and at Waterside Plaza.
St. Vartan Park (First Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets): Neighborhood park with ball fields, courts, and a playground.
Bellevue South Park (East 26th to 28th Streets, between First and Second Avenues): Small park with a playground and dog run.
Asser Levy Playground and Recreation Center (East 23rd Street at Asser Levy Place): Public pools and a recreation center in and beside the landmarked bathhouse.
Stuyvesant Cove Park (East 18th to 23rd Streets on the river): Waterfront park with native plantings just south of the boundary.
Open space here is thinner than in park-flanked neighborhoods. The East River edge is the main outdoor amenity.
Schools & Education
Public schools are operated by the NYC Department of Education, Community School District 2. Listing a school here is not a recommendation or a ranking. Check programs, admissions, and zoning on schools.nyc.gov and MySchools; zones change.
DOE elementary (selection)
P.S. 116 Mary Lindley Murray: PK–5, 210 East 33rd Street. https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M116
P.S. 281 The River School: PK–5, 425 East 35th Street. https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M281
Higher education and institutions
Baruch College (CUNY): 55 Lexington Avenue at East 24th Street. https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/
NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Health: First Avenue at East 30th–34th Streets. https://med.nyu.edu/
CUNY Graduate Center: 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, just west of the boundary. https://www.gc.cuny.edu/
Transit & Getting Around
6: 23rd Street and 28th Street (Park Avenue South) and 33rd Street (Park Avenue)
4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / S: Grand Central–42nd Street, with Metro-North at Grand Central Terminal and the LIRR at Grand Central Madison
NYC Ferry: East 34th Street landing (at East 35th Street and the FDR Drive), served by the East River, Astoria, and Rockaway–Soundview routes
PATH and B / D / F / M / N / Q / R / W: 33rd–34th Streets at Herald Square, west of the boundary
The M15 and M15 Select Bus Service run north on First Avenue and south on Second Avenue. The M101, M102, and M103 run north on Third Avenue and south on Lexington Avenue. Crosstown, the M34 and M34A Select Bus Service run along 34th Street and the M23 Select Bus Service along 23rd Street. The Queens–Midtown Tunnel enters at 37th Street.
Shopping & Retail
Third and Second Avenues: Groceries, pharmacies, dry cleaners, and restaurants along most blocks.
Lexington Avenue: Curry Hill's spice shops and grocers in the upper 20s, with more neighborhood retail north toward Grand Central.
34th Street: Larger-format stores east of Park Avenue, leading west to the Herald Square shopping district.
Culture, Arts & Nightlife
The Morgan Library & Museum (225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street): Morgan's original library with Renzo Piano's glass-and-steel expansion (2006). Exhibitions draw on medieval manuscripts, rare books, music manuscripts, and drawings, and concerts and talks run in Gilder Lehrman Hall. Confirm schedules on the museum's site.
Scandinavia House (58 Park Avenue at 38th Street): Nordic cultural center with exhibitions, films, and talks.
Nightlife centers on bars along Second and Third Avenues in the 20s and 30s, with hotel bars near Grand Central.
Historic Landmarks & Notable Features
Murray Hill Historic District: Designated in 2002, covering brownstones, carriage houses, and mansions around Madison, Park, and Lexington Avenues in the upper 30s.
Sniffen Court Historic District (150–158 East 36th Street): Ten brick stables from the 1860s around a gated mews, designated in 1966.
Church of the Incarnation (209 Madison Avenue at 35th Street): Episcopal church from 1864, with stained glass by Tiffany, Morris & Co., and others.
Asser Levy Public Baths (East 23rd Street at Asser Levy Place): Arnold W. Brunner's 1908 Roman-style bathhouse, now a city recreation center.
Kips Bay Plaza (East 30th to 33rd Streets, First to Second Avenues): Twin concrete slab towers by I.M. Pei, completed 1960–63.
Bellevue Hospital: The red-brick 1930s McKim, Mead & White pavilions face First Avenue beside the modern hospital tower.
Housing & Daily Logistics
Kips Bay and Murray Hill appeal mostly on logistics and building type. Postwar doorman co-ops and condos offer elevators, laundry, and service at a broader price band than many Manhattan neighborhoods. Murray Hill's landmarked side streets add brownstones and carriage houses. Newer towers near the river add amenities and larger floor plates.
Here, apartment, grocery, subway, and Grand Central or the ferry often fall within a short walk of each other. Board requirements and condo bylaws are part of diligence on almost every purchase.
About the Harrison Grandelli Team
As a residential group at CORE, we work across Manhattan and Brooklyn, including the co-ops, condominiums, and rentals of Kips Bay and Murray Hill. We maintain this guide as part of helping clients understand these neighborhoods in depth. If you're thinking about a purchase or rental here, we'd be glad to share what we know on the ground.