The History of the Martinique - Part 4

The Martinique in the Gilded Age…..and Now!

The heart of the Gilded Age of New York still survives, virtually intact, in the “Ladies' Mile District”. You can still experience the Manhattan of Diamond Jim Brady and Edith Wharton with its internationally renowned department stores and specialty shops, New York’s early skyscrapers, and its extraordinary Beaux-Arts architecture.

At the turn of the century, Richard Harding Davis of the New York Sun noted that "private carriages line the curb in quadruple lines, and the pavement is impressively studded with white-breeched grooms." It was here that the most elegant ladies came to buy the finest objects sold in America. First Ladies, such as Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Cleveland, came up from Washington to buy special outfits at Arnold Constable on Broadway at 19th Street. When Isabella Stewart Gardner came down from Boston to buy diamonds, she came to Tiffany's on Union Square.

New York Magazine and the New York Times christened it the Flatiron District, photographers call it the Photo District, real-state agents call it Midtown South, but its most nostalgic name is the old one: The Ladies' Mile. It was said that “all of America goes to New York for its shopping when it can."

The Ladies' Mile extended up Broadway to Madison Square. This intersection of Broadway, Fifth, and 23rd Street was a favorite corner for "people watching". The Ladies' Mile, however, was not just for ladies or their shopping. Concert halls, theaters, galleries, wholesalers, interior decorators Elsie de Wolfe and Associated Artists, and the offices of publishers and architects were clustered together in what is now called the Flatiron District. It was the center for the sale of pianos, with Steinway, Chickering, Sohmer, Knabe, Weber, and Decker among the dozens of showrooms for what was then a major New York industry.

Just as it was in 1900, The Radisson Martinique is a stunning Beaux Arts building in the heart of midtown Manhattan. Still amidst the excitement, it is within walking distance to the Empire State Building, Broadway Theaters, Madison Square Garden, Penn Station, Macy’s and the Chelsea Art Galleries and Restaurants.