Beekman Place (Manhattan)

Beekman Place is a small street located on the east side of Manhattan, New York City. The street runs from north to south for approximately two blocks and is situated between the eastern end of 51st and 49th streets. Beekman Place is also used to refer to the residential neighborhood that surrounds the street itself. It is named after the Beekman family, an influential family in the development of the city. The neighborhood was the site of the Beekman family mansion, Mount Pleasant, which was built by James Beekman in 1765. James Beekman was a descendant of Willem Beeckman for whom Beekman Street was named.

The British made their headquarters in the mansion for a time during the American Revolutionary War and Nathan Hale was tried as a spy in the mansion's greenhouse and hanged in a nearby orchard. George Washington visited the house many times during his presidency. The Beekman family lived at Mount Pleasant until a cholera epidemic forced them to move in 1854. The home survived until 1874 when it was torn down.

With the surge of immigration from Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century, the Lower East Side's slums expanded north. The Beekman Place area's well-off residents gave way to impoverished workers employed in the coalyards that defaced much of the East River shore. The neighborhood's rehabilitation began in the 1920's, facilitated primarily by Anne Morgan of the Morgan banking family, who lived slightly farther north on Sutton Place.

One Beekman Place the 1929 co-op, designed by Sloan & Robertson and Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, is "the most prestigious Beekman Place apartment building," according to Carter Horsley. It was built by a group headed by David Milton, husband of Abby Rockefeller and son-in-law of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Early tenants here included "Wild Bill" Donovan of the OSS and John D. Rockefeller III and A&P Heir Huntington Hartford. Happy Rockefeller lived at One Beekman Place. It has a lavish tiled pool on the ground floor for the tenants and a basketball court and small ping pong table.

In the Movie Auntie Mame. Auntie Mame played by Rosalind Russell lives at #3 Beekman Place. In the Movie Bonfire of the Vanities based on Tom Wolfe's book, the Mayor mentions Beekman Place. The Mayor in Bonfire of the Vanities says "They sit in their co-ops, Park Avenue, Fifth, Beekman Place, snug like a bug. Twelve-foot ceilings, a wing for them, one for the help".