User:Vgorostiaga/Ladies' Mile Historic District

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Before becoming a shopping district, this area was residential and included rows of identical brownstone townhouses. These townhouses were replaced in the 1860s by department stores. The architectural style of this district shifted to Beaux-Arts, Neo-Renaissance, Romanesque Revival, and Queen Anne. Many of the new buildings used cast iron because it was cheap and could be made into any shape for extravagant decorations. The first to make this move was Arnold Constable in 1868, though other were quick to follow.

The Ladies' Mile was termed so because women were the target audience and its popularity made it a safe space for women to wander about without men.

The construction of the elevated train known as the El on Sixth Avenue in 1878 made the Ladies' Mile more accessible to lower class consumers. Extravagant shoppers would continue to arrive in carriages.

The Ladies' Mile gained the status of Historic District in 1989. This status came after much debate and would not have been possible without the advocacy group The Drive to Protect the Ladies' Mile District. This group was formed by Anthony C. Wood and Jack Taylor. The main opposers to this cause was the Real Estate Board of New York who thought the historic designation would make the lives of property owners too difficult. Margaret Moore and Truman Moore also wrote a book for the cause in 1983 titled End of the Road for Ladies' Mile? Their book contained photographs and essays to share the forgotten history of Ladies' Mile which helped garner support for the cause. This book along with exhibitions and walking tours of Ladies' Mile helped to raise public awareness about the history and significance of Ladies' Mile. Other important influences to the cause was the support of celebrities like Woody Allen, Diana Vreeland, and Joseph Papp.