57th Street, one of the extra-wide crosstown streets of Manhattan's 1811 grid.
The Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which laid out Manhattan's street grid, made 57th Street one of 15 east–west streets 100 feet wide; most others were 60 feet. First a mainly residential street, it became known for the arts after Carnegie Hall opened in 1891, when an artistic hub grew up around West 57th Street.