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Street to be Named ‘Hepburn Place’ The block on which Katharine Hepburn lived for more than 60 years – 49th Street between Second and Third Avenues – will be named Katharine Hepburn Place. Legislation to make the change, originally recommended by the Turtle Bay Association, was signed by Mayor Bloomberg in December. New street signs will be unveiled at a public ceremony in the coming weeks. Ms. Hepburn – one of the most recognized and cherished women of her time – moved to the block, to a townhouse in Turtle Bay Gardens, in 1932 with her husband Ludlow Ogden Smith. For many years, she fought to preserve the neighborhood’s distinctive architectural and residential character. In 1957, when the Turtle Bay Association was formed, she was one of its first members. She went on to fight the destruction of trees, to defend the sidewalks from encroaching development and to protect mid-blocks from high-rise construction. Ms. Hepburn was an avid gardener. When she first moved to Turtle Bay, she transplanted flowers from her parents’ home in Connecticut to her own garden behind the townhouse. It was in honor of her lifelong love of gardening that the Katharine Hepburn Garden in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Park was dedicated in her name in 1997. Ms. Hepburn died in 2003 at the age of 96, after an acting career spanning seven decades and during which she was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won four. The TBA proposed naming the street Katharine Hepburn Place as a tribute to her many years as a friend and neighbor, and in recognition of her artistic gift to the world.
The Turtle Bay Association is a nonprofit (501c3) community organization.
224 East 47th Street, New York City 10017 |
