In 1837, the Board of Aldermen of New York City initially voted not to approve, but subsequently approved, the opening of East 85th Street between Third Avenue and Fifth Avenue, which the Committee on Roads and Canals had offered up as a resolution on the petition of owners of property on the street.

[5] By the 1840s, a short length designated as West 85th Street had been created as a narrow lane east of Eighth Avenue.

[7] In 1971, John Corry of the Times wrote a series of stories about life on West 85th Street between Central Park and Columbus Avenue.

The building at 100 East 85th Street, originally known as Lewis Gouverneur and Nathalie Bailey Morris House, is a large brick red townhouse that was built in 1913–14 in a neo-Federal style.

[10][11] Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (originally "Anshe Jeshurun"), a Modern Orthodox synagogue founded by Russian Jewish immigrants in 1872, is located at 125 East 85th Street, between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue, in a building built in 1902.

[14][15][16] Park Lane Tower, the 35-story L-shaped high-rise apartment building shown in the opening credits of the television show The Jeffersons (1975-1985), is located at 185 East 85th Street and Third Avenue.

[17][18][19] The sidewalk clock at East 85th Street and Third Avenue, dating from the late 1800s and likely produced by E. Howard & Co., was designated a landmark in 1981.

[9] Author Henry Miller, who wrote Tropic of Cancer, was born in 1891 on the top floor of and lived at 450 East 85th Street.

[9] The 86th Street transverse cuts through Central Park, and is directly below the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

[33] Southwest Reservoir Bridge, at 85th Street in Central Park, was designed by Calvert Vaux and is decorated with elegant iron floral scroll ornamentation along its 38 feet (12 m) of railings and spandrels.

[47][48] Journalist Heywood Broun and feminist Ruth Hale lived at 333 West 85th Street.