57th Street runs through the Midtown Manhattan neighborhoods of Sutton Place, Billionaire's Row, and Hell's Kitchen from east to west.

Over its two-mile (3 km) length, 57th Street passes through several distinct neighborhoods with differing mixes of commercial, retail, and residential uses.

The first block of 57th Street, at its western end at Twelfth Avenue near the Hudson River waterfront, is home to the VIA 57 West building, designed in the form of a triangular pyramid by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.

Much of the south side of the block between Eleventh and Tenth Avenues is occupied by the CBS Broadcast Center, which is the network's primary East Coast production facility.

[4] East of Sixth Avenue, the street is home to numerous high-end retail establishments including the Tiffany & Co. flagship store and the Bergdorf Goodman Building.

As it continues from here through its final blocks leading to its terminus at Sutton Place, the street consists of a nearly unbroken stretch of increasingly upscale apartment buildings with doormen, awnings, and small commercial establishments such as drug stores, bank branches, and restaurants.

A directory of 1881 adds the names of other prominent citizens including merchant Augustus D. Juilliard, financier William Bayard Cutting, and banker Jacob Schiff.

[18] Another called them "the brown-stone mansions of rich brewers, the François Premier chateaux of bankers, the Gothic palaces of railroad kings".

[8] An artistic hub developed around the two blocks of West 57th Street from Sixth Avenue to Broadway during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891.

Interior decorators also moved to the area, converting existing houses or erecting new structures such as the Todhunter Building at 119 East 57th Street.

[8][21] Other commercial tenants started moving onto 57th Street, including Henri Bendel in 1912, Bergdorf Goodman in 1928, Bonwit Teller in 1930, FAO Schwarz in 1931, and Tiffany & Co. in 1940.

[28] Due to the often record-breaking prices[29][30] that have been set for the apartments in these buildings, the press has dubbed this section of 57th Street as "Billionaires' Row".

[31][32][33] These projects have generated controversy concerning the economic conditions[34][35] and zoning policies[36] that have encouraged these buildings, as well as the impact these towers will have on the surrounding neighborhoods and the shadows they will cast on Central Park.