Gramercy Park is the only private park in New York City, and one of very few in the country. Gramercy Park was laid out in 1831 by Samuel Ruggles, who drained a swamp, created a residential square modeled on London's private garden squares, and sold the lots around it with deeds giving buyers keys to the locked gate. Only residents of the twenty-three buildings that border the park and a handful of nearby hotels receive keys, and the park has operated on this exclusive basis for nearly two centuries.
The iron fence and locked gate have remained, and inside is a quiet garden with benches, trees, and a statue of the actor Edwin Booth, who lived in the house at number 16 and whose horror at the actions of his brother John Wilkes Booth never entirely left him. You cannot enter unless you have a key or are a guest of a property with access. Stand at the fence and look in through the iron bars at the trimmed lawns and the empty benches; this is one of the most peaceful spots in Manhattan, and most people who live here will never sit in it.