Sutton Pl South, Sutton Place

Sutton Place South is a little fancier than just Sutton Place. I'm not sure why, exactly, this is, but I'm guessing it's because it's a few blocks away from the bridge. Don't get me wrong, there isn't a bad part of Sutton Place and the whole neighborhood is really expensive, but Sutton South is fancy even for fancy.
There's an apartment building on the west side of the block at 57th that has really impressive units. William Sarayon and George Jessel both lived in this building. Probably the prettiest apartment building in the neighborhood is right across the street. It's a co op condo unit with Renaissance architecture and the units are really high end. Sigourney Weaver and Bill Blass have both lived in this building.
The block at 56th is also all apartment buildings with a lot of cache. 36 S Sutton is where Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall lived in How to Marry a Millionaire and Joan Crawford actually lived in this building in the '50's. Charlotte Ford and Robert Sherwood both lived across the street in an equally impressive building. Actress Maureen O'Hara lived just across 56th in 50 (American Gangster was also filmed here).
Sutton Place South dead ends at a gorgeous, massive building. It was built in the 1930's, is 26 stories and has been called one of the finest apartment buildings in New York City. It used to have its own yacht dock for pete's sake! Cornelius Vanderbilt, Marshall Field, Henry and Clare Booth Luce have all lived in this building. Edwin Howard Armstrong threw himself out of his 13th story apartment in this building in the 1950's the building even has a little bit of scandal to it -- which I think every upper New York building needs to really cement its status.
Sutton Place South is all apartment buildings, yes. But, they are the cream of the apartment building crop, so if you have the money for one of these spots, the street is great. The only downers to it are that public transportation is pretty far, there's no bar or restaurant scene and it's pretty sleepy and stuffy. It's a great street for people with families and retired people with money.