Sights in New York City
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Morningside Park
This 13-block finger of green has playgrounds, shaded pathways, an arboretum and several sculpture memorials. (The Seligman Fountain, featuring a bear and a faun, is delightfully weird.) In the area behind the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, you’ll find a pond and waterfall. A farmers market is held here on Saturdays from June through December.
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Mary Boone Gallery
Among the showcases that create the most buzz in these parts are the so-called ‘blue-chip’ galleries, including the Mary Boone Gallery, whose owner found fame in the ’80s with her eye for Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel in SoHo.
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Jewish Museum
This New York City gem is tucked into a French-Gothic mansion from 1908, which houses 30,000 items of Judaica, as well as sculpture, painting and decorative arts. It is well regarded for its thoughtful temporary exhibits, featuring retrospectives on influential figures such as Chaim Soutine and sprawling examinations of socially conscious photography in New York.
There are frequent lectures and events, as well as an array of activities for children. Every January, the museum collaborates with the Film Society of Lincoln Center to present the New York Jewish Film Festival.
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New-York Historical Society
As the antiquated hyphenated name implies, the Historical Society is the city’s oldest museum, founded in 1804 to preserve the city’s historical and cultural artifacts. Its collection of more than 60,000 objects is quirky and fascinating and includes everything from George Washington’s inauguration chair to a 19th century Tiffany ice cream dish (gilded, of course).
Other treasures include a leg brace worn by President Franklin D Roosevelt, a 19th century mechanical bank in which a political figure slips coins into his pocket and photographer Jack Stewart’s graffiti-covered door from the 1970s (featuring tags by known graffiti writers such as Tracy 168). In the…
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Washington Square Park
What was once a potter’s field and a square for public executions is now the unofficial town square of the Village, and plays host to lounging NYU students, fire-eating street performers, curious canines and their owners, and legions of speed-chess pros. Encased in perfectly manicured brownstones and gorgeous twists of modern architecture (all owned by NYU) Washington Square Park is one of the most beautiful garden spaces in the city – especially as you are welcomed by the iconic Stanford White Arch on the north side of the green.The arch, colloquially known as the Washington Square Arch, dominates the park with its 72ft of beaming white Dover marble. Originally designed…
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East Harlem Artpark
Mayor Bloomberg has been a great supporter of the Public Art Fund, as well as the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Percent for Art, initiated in 1982 by then-mayor Edward Koch, requiring that 1% of the city’s budget for construction projects be spent on integrating art into the design or architecture of new facilities. Since its inception there have been more than 220 such projects at public schools, libraries, parks and police stations, and projects have included Valerie Jaudon’s brick-and-granite mosaic at Manhattan’s police headquarters, Jorge Luis Rodriguez’ bright-orange steel flower in the East Harlem Artpark, and a Holocaust Memorial (State Supreme Court,…
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Irish Hunger Memorial
Artist Brian Tolle's compact labyrinth of low limestone walls and patches of grass pays tribute to the Great Irish Famine and Migration (1845–52), which prompted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to leave Ireland for better opportunities in the New World. Representing abandoned cottages, stone walls and potato fields, the work was created with stones from each of Ireland’s 32 counties.
Tolle's proposal was the winning entry in a design competition organized by the Battery Park City Authority in 2000. Ironically, the sculpture is an even more fitting metaphor than Tolle probably meant it to be: it’s turned out to be a delicate piece, having required extensive repairs…
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Holocaust Memorial
Mayor Bloomberg has been a great supporter of the Public Art Fund, as well as the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Percent for Art, initiated in 1982 by then-mayor Edward Koch, requiring that 1% of the city’s budget for construction projects be spent on integrating art into the design or architecture of new facilities. Since its inception there have been more than 220 such projects at public schools, libraries, parks and police stations, and projects have included Valerie Jaudon’s brick-and-granite mosaic at Manhattan’s police headquarters, Jorge Luis Rodriguez’ bright-orange steel flower in the East Harlem Artpark (Sylvan Pl & E 120th St), and a Holocaust…
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Castle Clinton
Built as a fort to defend the New York Harbor during the war of 1812, this national monument has played numerous roles, including opera house, entertainment complex and aquarium. It's now a visitors center, with historical displays, as well as a massive performance space, where outdoor concerts are held on the open-air stage for summer shows under the stars.
The circular structure got its current moniker in 1817 to honor then mayor DeWitt Clinton. Later, and before Ellis Island opened to immigrants, Castle Garden (as it was then known) served as the major processing center for new immigrant arrivals, welcoming more than eight million people between 1855 and 1890. Rangers…
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Municipal Building
Built between 1913 and 1918, this massive, Federal-style skyscraper houses various city government agencies, from the city’s Marriage Bureau and Office of the Comptroller to the local NPR affiliate public-radio station, WNYC. The U-shaped, 25-story behemoth sits over an open-sided, column-ringed plaza that’s about three stories tall, and walking through here will surely have you rubbing elbows with all manner of government employees (an interesting, if motley, crew). The building is best admired from a distance, though, and walking or cabbing it across Chambers St, especially at night when it’s all lit up, gives you such a sense of its grand immensity that you’ll feel as…
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
Don’t miss your chance to run or walk around this 1.58-mile track, which draws a slew of joggers in the warmer months. The 106-acre body of water no longer distributes drinking water to residents, but serves as a gorgeous reflecting pool for the surrounding skyline and flowering trees. Take a turn around the reservoir’s perimeter and you may very well spot the elderly, white-haired Albert Arroyo, the friendly and self-appointed ‘Mayor of Central Park, ’ who used to run laps here and now makes his slow way around and around with the aid of a cane. The most beautiful time to be here is at sunset, when you can watch the sky turn from a brilliant shade of pink and orange to…
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Japan Society
Fresh, rotating exhibitions of Japanese art, textiles and design are the main draw at this cultural center. Its theater hosts a range of films and dance, music and theatrical performances, while those who want to dig deeper can browse through the 14,000 volumes of the research library or attend one of its myriad lectures.
Founded in 1907 by a group of NYC businesspeople with a deep admiration for Japan, this nonprofit society has played a large role in strengthening American–Japanese relations. Its expansion into a full arts and cultural center was thanks in no small part to philanthropist John D Rockefeller III, an ardent fan of the country.
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Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library
This underrated museum is housed in the ornate beaux arts structure where naturalist John James Audubon once lived. Open since 1908, it contains the largest collection of 19th-century Spanish art and manuscripts outside of Spain – including a substantial selection of works by El Greco, Goya and Velázquez, as well as a library featuring 600,000 rare books and manuscripts.
Greeting visitors at the entrance is Goya’s alluring 1797 masterpiece ‘The Duchess of Alba,’ while a majestic sculpture of El Cid by Anna Hyatt Huntington dominates the exterior courtyard.
At the time of research, the Society was considering a name change to honor its founder, Archer Milton…
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Canaan Baptist Church
A modern Harlem church, founded in 1932, that welcomes visitors to Sunday services.
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National Academy Museum
Co-founded by painter/inventor Samuel Morse in 1825, the National Academy Museum comprises an incredible permanent collection of paintings by figures such as Wil Barnet, Thomas Hart Benton and George Bellows. (This includes some highly compelling self-portraits.) It is housed in a beaux arts structure designed by Ogden Codman and featuring a marble foyer and spiral staircase.
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Chatham Square
At Chatham Sq you’ll see the Kim Lau Memorial Arch, erected in 1962 as a memorial to Chinese Americans who died in WWII. There’s also a statue of Lin Ze Xu, a Qing-dynasty scholar whose anti-drug trafficking stance helped lead to the First Opium War in 1839.
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St Peter’s Church
Greek fever spread through the US in the 1820s as Americans linked the populist presidency of Andrew Jackson with ancient Greek democracy. Architects and builders who had never set foot in Greece cribbed designs from pattern books. Churches and public buildings dressed up like Greek temples with tall columns supporting a horizontal entablature and a classical pediment. Two of the best are still standing. The gray granite St Peter’s Church, built in 1838, replaced the first Roman Catholic church in the city, erected in 1785 and destroyed by fire. The white-marble1842 Federal Hall National Memorial (26 Wall St), originally the US Customs House, is now a museum.
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New York City Police Museum
Get the brief on ‘New York’s Finest,’ with cool old police vehicles, as well as the mug shots and weapons of notorious New York criminals like Willie Sutton and Al Capone. There’s a collection of NYPD uniforms throughout the decades, insight into anti-terrorism tactics, and a 'Hall of Heroes' memorial to officers killed in the line of duty since 1845. The museum itself is housed in a neo-Renaissance palazzo on a landfilled inlet.
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Union Square
Union Sq is like the Noah’s Ark of New York, rescuing at least two of every kind from the curling seas of concrete. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find a more eclectic cross-section of locals gathered in one public place. Here, amid the tapestry of stone steps and fenced-in foliage it’s not uncommon to find denizens of every ilk: suited businessfolk gulping fresh air during their lunch breaks, dreadlocked loiterers tapping beats on their tabla, skateboarding punks flipping tricks on the southeastern stairs, rowdy college kids guzzling student-priced eats, and throngs of protesting masses chanting fervently for various causes. Opened in 1831, Union Sq quickly became…
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Poe’s Cottage
On Kingsbridge St is Poe’s Cottage, where the author lived from 1846 till his drunken death in 1849.
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Tibet House
With the Dalai Lama as the patron of its board, this nonprofit cultural space is dedicated to presenting Tibet’s ancient traditions through art exhibits, a research library and various publications, while programs on offer include educational workshops, open meditations, retreat weekends and docent-led tours to Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Exhibits here tend to attract a diverse and passionate crowd, and have recently ranged from ‘Modern Buddhist Visions by Pema Namdol Thaye, ’ with traditional Tibetan tangka painting and sculpture, to ‘Masterpieces of Contemporary Buddhist and Hindu Tantric Art, ’ featuring works from a special collection. Open on Saturdays by…
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Museum of American Finance
Money makes this museum go round, its exhibits focusing on historic moments in American financial history. Permanent collections include rare, 18th-century documents, stock and bond certificates from the Gilded Age, the oldest known photograph of Wall St and a stock ticker from c 1875. The museum also runs themed walking tours of the area, advertised on the museum's website.
Once the headquarters for the Bank of New York, the building itself is a lavish spectacle, with 30ft ceilings, high arched windows, a majestic staircase to the mezzanine, glass chandeliers, and murals depicting historic scenes of banking and commerce.
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East River Park
In addition to the great ballparks, running and biking paths, 5000-seat amphitheater for concerts and expansive patches of green, this park has got cool, natural breezes and stunning views of the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. A drawn-out renovation brought great nighttime lighting and surprisingly clean bathrooms to the mix.
Although flanked by a looming housing project and the clogged FDR Dr on one side and the less-than-pure East River on the other, it’s a cool spot for a picnic or a morning run.¶
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Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The best reason to visit the Federal Reserve Bank is the chance to ogle at its high-security vault – more than 10,000 tons of gold reserves reside here, 80ft below ground. You’ll only see a small part of that fortune, but signing on to a free tour (the only way down; book around six weeks ahead) is worth the effort.
While you don't need to join a guided tour to browse the bank's museum, which includes an interesting exhibition on the history of money, you will still need to book a time online. Bring your passport or other official ID.
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New York Botanical Garden
Spread across 50 acres of virgin forest (just north of the Bronx Zoo), the New York Botanical Garden (opened in 1891) is home to several beautiful gardens and the restored Enid A Haupt Conservatory, a grand, Victorian iron-and-glass edifice that is a New York landmark. You can also stroll through an outdoor rose garden just next to the conservatory, and a rock garden with a multi-tiered waterfall. It’s possible to take the subway via the B or D line to Bedford Park Blvd, then take bus Bx26 east, but it’s easier to take the Metro-North’s Harlem Line from Grand Central Terminal to the Botanical Garden stop (one way off-peak/peak $5.25/7).
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