Showing 1-21 of 21 results
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Abingdon Sq
Unlike the rest of Greenwich Village, which has seen some shabby days, Abingdon Sq has always been wealthy and well-kept. Once owned by a privileged settler family, it still has its original 1843 perimeter, the Abingdon Memorial (aka The Doughboy) to WW I veterans and is shaded by immense, stately trees.
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Battery Park
Embracing the tip of lower Manhattan, Battery Park's a breezy, delightful swath of color with 13 works of public art, 35 acres of greenery, the Holocaust Memorial, the NYC Police Memorial, the Irish Hunger Memorial, the rose-filled Hope Garden and sweeping views of Lady Liberty.
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Brooklyn Bridge
A New York icon, the Brooklyn Bridge has many stories to tell. It held the angry marchers outraged by the police torture of Abner Louima in 1997. In spring 2004 it hosted a crowd of gays and lesbians who marched in support of legalising same-sex marriage. In late 2005, the NYC masses commuted across it due to the three-day Transit Workers Union strike.
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Cathedral of St John The Divine
This is the largest place of worship in the USA - and it's not finished. On completion, the 183m (601ft)-long Episcopal cathedral will rank as the third-largest church in the world (after St Peter's Basilica in Rome, and Our Lady of Peace at Yamoussoukro in Côte d'Ivoire). A design highlight is the Great Rose Window, America's largest stained-glass window.
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Chrysler Building
The 319m (1048ft) Chrysler Building has been widely named as a favourite work of architecture by lay people and building aficionados alike - an art deco masterpiece designed by William Van Alen in 1930. It briefly reigned as the tallest structure in the world until being superseded by the Empire State Building a few months later.
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City Hall
The hall has been home to New York's government since 1812. In keeping with the half-baked civic planning that has often plagued large-scale New York projects, officials neglected to finish the building's northern side in marble, gambling that the city would not expand uptown. The mistake was finally rectified in 1954.
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Colonnade Row
Once there were nine Greek Revival mansions in this row; now there are four. All were built in 1833, out of stone, the work done by prisoners from the upstate Sing Sing prison, and all have ornate, detailed touches on their classic facades.
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Empire State Building
Catapulted to Hollywood stardom as the vertical perch that King Kong was knocked down from, the Empire State Building is one of the New York skyline's most famous landmarks. It's a limestone classic built in just 410 days, or seven million man-hours, during the depths of the Depression at a cost of over 40 million dollars. The view is a dandy.
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Flatiron Building
Built in 1902, the 20-story Flatiron, designed by Daniel Burnham, has a beaux arts facade and a uniquely narrow triangular footprint that resembles a massive ship. It boasts a limestone facade, built over a steel frame, that gets more complex and beautiful the longer you stare at it. Best viewed from the island on 23rd St between Broadway and Fifth Ave.
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General US Grant National Memorial
Popularly known as Grant's Tomb, this landmark holds the remains of Civil War hero and president Ulysses S Grant and those of his wife, Julia. Completed in 1897 (12 years after his death) the granite structure cost around US$600 ,000 and is the largest mausoleum in the country. Though it plagiarizes Mausoleus' tomb at Halicarnassus, this version doesn't qualify as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
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Grand Central Terminal
The world's largest and busiest train station (76 acres; 500,000 commuters and subway riders daily) is also a gorgeous feat of engineering and architecture. Take in the theatrical beaux art facade from E 42nd St, particularly luminous at night, and then head inside to marvel at gold-veined marble arches and the bright blue domed ceiling, decorated with twinkling, fiber-optic constellations. Don't miss the tiny unrenovated corner of the original ceiling, left alone to acknowledge the size of the job. For a glimpse of how the unfinished ceiling looks underneath all the celestial glitter, find the northwest corner amid the 88,000 square foot ceiling, at the very end of the meridian line, and you'll see a small black patch that designers deliberately left there for contrast.
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Ground Zero
The foundation of the former World Trade Center, with its raw, rusty rivets sticking out, is still plainly visible from all sides of the Ground Zero visitor platform. Parts of it will remain even as development of the site moves forward. For another permanent memorial, check out the bronze, three-panel plaque that tells the story of 9/11 on the side of the firehouse at Liberty and Greenwich Sts.
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Herald Square
This crowded convergence of Broadway, Sixth Ave and 34th St is best known as the home of Macy's department store, where you can still ride some of the remaining original wooden elevators. The busy square gets its name from a long-defunct newspaper, the Herald, and the small, leafy park here bustles during business hours thanks to a recent and much-needed face-lift.
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Modulightor
Modernist architect Paul Rudolph's need for independent, situational lighting created the Modulightor company, dealing in, of course, lights. It's also spawned this fantastic house on the East Side, built in Le Corbusier's modular style and best seen at night when lit from inside.
Located in the same building, the Paul Rudolph Foundation offers tours of the Rudolph-designed apartment above Modulightor's showroom. These take place on the first Friday of every second month, between 6 and 8pm.
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St Patrick's Old Cathedral
Before St Patrick's on Fifth Ave stole its thunder, this graceful 1809 Gothic Revival church was the seat of the Catholic archdiocese in New York. Built by new immigrants, mainly from Ireland, it continues to service its diverse community by giving liturgies in English, Spanish and Chinese. It's brick-walled courtyard hides an ancient cemetery, and its mausoleum many a famous New York family.
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Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognisable icons, up there with the Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal, and its beloved image seems to have been coopted by everyone. You can't enter the statue anymore but you can visit the museum to peer into its intricate interior through a glass ceiling at the Lady's base, or enjoy the view from the observation deck.
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Temple Emanu-El
Once part of the Jewish Community on the Lower East Side, Temple Emanu-El houses a renowned collection of Judaica, and tells the story of its transformation into a ritzy Upper East Side house of worship with murals on the walls.
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Union Sq
Opened in 1831, this park quickly became the central gathering place for surrounding mansions and grand concert halls. The later explosion of high-end shops gave the area its nickname of Ladies' Mile. Then, from the start of the Civil War, well into the 20th century, this became the site for protests of all kinds - for union workers as well as political activists.
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United Nations
Enjoy the aura of international intrigue as you stride the East River promenade and stare up at the green-glass Le Corbusier buildings built in 1953. A tour inside is even better - a thousand languages and everyone talking at once.
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Washington Sq Park
If the world's a stage, then everybody in Washington Sq Park is trying out for a bit part in someone's drama. This crazy place is the heart of what's left of bohemian life in Greenwich Village. But, if the city has its way, the park will undergo a radical redesign including a four-foot fence around it and the relocation of the famed Garibaldi fountain where, rumor has it, Bob Dylan sang his first folk song, among other changes.
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World Trade Center Site
The dust of September 11 2001 may have cleared, but controversy over what to do with Ground Zero is not settled. Discussion over what kind of redevelopment is appropriately soulful, strong, beautiful and useful has been fraught with drama, often pitting grieving survivors against the artists and architects trying to bring global meaning to the tragedy.
Showing 1-21 of 21 results
