Cultural Building sights in New York City
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New York Public Library
This main research building of NYC’s public library system was, until recently, called the Humanities & Social Sciences Library; that all changed when billionaire businessman and library trustee Stephen A Schwarzman donated $100 million to the NYPL’s expansion, and the powers-that-be renamed it the Stephen A Schwarzman Building. Bought or not, though, it remains one of several specialist research libraries in the NYPL system, as well as one of the best free attractions in the city – a monument to learning, housed in a grand, Beaux Arts building that reflects its big-money industrialist roots. When it was dedicated in 1911, New York’s flagship library ranked as the largest…
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Rockefeller Center
Built during the height of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the 22-acre Rockefeller Center, named after developer John D Rockefeller, Jr, was the first project to combine retail, entertainment and office space in what is often referred to as a ‘city within a city.’ Built over nine years by 70,000 workers, this complex features several outdoor plazas and 19 buildings (14 of which are the original art-deco structures), and spans from 48th to 51st Sts and Fifth to Seventh Aves. In 1987 it was declared a National Landmark, recognized for its unique combination of modernist architecture with a concentration of commercial and business enterprises. Most popular highlights incl…
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Pierpont Morgan Library
This library, recently reopened after a beautiful and extensive renovation, is part of the 45-room mansion once owned by steel magnate JP Morgan. His collection features a phenomenal array of manuscripts, tapestries and books (with no fewer than three Gutenberg Bibles), a study filled with Italian Renaissance artwork, a marble rotunda and the three-tiered East Room main library. The rotating exhibits here – like the recent 18th-century French drawings by artists including Antoine Watteau and Claude Gillot, or a collection of Jane Austen’s letters and manuscripts – are really top-notch.
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Morris-Jumel Mansion
Built in 1765, the columned Morris-Jumel Mansion is the oldest house on the island of Manhattan. It first served as the headquarters of George Washington’s Continental Army. After the war it again became a country house for Stephen Jumel and his wife Eliza, who had a somewhat sordid past –and future, as after Jumel died, she married Vice President Aaron Burr, with whom she was allegedly having an affair. Rumor has it that Eliza’s ghost still flits about the place. A designated landmark, with grounds that are particularly attractive during spring, the mansion’s interior contains many of the original furnishings, including a bed that reputedly belonged to Napoleon. Guided t…
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Hamilton Grange
Moved from nearby Convent Ave with a plan to reopen sometime in 2011 is what was, once upon a time, founding-father Alexander Hamilton’s original, Federal-style country retreat. Hamilton Heights was named for him, as he owned a farm and estate up here in 1802. Nearby, the Hamilton Heights Historic District stretches along Convent Ave from 140th to 145th Sts: this gorgeous lineup is one of the last remaining stretches of untouched limestone and brownstone townhouses in New York City. To the south, the neo-Gothic City College of New York campus (which has architectural marvels of its own) spreads down to 130th St.
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Historic Richmond Town
In the center of Staten Island, this ‘town’ of 27 buildings (some dating back to a 1690s Dutch community) stands in a 100-acre preservation project maintained by the Staten Island Historical Society. The town includes the former county seat of the island; its most famous building, the two-story, 300-year-old, redwood Voorlezer’s House, is the USA’s oldest schoolhouse. Guides lead tours (included with admission) at 2:30pm on weekdays and 2pm and 3:30pm on weekends; in July and August folks in period garb roam the grounds. There’s a cafe on site. It’s about 40 minutes from the ferry by bus.
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King Manor
In Jamaica, the Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer subway stop (the last along the E, J and Z lines) is a short block south of the main strip, Jamaica Ave. Near the station, amid the 11-acre King Park, is the redone, Greco-Roman-style King Manor, home to US Constitution signatory Rufus King in the early 1800s. King, an early abolitionist, made a failed run for president in 1817 (the last Federalist to run). King is buried a block east in the cemetery outside Grace Episcopal Church (155-03 Jamaica Ave).
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Louis Armstrong House
At the peak of his career and with worldwide fame at hand, Satchmo chose Queens. Armstrong spent his last 28 years in this quiet Corona Heights home, now a museum and regarded as a national treasure; he died in 1971. Guides offer free 40-minute tours, leaving on the hour (the last starts at 4pm), through the home and past his many gold records on the walls.
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Alice Austen House
The harbor-side home of this early-20th-century photographer shows a bit about her life on Staten Island and many of her works. It’s located just north of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, about a 15-minute bus ride from the ferry pier.
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Brooklyn Public Library
Facing Grand Army Plaza, the Brooklyn Public Library is an art-deco masterpiece from 1941; you can get grand plaza views from its humble 3rd-floor cafe.
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Old Stone House
Old Stone House is a restored Dutch farmhouse – a rare legacy from Brooklyn’s early days as Breuckelen.
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Paley Center for Media
Formerly called the Museum of Television and Radio, the institution changed its name both to honor its founder, William S Paley, and to reflect both its changing mission and collection in this day of shifting media forms. But it’s still a couch potato’s smorgasbord, with more than 150,000 TV and radio programs from around the world available from the museum’s computer catalog with the click of a mouse. It’s a great place to hang out when it’s raining or when you’re simply fed up with the real world. Nearly everybody checks out their favorite childhood TV programs and watches them on one of the museum’s 90 consoles, but the radio-listening room is an unexpected pleasure – …
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