Museum of Arts & Design

This is an impressive palace of design and handicrafts, from blown glass and carved wood to elaborate metal jewelry. It also hosts innovative shows like the recent ‘Read my Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection,’ including baubles that Albright wore during her diplomatic tenure, and ‘Slash: Paper Under the Knife,’ exploring the art world’s renewed interest in paper as a creative medium. Formerly housed around the corner on 53rd St, the museum made a big splash when it moved into this Columbus Circle building after much controversy from folks who wanted to landmark and protect the long-empty building, originally the Gallery of Modern Art in 1964, with a unique, all-white design by Edward Durell Stone. But the Museum of Arts & Design won out, drastically changed the shape of the place and in late 2008 moved in.