Cultural Building sights in USA
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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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Library of Congress
The White House and the Capitol may be more iconic, but for our money (well, none, seeing as admission is free), the LOC, the world’s largest library, is the most impressive structure in DC.
It’s just the sheer scope of the thing: approximately 120 million items, including 22 million books, plus manuscripts, maps, photographs, films and prints shelved along over 500 miles of closed library stacks in the three main library buildings, Adams Building (cnr 2nd St & Independence Ave SE), Jefferson Building (cnr 1st & E Capitol Sts SE) and Madison Building (1st St SE btwn Independence Ave & C St SE). You don’t get to see most of this material, unfortunately, but checking ou…
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National Archives
The importance of the archives, or more specifically what is contained within them, cannot be overstated; herein lays the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. If the USA has a mission statement, it’s here. Seeing these documents in person is one of those DC experiences that gets even hard-bitten locals to whisper ‘wow.’ The documents are contained in a dimly lit rotunda within a grand neoclassical building. Just before you reach the main event, you’ll see a 1297 version of the Magna Carta, courtesy of Texas billionaire (and former presidential candidate) Ross Perot. Don’t expect to linger over the Big Three (guards make you keep moving) bu…
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Folger Shakespeare Library & Theatre
The world’s largest collection of the bard’s works, including seven First Folios, is housed at the Folger Library: its Great Hall exhibits Shakespearean artifacts and other rare Renaissance manuscripts. Most of the rarities are housed in the library’s reading rooms, closed to all but scholars, except on Shakespeare’s birthday (April 23), but you can peek electronically via the multimedia computers in the Shakespeare Gallery. The gorgeous Elizabethan Theatre replicates a theater of Shakespeare’s time; with its woodcarvings and sky canopy, the castle is an intimate setting for plays, readings and performances, including the stellar annual PEN/Faulkner readings. East of the …
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Deadwood History & Information Center
Deadwood History & Information Center, Like Vegas meets Bonanza, Deadwood juxtaposes the bright neon jangling of slot machines with Wild West storefronts, reenacted gunfights and eternal devotion to Wild Bill Hickock, who was shot in the back of the head here in 1876 while gambling. Settled illegally by eager gold rushers in the 1870s, Deadwood (inspiration for the hit HBO series) is now a National Historic Landmark. Its Main Street is lined with restored gold rush-era buildings. The town's hell-raisin' days are long gone, replaced by a gentler crowd of tour-bus poker players taking advantage of limited-stakes gambling, which jump-started the town's tourist appeal in the …
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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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Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Few drivers speeding along I-280 realize that things are speeding by beneath them at far higher velocities. The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, run by the university for the US Department of Energy, goes right under the freeway. Positrons (positively charged subatomic particles) hurtle down a straight 2-mile path in a 4in diameter linac (an accelerator beam tube), on their way to high-speed impacts at the other end of the tube.
Experiments at SLAC have resulted in the discovery of the existence of further subatomic particles, including quarks, and have gained the facility three Nobel Prizes so far. At 2 miles long, SLAC's Klystron Gallery is the world's longest buildi…
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Newberry Library
Humanities nerds and those trying to document far-flung branches of their family tree will have a field day at this research library. Entry requires a library card, but one-day passes are available for curious browsers; you must be 16 or older to be admitted. Once inside, you can pester the patient librarians with requests for help in tracking down all manner of historical ephemera. (The collection is noncirculating, though, so don’t expect to take that 1st edition of the King James Bible home with you.) The Newberry often features interesting special exhibits, and has a bookstore where you can pick up such treatises as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy, and cool …
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Boston Athenaeum
Founded in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum is an old and distinguished private library, having hosted the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, as well as less traditional members like Amy Lowell. While the writers and bibliophiles who are members today are perhaps less known, the place is no less esteemed. Its collection has over a half a million volumes, including an impressive selection of art, which is showcased in the on-site gallery. Unfortunately, the library itself is open to members only, but tourists can visit the gallery. Tours of the whole library are conducted at 3pm on Tuesday and Thursday, but you must reserve your spot in advance.
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Lahaina Public Library
At first glance you might not see much but a closer look reveals a treasure trove of obscure sights. The grounds of the Lahaina Public Library were once the site of a royal taro field; Kamehameha III occasionally toiled in the mud here to instill in his subjects the dignity of labor.
Here, too, sat the first Western-style building in Hawaii, the Brick Palace, erected by Kamehameha I around 1800 so he could keep watch on arriving ships. Despite the grand name, this 'palace' was a simple two-story structure built by two ex-convicts from Botany Bay. All that remains today is the excavated foundation, on the makai (seaward) side of the library.
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Richard J Riordan Central Library
Don’t tell Walt Disney Concert Hall, but the Richard J Riordan Central Library, opened in 1926, is the most fascinating building in town. Yep, the library. The 64ft-high rotunda is the first big wow, its 42ft span highlighted by immense murals. Below, a 1-ton chandelier perches optimistically above the stark marble floor. In the 1993 Tom Bradley wing, escalators cascade below a soaring glass atrium, descending through four glass-walled floors filled with books. And Central has more than 2.1 million of those, not to mention a restaurant, gift store, free internet access and art exhibits. Tours led daily. Check it out. It’s free.
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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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Latter Memorial Library
Poised elegantly above shady strands of palm on St Charles Ave, the Latter Memorial Library was once a private mansion residence, passed along from the Isaac family (owners 1907–12), who installed Flemish-style caved woodwork, Dutch murals and French frescoed ceilings, to aviator Harry Williams and his silent-film–star wife, Marguerite Clark (1912–39), to a local horse racer named Robert S Eddy, then finally, in 1948, to the Latters. The latter (sorry) converted the mansion into its current form as a library. The bottom floor and the entire exterior facade remain as stately as ever.
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Harold Washington Library Center
This grand, art-filled building with free internet and wi-fi is Chicago’s whopping main library. Major authors give readings here, and exhibits are constantly shown in the galleries. The light-drenched, 9th-floor Winter Garden is a sweet hideaway for reading, writing or just taking a load off, though you’ll have to hike to get there. Take the escalators to the 3rd floor (home of the browsable newspapers and computer commons), then transfer to the elevator to go up six more floors. And those green copper creatures staring down from the exterior roof? They’re wise old owls.
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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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Hogan Jazz Archive
Jazz heads, and really anyone interested in New Orleans music, should pop into the Hogan Jazz Archive; most of its great wealth of material is not on exhibit; the librarian will retrieve items from the stacks for you. That collection includes stacks of 78rpm recordings like early sides by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917. More casual visitors may enjoy the Storyville Room, with its emphasis on Jelly Roll Morton (who played piano in the district’s bordellos during the early 20th century).
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Mugar Memorial Library
The special collections of BU’s Mugar Memorial Library are housed in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, an outstanding 20th-century archive that balances pop culture and scholarly appeal. Rotating exhibits showcase the holdings, including papers from Arthur Fiedler’s collection, the archives of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr or the correspondence of BU alumnus Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Hours posted are for the library; exhibit hours may vary depending on their exact location in the building.
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Geisel Library
The University of California San Diego's 26,000 lucky students live and study amongst the campus' rolling coastal hills that are covered in fragrant eucalyptus trees. By far its most distinctive structure is the Geisel Library, an upside-down multileveled pyramid of glass and concrete whose namesake, Theodor Geisel, is better known as Dr Seuss, creator of the Cat in the Hat. He and his wife contributed substantially to the library, and there is a collection of his drawings and books on the ground level.
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Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library houses, among other gems, a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio and the records of the Donner Party. Its small public exhibits of historical California include the surprisingly small gold nugget that sparked the 1849 Gold Rush. You must register to use the library, be over 18 (or a high-school graduate) and present two forms of identification (one with photo). Visit the registration desk on entering.
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Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library
Designed by Mies van der Rohe, this low-slung, sleek central branch of the DC public library system is as warm and fuzzy as a goodnight story on the inside, especially the colorful mural portraying the Civil Rights movement. This is an important community and cultural center, sponsoring readings, concerts, films and children’s activities. You can also access the internet here.
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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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