The 40 Best New York City Landmarks to Visit
“Skyscraper National Park.” That is what Kurt Vonnegut famously labeled New York City in his 1976 novel Slapstick. It’s true; the city is filled with tall buildings, and many of them are stunningly beautiful. Yet, New York City also has other, lesser-known landmarks that don’t necessarily touch the clouds. And these locations—Warren Place Mews in Brooklyn or the Cloisters on Manhattan’s northern tip—are just as worthy of a trip to the Big Apple as any of its iconic buildings. Whether you’re a New Yorker or planning your maiden trip to the city, AD rounded up 40 of the best architectural landmarks to visit while walking the streets of the city. Some you will recognize instantly, but there are sure to be a few that will leave you impressed by the New York you never knew existed.
Photo: Iwan Baan1/40The Shed
Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, The Shed is a $475-million arts center. This structure is a 200,000-square-foot cultural space, and it’s an amorphous building with an outer shell that sits on a set of wheels connected to a short track. Once activated, the shell moves away from the mainframe of the building, in effect creating an entirely new building that’s part of the original one. “The technology used to move the structure is actually old-fashioned,” Diller says. “To open and close the Shed takes the same horsepower of one [Toyota] Prius engine, making it very economical.” (For reference, the 2019 Toyota Prius runs on 121 horsepower.)
Photo: Pawel Gaul/Getty Images2/40Jane’s Carousel
Originally built in 1922 and located on the banks of the East River, Brooklyn’s Jane’s Carousel has become a popular destination to visit. After extensive renovations, the carousel reopened in 2011 and featured, among other additions, a jewel-like glass exterior that was designed by architect Jean Nouvel.
Photo: narvikk/Getty Images3/40Ellis Island
Built in 1900 by architects Edward Lippincott Tilton and William A. Boring, Ellis Island was once the gateway for over 12 million immigrants hoping to find a new home in the United States. Today, it is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
Photo: Dennis K. Johnson/Getty Images4/40World Trade Center Transportation Hub
The Santiago Calatrava–designed World Trade Center Transportation Hub opened in the spring of 2016. From its initial design through to its final completion, the project proved to be arduous for its symbolism, its physical complexity, as well as for the number of commuters it would need to accommodate. The interior of the Oculus (as it’s commonly known) opened the Westfield World Trade Center mall in the summer of 2016. The 365,000 square feet of retail space accommodates some 113 tenants.
Photo: Urs Gubser/Getty Images5/40Queensboro Bridge
Opened in 1909, the Queensboro Bridge is often overlooked due to the legendary Brooklyn Bridge located a few miles south on the East River. Yet, the 3,724-foot-long bridge that connects Manhattan to Queens should not be overlooked. Designed by the American architect Henry Hornbostel, the Queensboro Bridge was featured in blockbuster movies such as The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and The Great Gatsby (2013)
Photo: Tony Shi Photography/Getty Images6/40Metropolitan Life Tower
When it was completed in 1909, the Metropolitan Life Tower (pictured on the left) was the world’s tallest building (a title it held until 1913). Designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, the building is located on the corner of East 23rd Street and Madison Avenue (it’s actually the most southern landmark on Madison Avenue).
Photo: lithonica/Getty Images7/40Ansonia Hotel
Completed in 1904, the Ansonia Hotel is a Beaux Arts–style building with a storied past. It was first conceived as a self-sufficient hotel, and the rooftop was home to a farm with chickens, ducks, and goats (the animals didn’t stay up there long). The Ansonia was also the first address that Babe Ruth called home in the city. In 1972, the hotel was designated a New York City Landmark, and officials called its effect as one of “joyous exuberance profiled against the sky.”
Photo: Henglein and Steets/Getty Images8/40Flatiron Building
The 22-story, steel-framed Flatiron Building, was completed in 1902. Conceived by architect Daniel Burnham, its wedge shape fit perfectly into the triangular plot that intersects Broadway and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. While many buildings at the time were designed with bulky, fortified bases, the Flatiron is consistent from the bottom to the top, making the architecture that much more charming.
Photo: Lorenzo Bianchi/Getty Images9/40Washington Square Park
At nearly ten acres, Washington Square Park is considerably smaller than other New York parks. Yet the densely used green space—which is positioned in the midst of the trendy Greenwich Village neighborhood and includes the beautiful Washington Square Arch—has become a hallmark of the city.
Photo: Tim Robberts/Getty Images10/40Brooklyn Bridge
In 1883, thousands of New Yorkers showed up at the opening ceremony of the Brooklyn Bridge. After 13 years of construction, locals were still concerned over its safety, and to prove its strength, authorities invited a circus entertainer to walk 21 elephants over the bridge. The 1,595-foot-long structure was the world’s longest suspension bridge until 1903 when the nearby Williamsburg Bridge overtook it by 4.5 feet.
Photo: Henglein and Steets/Getty Images11/40Trinity Church
Trinity Church in downtown Manhattan is located at the intersection of two of the city’s most famous thoroughfares, Broadway and Wall Street. The Gothic Revival structure was completed in 1846, and it was New York’s tallest building at the time at 281 feet tall. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, the church stood strong, even while modern buildings around it crumbled.
Photo: Michael Marquand/Getty Images12/40Brooklyn Museum
Located along the western tip of Brooklyn’s picturesque Eastern Parkway Blvd., the Brooklyn Museum is a 560,000-square-foot museum that contains roughly 1.5 million works of art. Designed by the once prominent architecture firm McKim, Mead & White, the Beaux Arts structure is the third largest museum (by way of sheer size).
Photo: Hufton and Crow/VIEW/Getty Images13/40VIA 57 West
Designed by starchitect Bjarke Ingels, VIA 57 West is a beautiful residential building that was completed in 2016. The structure has a pyramid-like design with an open-air garden in the middle of the structure for tenants to enjoy.
Photo: Meinzahn/Getty Images14/40New York Public Library
Built in 1911, the library is located in midtown Manhattan on Fifth Avenue, between 40th and 42nd streets. Here pictured is the General Research Room of the New York Public Library.
Photo: Artem Vorobiev/Getty Images15/40The High Line
The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long park built on an elevated stretch of the former New York Central Railroad (which operated from 1831 to 1968). The first of three planned phases of the park opened to the public in 2009.
Photo: Matteo Colombo/Getty Images16/40Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal was first opened in 1891. The Beaux Arts building features a ceiling in its main concourse that depicts the zodiac signs, including some 2,500 stars. Outside the station, the famous statues atop the façade were conceived in France, but were built in Queens.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images17/40One World Trade Center
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Trade Center officially opened to its occupants (including Architectural Digest’s parent company, Condé Nast) in late 2014. Standing a symbolic 1,776 feet tall, the patriotic building is currently the tallest in the Western Hemisphere.
Photo: Rudi Von Briel/Getty Images18/40The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was designed by architect and founding trustee architect Richard Morris Hunt, opened to the public in late 1902. Located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the Beaux Arts structure became the first public institution to acquire a work by Henri Matisse in 1910. Today, tens of thousands of artworks and objects are on view in the two-million-square-foot building.
Photo: Mel Longhurst/Getty Images19/40Woolworth Building
When the Woolworth Building opened in 1913, it soared 792 feet over downtown Manhattan, making it the world’s tallest skyscraper. Financed by businessman Frank Woolworth and designed by architect Cass Gilbert, the stunning skyscraper held on to that title for nearly two decades.
Photo: Getty Images20/40Statue of Liberty
A gift to the U.S. from France, the Statue of Liberty was erected off the southern tip of Manhattan in 1886. From the ground to the tip of her torch, Lady Liberty stands just over 300 feet tall. Designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the statue has a crown of seven rays, representing the seven seas and continents, and a tablet inscribed with “July IV MDCCLXXVI,” celebrating the date the U.S. declared independence from British.
Photo: Jon Arnold/Getty Images21/40Chrysler Building
When the Chrysler Building—among the most recognizable examples of Art Deco architecture—was completed in 1930, it was 1,050 feet tall and took the crown for the world’s tallest building, though not for long, as the Empire State Building superseded it in 1931. Striking gargoyles decorate corners of the 61st floor, and all floors above the 71st are unoccupied, simply there to facilitate access to the spire.
Photo: Roberto Machado Noa/Getty Images22/40Empire State Building
When the Empire State Building opened in 1931, then-president Herbert Hoover pressed a button from the White House to turn on the tower’s lights. The gesture was symbolic, of course—a building employee in New York actually switched on the lights. At 1,454 feet, the Empire State Building was the world’s tallest skyscraper for over four decades.
Photo: David Handschuh/New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images23/40The Cloisters
The Cloisters, which opened to the public in 1938, is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. The museum and gardens are located near the northern tip of Manhattan, on a four-acre lot overlooking the Hudson River.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images24/40Waldorf Astoria
When the Waldorf Astoria opened on Park Avenue in 1931, it became the tallest and largest hotel in the world. Over the years, the Art Deco luxury hotel has entertained many famous patrons. In 1955, at the height of her career, Marilyn Monroe resided in the Waldorf Astoria’s $1,000-per-week suite. What’s more, every sitting U.S. president since Herbert Hoover has stayed at the hotel while visiting New York.
Photo: Atlantide Phototravel/Getty Images25/40Lincoln Center for Performing Arts
Among those in attendance at the 1959 groundbreaking ceremony for the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts was then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower. The performing arts center, located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was opened in 1962 and began a decade-long renovation in 1999. The architects and firms involved include Frank Gehry, Cooper, Robertson & Partners, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Photo: Barry Winiker/Getty Images26/40Seagram Building
Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, New York’s iconic Seagram Building was completed in 1958. The building, which was the headquarters for the Canadian distillers Joseph E. Seagram & Sons became a model for future corporate skyscraper designs. Mies was so adamant about uniformity that he did not want irregularly placed blinds ruining the aesthetics. So the German-American architect implemented a system where the blinds could only be positioned in three ways: Up, halfway-down the window, or completely down.
Photo: wdstock/Getty Images27/40The Tenement Museum
The Tenement Museum is located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood, on the corner of Orchard and Delancey Street. Built and occupied in the 19th century, the building was boarded off for decades until it reopened in 1988. Eventually, it turned into a museum that showcased the way in which immigrants lived after starting their new lives in New York City between the 19th and 21st centuries. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994.
Photo: Getty Images28/40The Boathouse and Audubon Center
The Boathouse and Audubon Center in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park is one of the many hidden gems in the rapidly gentrifying borough. Built in 1904 by Helmle & Huberty (protégés of McKim, Mead and White), the structure exudes neoclassical architecture. By 1964, however, the boathouse was rarely used (with fewer than ten people an hour by some estimates), which led the Parks Department to coming within forty-eight hours of demolishing it. Ultimately, it survived, and by 1972 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Photo: Courtesy of Related/Michael Moran29/40Vessel
Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the Vessel is the centerpiece in Hudson Yards, New York’s newest neighborhood. The cost was around $150 million, an amount that irked many local New Yorkers. Nevertheless, the structure, which is an interactive sculpture comprising a network of stairs and landings that visitors can climb (or take an elevator) to the top, has attracted a lot of attention—namely for its high-profile architect, its sky-high price-tag, and its head-scratching design.
Photo: Christina Horsten/Getty Images30/40Bronx Stairs
In the Bronx there’s a seemingly inconspicuous staircase between two buildings. While the stairs connect Shakespeare Avenue with the higher Anderson Avenue, they became instantly famous after being used in a pivotal scene in the movie Joker (2019), starring Joaquin Phoenix.
- Photo: Fernando Bengoechea/Getty Images31/40
The Frick Collection
One of New York’s last surviving mansions on Fifth Avenue, Henry Clay Frick’s enormous estate housed the American industrialist’s family until his wife Adelaide Frick died in 1931. That same year, John Russell Pope transformed it into a public museum, which finally opened just before Christmas in 1935. Throughout his life, the Frick patriarch amassed an impressive art collection spanning the Renaissance through the 19th century. Though the art, which is separated into 16 permanent galleries throughout the home, is almost mesmerizing, the heart of the home is the Russell Pope–designed garden court.
- Photo: Alex Potemkin/Getty Images32/40
Delmonico’s
New York is one of the world’s food capitals, so it’s almost hard to believe that the city’s first fine-dining establishment didn’t exist until 1837. With cloth-covered tables, French cuisine, and a kitchen helmed by one of the earliest famed chefs, Charles Ranhofer, Delmonico’s offered the city’s elite a place to flaunt their wealth. The Delmonico brothers even bought land in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to grow their own produce, making their dining establishment one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in the country.
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Brooklyn Heights
Just south of the Brooklyn Bridge and overlooking the East River, Brooklyn Heights—whose streets are flanked by architecturally significant brownstones—transformed from farmland high up on a bluff just after the American Revolution to the country’s first suburb only four decades later. So many of the structures were the first to be built on the plots of land, making the historic neighborhood even more charming. In fact, one of the first homes constructed in this part of Brooklyn was the Four Chimneys House, which George Washington used as his headquarters during the Battle of Brooklyn. After the war, one of Brooklyn Heights’ earliest prominent residents, Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont, took over the home.
- Photo: Getty Images/Barry Winiker34/40
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum
Jan Dyckman, a settler who arrived in what was then New Amsterdam, may be the patriarch of the infamous Dyckman family, but it was his son William who transformed upper Manhattan. He inherited quite a bit of land, and in 1784 built the family farmhouse that is now a museum. The quaint house stayed in the Dyckman family for almost a century until the Dyckmans sold it in 1871. The house hardly changed its appearance, but it served as a rental property and then as an inn for several years. However, in the early 20th century, the Dyckmans bought it back, restored it, and donated it to the city in 1916.
- Photo: Brian Logan/Getty Images35/40
Brooklyn Borough Hall
Brooklyn’s oldest public building, constructed in 1848, was New York’s original City Hall. Designed by one of the most famous architects, Gamaliel King, the government building features an imposing Greek Revival look, complete with a monumentally wide exterior staircase leading to six fluted Ionic columns and a triangular pediment. Anyone who appreciates historic architecture will undoubtedly have a field day at this spot.
- Photo: Michael Lee/Getty Images36/40
Little Island at Pier 55
Perhaps the only way to describe Little Island is as a floating park on the Hudson River. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick—who also designed Hudson Yards’ Vessel—Little Island mimics an actual park.It’s a hilly landscape complete with trees, benches, and grass. The island comes into play with its complete removal from its urban surroundings.
- Photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images37/40
Summit One Vanderbilt
Only 53 feet shorter than perhaps New York’s most iconic landmark, the Empire State Building, Summit One Vanderbilt observation deck offers a totally new view of the city beneath. Plus, artist Kenzo Digital’s almost trippy installation Transcendence is like a sophisticated funhouse comprised of a double-story room of mirrors. The illusion it creates makes viewers wonder—quite literally—which way is up. Summit One Vanderbilt also has a Danny Meyer–led eatery dubbed Après.
- Photo: Delray77/Getty Images38/40
Katz’s Delicatessen
The line outside Katz’s Delicatessen is rarely short, no matter the hour. Opened in 1888 on the corner of Ludlow and East Houston Streets, Katz’s Delicatessen, which at that point was called Iceland Brothers, was a popular watering hole for the millions of newly immigrated families. A few decades later, entrepreneur Willy Katz joined the ranks owners, and in 1910 his cousin, Benny, bought out the Iceland brothers, moved the eatery across the street, and renamed it Katz’s Delicatessen. Known for its now-legendary pastrami and corned beef, Katz’s sandwiches are a must-try.
- Photo: Rudi Von Briel/Getty Images39/40
Apollo Theater
In the heart of West Harlem, the legendary George Keister–designed Apollo Theater is famous for its Amateur Night contests that started in 1934, 20 years after the theater opened its doors. So many musical icons, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sammy Davis Jr., played at the Apollo both before and after they reached stardom. It’s now a not-for-profit that puts on elaborate concerts.
- Photo: lightphoto/Getty Images40/40
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Located in between Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Museum, the 52-acre garden is home to more than 14,000 types of plants and flowers. Opened in 1910 with botanist Charles Stuart Gager as the director, the garden is one of New York’s most visited landmarks. Though the park is enormous, one of the most flocked-to spots is the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden that landscape designer Takeo Shiota designed in 1933. In fact, it was one of the country’s first Japanese gardens open to the public.
