DK Travel : New York : Places of interest

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New York Stock Exchange

The present building opened in 1903, and behind its Neo- Classical facade is the financial heart of the U.S. The exchange has grown from a dealing with local businesses to a global enterprise. On the busiest days, over 200 million shares are traded daily for more than 2,000 companies, although the action is much calmer now that everything is computerized. There are 17 trading posts, each with 22 sections of traders handling the stock of up to 10 companies.
New York University

Founded in 1831, N.Y.U. enlarged the scope of early 19th-century study from its previous concentration on Greek and Latin to contemporary subjects: a “rational and practical education” for those aspiring to careers in business, industry, science, and the arts, as well as in law, medicine, and the ministry. It has grown into the largest private university in America and now occupies many blocks around Washington Square.
New-York Historical Society

New York’s oldest museum, founded in 1804, has organized much of its vast collection into the 4th floor Henry Luce III Center, which displays 40,000 objects divided into areas such as paintings, sculpture, furniture, silver, tools, and, notably, Tiffany lamps. Other galleries are used for changing exhibits. The society also maintains a research library.
Orchard Street

The heart of bargain shopping, Orchard Street became a street of shops in 1940, when Mayor Fiorello La Guardia outlawed pushcarts in the city. Many merchants still put some of their wares on the sidewalk on Sundays and lure customers with 20 to 30 percent off brand names. The Lower East Side Visitor Center offers free tours each Sunday between April and December.

Art for sale, Orchard Street
Park Slope Historic District

These blocks on the western edge of Prospect Park became desirable places to live after the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. The Victorian brownstones from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are outstanding U.S. Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne residences.
Pearl River Chinese Products Emporium

The largest department store in Chinatown has two locations and a fascinating potpourri of goods for sale. There are Chinese musical instruments, paper lanterns, kites, dried herbs, embroidered silk tops, dresses and pajamas with mandarin collars, purses, dolls, pillows, and sandalwood and jasmine soaps.
Pier 17

A pier with three floors of restaurants, food stands and sweeping views of the East River and Brooklyn Bridge.
Pilot House

The South Street Seaport ticket and information center is housed in this pilot house, taken from a steam tugboat built in 1923 by the New York Central Railroad.
Police Headquarters Building

After the boroughs merged into Greater New York in 1898, the city’s police department expanded rapidly. This 1905 headquarters near Little Italy was the result, a monumental, columned Baroque structure fit for “New York’s Finest,” with an ornate dome tall enough to be seen from City Hall. The strange shape of the building fits a wedge-shaped lot. Empty for more than a decade after the department relocated in 1973, the building has since been converted into luxury cooperatives, the Police Building Apartments.
Police Plaza

Constructed in 1973, the city’s police headquarters can be found on a spacious pedestrian plaza, a welcome area in a district with very few public spaces. The 75-ton Tony Rosenthal abstract sculpture, Five in One, made of five sloping interlocked discs, symbolizes the city’s five boroughs.