DK Travel : New York : Places of interest

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Historic Ships

Seven classic ships, several open for boarding, include the 1885 square-rigger Wavertree, and the landmark, four-masted Peking, built in 1911.
Jefferson Market Courthouse

The site was a market in 1833, named after the former president, Thomas Jefferson. The fire lookout tower had a giant bell that alerted volunteer firefighters. When the courthouse was built in 1877, the bell was installed in its clock tower. The building became a treasured Village landmark, and, after the market had moved and court sessions were discontinued, it was eventually saved from demolition after a spirited local campaign and converted into a branch of the New York Public Library in the 1950s.
Judson Memorial Church

An elegant work in Romanesque style by Stanford White, with stained glass by John La Farge, the church was built in 1888–93 as a memorial to Adoniram Judson, the first American Baptist missionary in Asia. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. contributed to the construction. White’s use of mottled yellow brick and white terra-cotta trim introduced light coloration into American church architecture.
Lefferts Homestead Children’s House Museum

A rare 18th-century Dutch Colonial farmhouse shows early farm life.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Built on 15 acres in the 1950s, transforming slums into a giant cultural complex, the Lincoln Center houses an array of venues: the Metropolitan Opera; the New York City Opera and Ballet; the New York Philharmonic; the Lincoln Center and Walter Reade theaters; Avery Fisher and Alice Tully halls; and the Julliard School (see Avery Fisher Hall). In the summer, popular Mostly Mozart concerts take place, the central fountain plaza becomes a dance floor, and free concerts are held in the adjacent park. In October 2004, Jazz at the Lincoln Center moved to its new headquarters in the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle.
Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Guided tours inside a tenement building give an insight into the carefully researched lives of one of three families who lived here; a German-Jewish seamstress in 1874, an orthodox Jewish family from Lithuania in 1918, or a Sicilian Catholic family during the Depression in the 1930s.
MacDougal Alley

These 19th-century stables for the fine homes on Washington Square North were converted into studios by artists early in the 20th century, causing the street to be known as “Art Alley de Luxe.” Among the residents were painter Guy Pene du Bois and sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who established the first Whitney Museum in 1914 at 8 West 8th Street, adjoining her studio.
Macy’s

Former whaler R. H. Macy founded the store in 1858 on 6th Avenue and 14th Street; the red star logo was from his tattoo, a souvenir of sailing days. Innovations included pricing goods a few cents below a full dollar and offering a money-back guarantee. The store was sold in 1888 and moved to the present building.
Madison Square

The square opened in 1847 at the center of a fine residential area where politician Theodore Roosevelt and writer Edith Wharton were born. The original Madison Square Garden was here, at Madison Avenue and 26th Street. Later office development brought distinguished sites such as the Flatiron and Metropolitan Life buildings. Today the statue-filled park is being renovated and the area rediscovered.
Malcolm Shabazz Mosque/Harlem Market

The mosque, Masjid Malcolm Shabazz, was the ministry of the late Malcolm X, and the area around it has become the center of an active Muslim community. Local shops sell books, tapes, and Muslim clothing, and restaurants serve Sengalese cuisine. Street vendors who used to crowd the sidewalks of 125th Street have been moved into an organized complex of market stalls selling African art, dolls, drums, masks, dashiki shirts, and fabrics in African prints.