New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [61]
Seagram Building.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pioneer of modern architecture, built this boxlike bronze-and-glass tower in 1958. The austere facade belies its wit: I-beams, used to hold buildings up, here are merely attached to the surface, representing the idea of support. The Seagram Building’s innovative ground-level plaza, extending out to the sidewalk, has since become a common element in urban skyscraper design. | 375 Park Ave., between E. 52nd and E. 53rd Sts., Midtown East | 10022 | Subway: 6 to 51st St./Lexington Ave.; E, M to Lexington–3rd Aves./53rd St.
Sony Building.
Designed by Philip Johnson in 1984, the Sony Building’s rose-granite columns and its giant-size Chippendale-style pediment made the skyscraper an instant landmark. The first-floor public arcade includes electronics stores, an upscale kosher restaurant, a café, and an atrium filled with people playing chess.
Have kids in tow? The free Sony Wonder Technology Lab (212/833–8100, 212/833–7875 for week-of screening reservations | www.sonywondertechlab.com | Tues.–Sat. 10–5, Sun. noon–5; last entrance 30 mins before closing) in the Sony Building lets them program robots, create movie trailers, perform virtual heart surgery, and work as a team to produce a high-definition news broadcast. The lab also shows classic and contemporary films for both young and adult audiences in its 73-seat HD theater. Admission is free, but call at least seven days ahead for reservations, as it’s very popular. | 550 Madison Ave., between E. 55th and E. 56th Sts., Midtown East | 10022 | Daily 7 am–11 pm | Subway: E, M to 5th Ave./53rd St.
Trump Tower.
The tallest all-glass building in Manhattan when it was completed in 1983, this skyscraper’s ostentatious atrium flaunts that decade’s unbridled luxury, with expensive boutiques and gaudy brass everywhere. One half expects the pleasant-sounding waterfall streaming down to the lower-level food court to flow with champagne. Half-price specialty cocktails 5–7 pm weeknights at the cozy, burgundy-tented Trump Bar are a consolation.
If you can see past the glitz, you’ll find the building connects not only to Niketown but also to 590 Atrium, a pleasant, glass-enclosed space with tables, chairs, and an Italian café counter selling coffee, panini, and the like. | 725 5th Ave. at E. 56th St., Midtown West | 10022 | 212/832–2000 | www.trump.com | Subway: N, R to 5th Ave./59th St.
Tudor City.
Before Donald Trump, there was Fred F. French. In 1925 the prominent real-estate developer became one of the first to buy up a large number of separate buildings—more than 100, in fact, most of them tenements—and join their properties into a single new development.
He designed a collection of nine apartment buildings and two parks in the “garden city” mode, which placed a building’s green space not in an enclosed courtyard but in the foreground. French also elevated the entire development 70 feet (40 stone steps) above the river and built a 39-by-50-foot “Tudor City” sign atop one of the 22-story buildings. The development’s residential towers opened between 1927 and 1930, borrowing a marketable air of sophistication from Tudor-style stonework, stained-glass windows, and lobby design flourishes.
An official city landmark, Tudor City has featured in numerous films, including all three Spider-Man movies, and its gardens remain a popular lunch spot among office workers. The street overpass on Tudor Place (its main drag) offers a unique view straight down 42nd Street, made even better when the sun sets directly over the street on May 28 and July 12 or 13 each year. Brian K. Thompson, a local real-estate agent and historian, leads private 45-minute architecture, finance, and real-estate history tours of the development; email him for details (Tudor City tour $10 | briankthompson@yahoo.com). | Between 41st and 43rd Sts and 1st and 2nd Aves., Midtown East | 10017 | Subway: 4, 5, 6, 7, S to 42nd St./Grand Central.
United Nations Headquarters.
Officially an “international zone” and not part of the United States, the U.N.