New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [62]
The main reason to visit is the 45-minute guided tour (given in 20 languages), which includes the General Assembly and major council chambers, though some rooms may be closed on any given day. The tour includes displays on war, peacekeeping, nuclear nonproliferation, human rights, and refugees, and passes corridors overflowing with imaginatively diverse artwork.
Free tickets to assemblies are sometimes available on a first-come, first-served basis before sessions begin; pick them up in the General Assembly lobby. If you just want to wander around, the grounds include a beautiful riverside promenade, a rose garden with 1,400 specimens, and sculptures donated by member nations.
The complex’s buildings (the slim, 505-foot-tall green-glass Secretariat Building; the much smaller, domed General Assembly Building; and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library) evoke the influential French modernist Le Corbusier (who was on the team of architects that designed the complex), and the surrounding park and plaza remain visionary. The public concourse, beneath the visitor entrance, has a coffee shop, gift shops, a bookstore, and a post office where you can mail letters with U.N. stamps. | Visitor entrance,1st Ave. at E. 46th St., Midtown East | 10017 | 212/963–8687 | www.un.org | Tour $12.50 | Children under 5 not admitted | Tours weekdays 9:30–4:45; tours in English leave General Assembly lobby every 30 mins; for other languages, call | 212/963–7539 on the day of your visit | Subway: 4, 5, 6, 7, S to 42nd St./Grand Central.
University Club.
Among the best surviving works of McKim, Mead & White, New York’s leading turn-of-the-20th-century architects, this 1899 pink Milford granite palace was built for an exclusive club of degree-holding men. (The crests of various prestigious universities are engraved into the facade above its windows.)
The club’s popularity declined as individual universities built their own clubs and as gentlemen’s clubs became less important to the New York social scene. Still, the nine-story Italian High Renaissance Revival building (the facade looks as though it’s three stories) stands out, grand as ever, among the shiny 5th Avenue shops. | 1 W. 54th St., at 5th Ave., Midtown West | 10019 | Subway: E, M to 5th Ave./53rd St.
GALLERIES
David Findlay Jr. Fine Art.
This gallery concentrates on contemporary and 20th-century American artists from Whistler to Herman Cherry, Byron Brown, and David Aronson, and specializes in the New York School. | 41 E. 57th St., 11th fl., at Madison Ave., Midtown East | 10022 | 212/486–7660 | www.davidfindlayjr.com | Subway: N, R to 5th Ave.
Edwynn Houk.
The impressive stable of 20th-century photographers here includes Sally Mann, Robert Polidori, and Elliott Erwitt. The gallery also has prints by masters Edward Weston and Alfred Stieglitz. | 745 5th Ave., between E. 57th and E. 58th Sts., Midtown East | 10151 | 212/750–7070 | www.houkgallery.com | Subway: N, R to 5th Ave.
Greenberg Van Doren.
This gallery exhibits the works of young artists as well as retrospectives of established masters. You can purchase works here by Georgia O’Keeffe, Ed Ruscha, and Richard Diebenkorn, among others. | 730 5th Ave., at E. 57th St., 7th fl., Midtown East | 10019 | 212/445–0444 | www.gvdgallery.com | Subway: N, R to 5th Ave.
Hirschl & Adler.
Although this gallery has a selection of European works, it’s best known for its American paintings, prints, and decorative arts. The celebrated 19th- and 20th-century artists whose works are featured include Stuart Davis, Childe Hassam, Camille Pissarro, and John Singleton Copley. | 730 5th Aveat W. 57th St., 4th fl., Midtown East | 10019 | 212/535–8810 | www.hirschlandadler.com | Subway: N, R to 5th Ave. St./Hunter College.
Marian Goodman.
The excellent contemporary art here includes Jeff Wall’s staged photographs presented on light boxes, South African artist William