PenCities

Top Sights

• The Frick Collection
  This is probably New York’s best private museum and its most proper. Children under 10 years old are not permitted within the walls of this gorgeous 19th Century building, the former home of steel and railway tycoon Henry Clay Frick. You’ll come to love this museum nestled in one of the city’s prettiest neighbourhoods, filled with the amazing collection of European masterpieces that Frick amassed .
  
  1 East 70th Street, Upper East Side
  Tel: (1-212) 288 0700
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
  From the Egyptian and Greek Wings to the American Wing to the Impressionist and Realist Galleries, this museum is a treasure. Have a glass of wine in the rooftop garden, easily one of New York’s most beautiful and peaceful secret destinations.
  
  1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side
  Tel: (1-212) 535 7710
  
• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
  After living in exile on Long Island, MoMA has returned to Manhattan. In the words of Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, “It was designed to transform MoMA into a bold new museum while maintaining its historical, cultural, and social context.” The 630,000 square-foot Museum boasts almost the capacity of the former facility, including the new six-storey David and Peggy Rockefeller Gallery Building housing the main collection and temporary exhibition galleries, refurbished theatres for film and media presentations, the expanded Lobby, and more. Long-time visitors will also be relieved to find that Taniguchi has preserved certain original elements such as Philip Johnson’s original 1953 design, re-establishing the garden’s southern terrace to create an outdoor patio for The Modern, a new fine dining restaurant.
  
  11 West 53 Street, Midtown
  Tel: (1-212) 708 9400
• Neue Galerie
  Devoted to 20th century German and Austrian art, this compact museum is housed in a gorgeous 1914 mansion once occupied by a Vanderbilt and designed by Carrere & Hastings, the architects of the New York Public Library. The Galerie opened in November 2001 and, while not quite a hidden gem, it certainly has been under-appreciated and under-visited by locals and tourists alike.
  
  1048 Fifth Avenue at 86th Street, Upper East Side
  Tel: (1-212) 628 6200
• The Whitney Museum
  Largely recognized as the most comprehensive collection of 20th Century American art in the world, The Whitney was founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1930. Whether viewing the permanent collection that includes Hopper, Stella, Glackens, Demuth, de Kooning, Rothko, and O’Keeffe, or attending the important Whitney Biennial contemporary art showcase, a visit is a must.
  
  945 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side
  Tel: (1-212) 570 3676
• The Asia Society
  It is America’s premier gathering spot for people with an interest in the cultural, social and political life of their peers in the East. The Society’s permanent collection is excellent, and its programs well worth attending. The bookstore is also one of the best sources of information on Asia in Manhattan.
  
  725 Park Avenue, Upper East Side
  Tel: (1-212) 288 6400