Tag: Museum

American Museum of Natural History

I was once among people who believed that all natural history museums were more or less the same.  The Natural History Museum in D.C. and the Cincinnati Museum Center are two of the finest in the country, but their collections of natural artifacts and specimens are similar.  I was hesitant to go to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) with these thoughts in my mind, but put my natural history museum biases aside to come here.

I was rewarded immediately upon entry when I saw the memorial to President Theodore Roosevelt (former NYPD commissioner and the only president born in New York City).  A rich mosaic covering T.R. negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth, his African expedition (that netted around 4,000 objects in the museum’s collection), and the building of the Panama Canal takes up most of the entryway.  These three episodes are interspersed with quotes from T.R. and giant U.S., New York State, and New York City flags that make this the coolest museum entryway in the city.

The AMNH was established in 1869 and moved into its current location in 1874.  The building has two million square feet and contains millions of specimens of plants, animals, and cultural artifacts.  The museum is home to stuffed animals from habitats from every corner of the planet, the skeletons of dinosaurs and ice age mammals, and a collection of native costumed mannequins from indigenous cultures all over the world.  For those who prefer their science in outer space, the Hayden Planetarium is attached to the museum.

Due to the fact that children love to see dinosaur bones and animals, this museum has a high population of little ones during the day—and doubly so on a rainy day.  Rain or shine, Sights by Sam tours will show you the sights and attractions that make New York New York.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Located in Central Park, with over two million square feet of exhibition space at its Central Park flagship, collections encompassing every period of history, and now spanning three locations, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), is the largest museum in the U.S.  The collection of the museum has artifacts in it such as a medieval hall of armor, baseball cards, Tiffany lamps, a paintings collection that is world class, and an Egyptian temple.  The museum is also the setting for one of my favorite books from the fourth grade, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

The main museum campus opened its doors in 1872 further down Fifth Avenue from its current location.  The current location was built in 1880, and was added onto over several years (the original building is actually encased by its additions—look for the red walls while inside of the museum).  Over the years it has greatly expanded to encompass a large super block between 79th and 86th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

A trip to the Met can encompass an entire day.  Check out the temporary exhibits (which change every few months), which are done well and always stunning.  The Hall of Armor is always a crowd pleaser as is the reconstructed Ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur (reconstructed in the northern edge of the museum).  If you are there in the summer, the roof deck offers a stunning view of Central Park and has an installation on it.  As I am a big fan of modern art myself, while not the MoMA or the Whitney, the Met can hold its own with regard to its collection of 19th and 20th century art.

If you somehow have more time after a day of gallery cruising at the Fifth Avenue location, your admission will allow you to enter another Met affiliate (such as the Cloisters in Upper Manhattan or the Met Breuer in the Upper East Side) for free the same day.  There is almost no way that you can see the entire collection in one sitting.  Plan ahead with the art and artifacts you want to see in mind.  If it is raining outside, rest assured that most tourists and locals from the Upper East Side will be in the main location of the Met with you.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

National Museum of the American Indian

While I am very biased that New York is the perfect vacation destination for all—as it has buildings from all eras of American history and so many cultures that you can travel around the world without ever leaving the five boroughs, it can sometimes be difficult to find free destinations.  Although there are many museums that have “pay what you wish” policies and others with free days or nights, New York will probably never have as many free museums as the capital of our great country, Washington, DC, has.  With that said, New York does have Smithsonian Institution Museums (two to be precise), including a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).

The NMAI branch in New York dates back to the early 1900s when oil and construction magnate Carl Gustav Heye began to amass a collection of Native American artifacts after supervising several infrastructure projects in the Southwestern U.S.  Heye would found the Museum of the American Indian in 1916, where it would be based in Upper Manhattan and contain artifacts and objects from native peoples across North and South America.  In the 1980s, Congress passed an act that created the NMAI and would amalgamate the Museum of the American Indian’s collection into the Smithsonian Institution.  Several of Heye’s collected artifacts—including many funerary objects and pieces sacred to Native American tribes, were returned.  In the 1990s, the NMAI began to occupy two floors of the recently renovated Alexander Hamilton Custom House in Lower Manhattan—as part of a stipulation in Heye’s will that the collection not leave New York City.  In 2005, some of Heye’s collection was transferred to the new main NMAI location in Washington, D.C.

One of the other remarkable things about the NMAI branch in New York is where it is housed.  The museum is located in the former Alexander Hamilton Custom House, which was built by architect Cass Gilbert in 1907.  The front of the building contains statues representing the continents and the inside contains a vast rotunda that was repainted in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration, containing scenes of the Port of New York and New Jersey in full swing.  In addition to the NMAI and the historic rotunda, the building also contains a branch of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and a branch of the National Archives.

Although not one of the more well-known museums of the city, the NMAI branch is worth a visitors time—not only because it is free, but also since it provides a world class collection of artifacts in a well-preserved and historical setting.  This is not only the kind of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour, but also you are able to see the Alexander Hamilton Custom House on my “Foundation of New York” tour.

New York City Fire Museum

The FDNY was formally organized in 1865 and has 13,000 firefighters and paramedics.  Every year, the FDNY responds to hundreds of thousands of calls for assistance.  Some sources place the FDNY as the busiest fire department in the world.  The average emergency response time for a fire emergency is about five minutes.

Given the important role that the FDNY holds in keeping the city safe and functioning, it is not surprising that they have their own museum.  Founded in 1934, the Fire Museum moved several times before settling into a location close to the Holland Tunnel in 1987.  This museum documents firefighting in the city over the years.

Visitors to this museum will learn about the history of New York’s Bravest from the first fire watches in the colonial era to the complicated equipment used to fight fires and save lives in the most densely populated city in the U.S.  Along the way, visitors will also learn about the wood pipes and private fire companies that existed in the Antebellum Era—along with the “plug uglies” who fought each other often as much as they put out fires.

The second floor gallery houses antique fire engines and horse-drawn firefighting machinery.  Some of the machines were for every day use while others were just for parades.  A display in the museum talks about how fire houses started using dalmatians on their runs to not only locate people trapped by fire or debris, but also to protect the horses drawing firefighting equipment from being attacked by packs of feral dogs that were common on New York’s streets.

The museum also has a touching tribute to the 343 firemen of the FDNY who were killed in the September 11th Attack.  A full chronology of the day’s events from the fire department’s perspective and a moving memorial are a fitting tribute to their extremely selfless actions.

Every city is proud of its firefighters.  It is not surprising, however, that the biggest fire department in the land would have such a great museum that documents their history and memorializes the great sacrifices they have made.  Although it is not on most tourist itineraries, the Fire Museum should be on the list of any history buffs or (if you’re like me) people who like to get close to fire engines.  Remember that you can also learn about history and get up close to sights on a Sights by Sam walking tour.

Guggenheim Museum

Officially named the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, this modern art museum’s building is just as controversial as the art contained inside.  The building has been likened to an alien spacecraft, a toilet, and many other things.

Solomon R. Guggenheim was a mining magnate from Pennsylvania who turned to collecting art.  Later in life, he started collecting abstract (“non-objective”) art.  He founded a foundation to further the appreciation of abstract art in 1937, but his collection had grown to the point where he needed a museum to house it.  Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design the museum on the tony Upper East Side (in the “Museum Mile” District).  The museum building was opened in 1959, however both Wright and Guggenheim did not live to see the final structure completed.

Special exhibits in the museum are often displayed in the circular gallery while the permanent collection is in an addition to the original building.  Although the intent was to have guests take an elevator up to the top and walk down, the limited elevator capacity makes this difficult.

The building is indeed as abstract as the work displayed within.  Every time I walk through the complex, it is as though I am in some past version of what people thought the future would look like.  The museum is a sight to behold—if only for the fact that it is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last buildings and one of his only commissions in New York City.

One of the reasons the museum was sited at its location was because of its proximity to Central Park.  Although the classically-designed park contrasts sharply with the modern architecture of the museum, it is an interesting contrast and a way to experience a small piece of Central Park.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

The Whitney Museum

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was born into the wealthy Vanderbilt family–the ones that owned the New York Central Railroad. She married Harry P. Whitney, becoming even richer as the Whitney family owned substantial oil interests. Whitney turned toward art as a hobby and became an impressive sculptor in her own right.

Starting in 1914, Whitney began to amass American art. She felt that American artists needed to be exhibited and promoted. In 1929, she attempted to donate her collection of American modern art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which declined her collection–as did the Museum of Modern Art. Whitney’s artwork would be formed into what is now known as the Whitney Museum of Art in 1931.

The museum has moved from Greenwich Village to Midtown to the Upper East Side (in a Marcel Breuer-designed building now housing an extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), to a new, Renzo Piano-designed edifice opened in 2015, which anchors the southern entrance to the High Line Park and contains 200,000 square feet of exhibition space. Many of the galleries have decks outside which provide great views of the surrounding city. The immediate neighborhood provides many opportunities for walking and eating in several restaurants and bars that have proliferated in recent years.

In addition to hosting a permanent collection of American artists such as Charles Demuth and Edward Hopper among more contemporary artists, the museum also has many temporary exhibits and hosts the famous Whitney Biennial every other year (next scheduled for 2017). Between 7:00PM and 9:30PM on Fridays, the museum has a “pay what you wish” policy. The Whitney should be on your itinerary for the modern building alone. A Sights by Sam walking tour of New York should be on the itinerary of any visitor to this great city.