Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
On W 138th and 139th sts (between Adam Clayton Powell Jr and Frederick Douglass
blvds),
Strivers' Row
comprises three of the finest blocks of Renaissance-influenced row-
houses in Manhattan. Commissioned in 1891 during a housing boom, this dignified devel-
opment within the burgeoning black community came to be the most desirable place for am-
bitious professionals to reside at the turn of the twentieth century - hence its name. Today it
remains an extremely posh residence for professionals of all backgrounds.
MORRIS-JUMEL MANSION
65 Jumel Terrace at W 160th St between St Nicholas and Edgecombe aves. Subway C to 163rd St.
212 923
8008,
www.morrisjumel.org
.
Wed-Sun 10am-4pm. $5.
MAP
This 1765 mansion, the oldest house in Manhattan, features proud Georgian outlines and a
Federal portico, and served briefly as George Washington's headquarters before it fell to the
British in 1776. Later, wine merchant Stephen Jumel bought the mansion and refurbished it
for his wife Eliza, formerly a prostitute and his mistress. On the top floor, you'll find a mag-
nificently fictionalized account of her “scandalous” life.
CLOISTERS MUSEUM
99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park. Subway A to 190th St. 212 923 3700,
www.metmuseum.org/
cloisters
.
Daily 10am. closes 4.45pm Nov-Feb. Suggested donation $25, free with same-day Met Museum
entry.
MAP
This reconstructed monastic complex houses the pick of the Metropolitan Museum's medi-
eval collection. Most prized are the mystery-shrouded
Unicorn Tapestries
, seven elaborate
panels thought to have been created in the late thirteenth century in France or Belgium.
Among the Cloisters Museum's larger artefacts are a monumental Romanesque hall made
up of French remnants and a frescoed Spanish Fuentiduena chapel, both thirteenth century.
At the centre of the museum is the
Cuxa Cloister
from a twelfth-century Benedictine mon-
astery in the French Pyrenees; its capitals are brilliant works of art, carved with weird, self-
devouring grotesque creatures.
