Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Metropolitan Life Tower
This 54-story tower, built
along the east side of Madison
Square in 1909, was the world's
tallest building at that time, an
appropriate corporate symbol for
the world's largest insurance
company. Designed by Napoleon
Le Brun and Sons, the tower
follows the form of the cam-
panile in the Piazza San Marco
in Venice. Although it was altered
in the 1960s, when the entire
structure was renovated, the
ornate four-faced clock and
crowning cupola remain, a familiar
landmark on the New York sky-
line.
d
1 Madison Avenue, near 24th
St
•
Map L4
•
Open during office
hours
•
Free
The City's Squares
Manhattan has only four London-
style squares, Union, Madison,
Stuyvesant and Gramercy Park, all
formed in the 1800s by real
estate speculators hoping to
profit by selling surrounding lots
to the wealthy. The squares
provide welcome breaks among
the city's dense, tall buildings,
but only Gramercy Park has
remained residential.
Gramercy Park
Samuel Ruggles laid out this
neighborhood around a private
park in the 1830s. It remains
the city's only private park and
a desirable place to live. Stan-
ford White remodeled No. 16
in 1888 for Edwin Booth,
who founded the Players
Club here. His statue
stands in the park
(see
pp114)
.
d
Lexington Avenue,
between 20th & 21st sts
•
Map L4
•
Closed to public
Flatiron Building
Though dwarfed by
countless taller structures
today, this unusual building
- its shape conforming to
a triangular plot of land -
remains striking, a symbol
of the beginning of the
skyscraper era. Its slim,
rounded façade is as proud
as a ship's prow sailing up
the avenue. Completed in
1902, it anchored the north
end of the prestigious
Ladies' Mile shopping
district, located bet-
ween Union and
Madison squares.
The designer, famous
Chicago architect
Daniel Burnham,
included detailed
Italian Renaissance
decoration on the
building from top
to bottom, much
of it in terra-cotta.
d
175 Fifth Avenue at
Broadway & 23rd St
•
Map L3
•
Open office
hours
•
Free
National Arts Club
Originally the home of
Samuel Tilden, a governor
of New York and opponent
of the notorious Boss
Tweed
(see pp48-9)
. The
Gothic Revival brown-
stone was designed
by Calvert Vaux, of
Central Park fame.
The National Arts
Club, whose mem-
bers have included
leading American
artists since the
1800s, bought the
building in 1906.
Each member is
asked to donate a
work to the club.
Its galleries are
open to the pub-
lic.
d
15 Gramercy
Park South
•
Map L4
Flatiron Building
112
