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Lloyd Sealy Library
John Jay College of Criminal Justice

New York City: Research and History: Landmarks

Guide for Library Research on NYC and its Neighborhoods

NYC Landmarks

On this page you can find a sampling of some more famous NYC neighborhoods and landmarks.

One World Trade 2014

One World Trade 2014

One World Trade Center also called the Freedom Tower, is the tallest skyscraper in the United States and the primary building of the new World Trade Center complex that has been built after the terror attacks of September 11 2001.

Flat Iron Building

Flat Iron Building

The Flatiron building is a skyscraper build in Manhattan in 1902. It is called "Flatiron" due to its resemblence to a cast-iron clothing iron.

Empire State Building

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a skyscraper located in midtown Manhattan and is named after the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It was build in one year from 1930-1931.

Chrysler Building

Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in midtown Manhattan near the United Nations building.

Woolworth Building

Woolworth Building

The Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan is an early US skyscraper and a historical langmark.

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall  is a concert venue in midtown Manhattan. It is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for classical music and popular music. 

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal is a commuterrailroad terminal in midtown Manhattan. It is the largest long-distance passenger rail travel facility in the world by number of platforms.

Waldorf Astoria

Waldorf Astoria

The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan.

American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world.

Wall Street

Wall Street

Wall Street is an eight-block-long, street running west to east in lower Manhattan. It is the financial district of New York City and over time has become a reference for finance in the United States as a whole.

Times Square

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection at the junction of Broadway  and Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan. It is known as "The Crossroads of the World".

Union Square

Union Square

Union Square is an intersection in Manhattan located where Broadway and Fourth Avenue meet. The "Union" in Union Square refers to the "union" of the two streets at that location. There is a statue of George Washington at its entrance.

Harlem

The Apollo in Harlem

The Apollo Theatre on 125th Street in Harlem Manhattan

Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern part of Manhattan. It is named after the Dutch city of Haarlem. It has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center since the 1920s.

Little Italy

Little Italy

Little Italy is a major tourist and recreational area in lower Manhattan. It was originally a neighborhood with a very large Italian population.

Chinatown

Chinatown

Chinatown is an area in lower Manhattan that is the oldest and largest enclave of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere and outside of Asia.

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village is a neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan, long known as the Bohemian capital of the United States. It has also become home of some of the most expensive real estate in the country.

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall is in lower Manhattan and is the oldest city hall in the United States that still houses government functions such as the Mayor's Office.  Constructed in 1810 the building is a national historic landmark.

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral is a neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and a parish church, located in midtown Manhattan across the street from Rockefeller Center.

Metlife Building

Metlife Building

The MetLife Building is a skyscraper above Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan. It was originally known as the Pan Am Building.

Columbus Circle

Columbus Circle

Columbus Circle is a heavily trafficked intersection in the midtown Manhattan at the southwest corner of Central Park. It is the point from which all official distances from New York City are measured. The circle is named after Christopher Columbus.

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings between 48th and 51st streets in midtown Manhattan that was built by the Rockefeller family.

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden is a multi-purpose indoor arena in midtown Manhattan.

South Street Seaport

South Street Seaport

The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the lower Manhattan, adjacent to the Financial District. It features some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan, and includes the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city. 

Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is an urban park in the central of Manhattan that was opened in 1857 and is current size of 843 acres.

Battery Park City

Battery Park City

Battery Park City is a neighborhood at the southwestern tip of lower Manhattan. Itw as built on land that had been excavated during the construction of the original WOrld Trade Center in the 1970s.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the United States and one of the ten largest in the world.

Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in midtown Manhattan. It is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world.