WALK UP BROADWAY If you would rather avoid fast-paced crowds, try this tour on a weekend , when the streets are quieter. It begins at the foot of Broadway, near Battery Park , going from the financial district to City Hall, convenient to shopping and restaurants. Your stroll begins in front of the National Museum of the American Indian;be sure to take a peek inside. Then proceed to the Renaissance-style Cunard Building by Benjamin Morris, located at 25 Broadway. Constructed in 1921 as the Cunard Line's New York headquarters, it now houses a post office. You can buy stamps in the Great Hall , one of the city's best interior spaces. This room is where tickets for the Titanic, Lusitania, and other famous ocean liners were sold. Across from Bowling Green on Broadway is the Museum of American Financial History. Continue up Broadway. Just north of Trinity Church and the head of Wall Street, the hulking Equitable Building rises straight up for 40 stories. Just beyond the Equitable Building, the sleek Marine Midland Building has one of Lower Manhattan's nicer plazas. Turn right on Liberty Street. Ahead, the Federal Reserve Bank in the style of a Renaissance palace, holds the cash reserves of many banks plus gold bullion from countries throughout the world. Turn left on Nassau Street, then right on John Street. The austere John Street United Methodist Church built in 1841, replaced the 1768 Wesley Chapel, the first Methodist church in United States. An early sexton was a slave who purchased his freedom from the chapel's trustees. He later founded the country's first black Methodist church. Turn left on William Street. On the southwest corner of Fulton Street is the site of writer Washington Irving's birthplace. Turn left on Fulton, and right on Broadway. St.Paul's Chapel and its churchyard between Fulton and Vessey Streets, has been in continuous use since it opened in 1766 as an adjunct of Trinity Church. George Washington worshipped here; his pew is marked by a plaque. The chapel is now a memorial to victims of Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attack. It houses " The Unwavering Spirit ", a permanent exhibition. Just beyond St. Paul's , at the Ground Zero site, construction of the Freedom Tower, public memorial, and major transit hub will be ongoing through 2009-2010. Proceed up Broadway. No. 233, between Park Place and Barclay Street, is the 60-story Woolworth Building. Topped by a golden crown, it was the world's tallest from 1913 until 1929, when the tower at 40 Wall Street outdid it. The building's lobby - decorated with murals, a vaulted, mosaic-studded ceiling, and a stained-glass skylight - includes a whimsical statue of F.W.Woolworth, founder of the five-and-ten chain that bears his name. Cut across City Hall Park to City Hall to end the tour. You can go back to Broadway or swing over to South Street Seaport for refreshments or more sight seeing. WALK : CAST IRON IN SOHO This walk takes you through SoHo's historic cast-iron district. It begins in the heart of SoHo on West Broadway, goes south, then briefly touches on Canal Street before swinging back north on Broadway, ending on West Houston. Along the way you will see some of the country's most outstanding examples of the cast-iron style, which were pre-fabricated in factories, then shipped to the building site and bolted onto the structures. The result was highly ornate architecture with the appearance of stone carving. Start on West Broadway, between Prince and Spring Streets. You can pick up a free gallery guide at any gallery nearby and head west on Prince Street for a coffeehouse treat. Then it's on to 429 West Broadway, the Nancy Hoffman Gallery contemporary art. One of the first on the SoHo art scene in the 1970s, this is one of the few majors not to have relocated. Across the street No. 420 was home to the famed Leo Castelli Gallery until 1999. Just before you enter the cast-iron district, stop by Cipriani Downtown, a French bistro offering cozy tables indoor or out, with heated lamps for winter. Turn left at Broome Street. The building at No. 489 was built in 1873, as indicated by the date on it. Turn right on Wooster Street to No.33 , the Performing Garage, home of the avant-garde Wooster Group of actors. Staying on Wooster, cross Grand Street. Look back at the Grecian-style Nos. 72 and 74 and 68-70 Grand Street. Go south a short block to Canal Street, where you turn left. Artists may want to visit Pearl Paint, just across the street, the world's largest discount art supplier. Otherwise, turn left from Canal Street onto Greene Street, heading uptown. This is SoHo's premier cast-iron district, with an unbroken expanse of ten buildings, No. 8 through Nos. 32-34. Mostly Italianate, these are by some of cast iron's best architects. Empire style building at Nos.28-30, known as the Queen of Greene Street, its mansard roof is a fitting crown,the true cast-iron king. Turn right on Spring Street, then right on Mercer. If you need a break, Bar 89 at No. 89 has a skylight view of the surrounding buildings.Turn left on Broadway. The 1857 Haughwout Building is the oldest and best preserved cast-iron building in the city, and the first to have a passenger elevator. On the left, between Broome and Spring streets, 521-523 Broadway is all that remains of the largest, elegant thousand-bed St. Nicholas Hotel, which closed in the 1870s. The dark green structure at 561 Broadway is known as the Little Singer Building designed in 1903 by Ernest Flagg for the Singer Manufacturing Company. Note the terra-cotta facade, intricate wrought-iron balconies, and windows. The building is often cited as a precursor to the glass-curtain walls of 1950s skyscrapers. At Prince Street, bibliophiles will want to turn right and then a quick left to 126 Crosby Street, Housing Works Used Book Cafe', where you can browse and snack. Then retrace your steps and head north on Broadway to the crossroads at Houston Street. Across the way at 610 Broadway rises a seven story modern office building by architect Christian Amolsch. West along Houston the new structures at Nos.19-35 and No.55, by H. Thomas O'Hara, represent the "gateway to SoHo." The Angelika, one of the city's best independent cinemas, has a public cafe' where you can relax. |