Skip to main content

25 Great Things to Do in Midtown East

A leisurely walk in Midtown East from Paley Park on E. 53rd Street to the United National Headquarters in Turtle Bay, ending with a grand finish on E. 42nd Street, takes in many New York landmarks as well as international treasures.

Indoors and out, the walk features exemplary gardens, urban retreats, and prewar buildings of note. In addition, many of the twenty-five stops noted here highlight the promise of New York at mid-century and the civic optimism of the postwar years. The walk takes on an international spirit as a few buildings are inspired by the architectural modernism of the International Style. A few specific places serve as cultural embassies for their respective countries.

Begin the walk in Paley Park, 3 E. 53rd St., just east of Fifth Avenue.

Beginning with Paley Park, the walk includes many public spaces that encourage sociability and provide much-needed breaks from the fast pace of the city. Take note of the ones you think are most successful and why.

The walk, which connects the dots to all these spots (with one detour), is about 2.5 miles long but with many rests along the way. The excursion is a great way to spend a free afternoon, winding up at Grand Central Terminal. Along the way, you’ll also encounter three glamorous celebrities - Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, and Audrey Hepburn, all active players in the life of the city.  

The map at the end of this post marks a path that connects the 25 things. The walk works well for the solo traveler or with a group of friends.

Paley Park
3 E. 53rd, Between 5th Ave & Madison Ave
Begin your walk in this small park built in 1967 on the site of the former Stork Club at 3 E. 53rd Street. William S. Paley, the founder of CBS, donated the park and named it after his father. In urban planning, this park is considered a model of successful public places. The necessary ingredients of public life are assembled here - a setback from the street, a water feature, nearby food, and moveable chairs amendable to solitude or to company. The waterfall makes enough noise to drown out traffic but not conversation.

Stephen Sondheim's landmark musical Company (1970) includes a reference to this park - "Imagine being in a tiny, quiet, little pocket of the park right here in the middle of the busy, noisy east 50s."

Onassis Cultural Center. temporarily closed.
645 5th Avenue
Look for the arcade in the Olympic Tower just off Fifth, connecting St. Patrick's on E. 51st St. with E. 52nd.
In his will, Aristotle Onassis directed a foundation to be established to honor the memory of his son Alexander. The Cultural Center, recently renovated, presents exhibitions, musical events, lectures, and films concerning ancient and contemporary Hellenic culture. The public atrium inside the Olympic Tower, built in 1976, features contemporary art by Greek artists as well as the casts from the original friezes of the Parthenon (housed for the most part in the British Museum). The geometric neon and metal sculpture on the wall, titled "The Road to Mistra," is by Stephen Antonakos. Website

Austrian Cultural Forum
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street
Before entering, step back to gaze at the acclaimed architecture of this 2002 building. Architectural theorist and practitioner Raimund Abraham designed the slender 24-story building on E. 52nd Street, built in 2000. The Austrian Cultural Forum, the main cultural embassy of Austria, hosts exhibitions and events. Website

Park Avenue Plaza
55 E. 52nd St. Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Between E. 52nd and E. 53rd. and between Madison and Park. Walk into the atrium, and you’ll see an indoor waterfall and a few stores in the arcade, including Chartwell Booksellers, a bookshop specializing in Winston Churchill material.

Lever House
E. 53rd at Park Avenue
Lever House (1950 - 1952), a glass-box modernist building by Gordon Bunshaft of the firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. At the time it opened, the Lever House, designed in part to showcase the cleanliness of Lever's soap products, heralded the much-delayed arrival of the International Style in the U.S. Fifty years or so after its construction, the green-tinted Lever House looks humble in the company of nearby giants.

General Electric Building
Seagram Building
375 Park Avenue
375 Park Avenue. 1958. Architects: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson (interiors). International Style. Modern.
Talk, dark, and handsome, clad in bronze and glass, the Seagram defined the post-war office building. The building also introduced the modern plaza, popular with office workers.

St Bartholomew's Church
325 Park Ave
A church in the Episcopal tradition, St. Bart's is known for its Byzantine architecture and music program.

General Electric Building/originally the RCA Visitor Building.
570 Lexington Avenue. 1929-1930; restored in 1995.
A terrific Art Deco building. Look for the retro subway entrance.

Doubletree Hotel
Doubletree Hotel (formerly The Summit Hotel)
E. 51st and Lexington
Originally named The Summit (later, Loews New York and after, the Metropolitan, before the Doubletree), the hotel was the creative inspiration of architect Morris Lapidus. Opened in January 1961, the building seemed way outside the limits of New York architectural tastes. The building also looked out of place among its more restrained modernist neighbors. It’s a fun building from the same architect who designed Miami's The Fontainebleau in 1954.

Greenacre Park
E. 51st between 3rd and 2nd Avenues
Hideo Sasaki's masterpiece of a pocket park features a 25-foot waterfall that washes away city stress. With comfortable movable chairs and a zen-like design, the park provides one of the most successful types of spaces in our urban fabric.

The Campanile
450 E. 52nd St.
Take this detour if you want to see the street where Greta Garbo lived.
In October of 1953, two years after becoming a U.S. citizen, film legend Garbo bought a spacious apartment in The Campanile at 450 E. 52nd St. A building of understated elegance by today's standards, the apartment building served the needs of discreet older New York families as well as other movie stars. The building, which takes its architectural inspiration from the counterpart in Venice's Piazza San Marco, sits at the far quiet south end of the street and with views overlooking the East River. Garbo lived on the fifth floor with a view of the river and the Queensboro Bridge, and she decorated her seven rooms with attractive antiques and art.

From 1953 until her death on April 15, 1990, Garbo spent much of her time walking the nearby streets. As of this posting, her apartment is on the market.

Katharine Hepburn Garden at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza
Katharine Hepburn Place
E. 49th and 2nd Avenue
Look for the sign indicating Katharine Hepburn Place at the corner of E. 49th Street and 2nd Avenue and the garden at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. She was a longtime Turtle Bay resident and neighborhood activist who loved flowers.

Turtle Bay Gardens Historic District
E. 48th and 49th Street
The understated and handsome row houses on E. 48th and 49th Street between Second and Third Aveneues in the historic district (designated 1966) surround a shared garden with a fountain. The Villa Medici in Tuscany inspired the fountain design. Hepburn lived at 244 E. 49th Street for decades. Bob Dylan lived next door at 242 E. 49th St.

Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza
By the 1990s the park itself had gone into decline, so a nonprofit community organization, Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza was formed with the mission to beautify and preserve this place, historic not just for the neighborhood of Turtle Bay but also for the world.

Church of the Holy Family
Church of the Holy Family
315 East 47th Street
Parish of the United Nations
Dedicated in 1965, designed by architect George J. Sole, this small Catholic church near the UN hosted a visit from Pope Paul VI on October 4, 1965. A small garden with a fountain continues the hidden gardens theme of this walk. 

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
The cultural center devoted to Japanese culture features a bamboo grove and a soothing interior waterfall. The center frequently hosts innovative and provocative exhibitions. Website

United Nations Headquarters
3 United Nations Plaza
First Ave between E. 42nd St. and E. 48th St. 1952. Recently renovated. Architect: Oscar Niemeyer (overall design). 
The United Nations complex, built in 1949 and 1950 on seventeen acres, symbolizes international utopianism. Like Rockefeller Center, completed a decade before, the buildings were designed by an international committee of architects. The main building housing the Secretariat is based on a design by Le Corbusier. Go inside if you have the time.

James P. Grant Plaza
E. 44th Street between 2nd Ave. and United Nations Plaza
Audrey Hepburn, while best known as embodying one of the city's most famous fictional women (Holly Golightly), actively served as a UNICEF ambassador. The sculpture “Spirit of Audrey” sits in front of this garden.

Beaux-Arts Institute of Design/ Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations
304 East 44th Street
The building, constructed in 1928, was designed to train designers in the style of the École des Beaux-Arts. By the time the school was constructed, the modernist movement was staging a revolution against the ornamental trappings of the established school, and the traditional skills and accompanying design philosophies were fading out. The Beaux-Arts Institute of Design building now houses the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations.

Tudor City
Tudor City/ Ralph Bunche Park
Tudor City Place and E. 43rd Street
Stop at the end of the street for a great view of the UN Secretariat Building.
These 12 buildings in the Tudor revival style were built in years 1925-28 as rental units to keep middle class residents from fleeing to the suburbs. Designed by architects Fred French and H. Douglas Ives, the city within a city served to clean up the area's worst slums as an early example of urban renewal. In 1988 the Landmarks Preservation Committee designated Tudor City as an historic district.

Ford Foundation
320 East 43rd Street
Influential atrium building from 1963-1967 by architects Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo is considered one of the best buildings of the late International Style.

 • Daily News Building
Daily News Building
220 E. 42nd St.
1929-1930
The soaring Daily News building, one that mild-mannered reporters could leap at a single bound, was completed in 1930, roughly the same time as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Be sure to step into the lobby to see the spinning globe.

Chrysler Building
405 Lexington Ave. 1930. Architect: William Van Alen. Art Deco. Streamline Moderne.
The grand Art Deco lobby is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on holidays.

Grand Central Terminal
89 E. 42nd St. at Park Avenue. 1903. Architects: Alfred T. Fellheimer, John Wellborn Root. Beaux-Arts.
This heavenly Beaux-Arts style palace of transit, constructed from 1903 to 1913 and successfully restored in 1998, features grand staircases, chandeliers, and a soaring ceiling vault painted in cerulean blue and decorated with a zodiac. A good starting point for a walk, too. Read more.

Met Life Building
200 Park Ave (above Grand Central Terminal)
Formerly the Pan Am Building (1963), the massive Met Life Building was designed by Emery Roth & Sons, Pietro Belluschi and Walter Gropius. The 59-store building dominates views of Park Avenue and  upstages all nearby skyscrapers, including the Chrysler Building.



Walking Off the Big Apple is fully mobile for on-the-go adventures.

See more 25 Things

Popular posts from this blog

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

Please see this post for current announcements of reopenings . Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. UPDATED September 23, 2020 Advance tickets required for many museum reopenings. Please check museum websites for details. • The  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)  reopened to the public on  August 27 , with new hours for the first month, through September 27: from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday to the public; and from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.  on Mondays for MoMA members on ly. Admission will be free to all visitors Tuesday through Sunday, through September 27, made possible by UNIQLO. See this  new post on WOTBA for a sense of the experience attending the museum . •  New-York Historical Society  reopened on  August 14  with an outdoor exhibition, "Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine,” in the rear courtyard. The exhibit by activist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman will highlight how New Yorkers weathered the quarantine

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99  New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert

Visiting New York on a Monday

Mondays are OK. Let's have a look at some of the museums open Mondays - • American Museum of Natural History • Jewish Museum • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) • National Museum of the American Indian • Neue Galerie • Guggenheim Museum • South Street Seaport Museum Any of these museums could be paired with a nearby restaurant or bar, making a complete full afternoon or day in New York. Monday is especially good for a museum visit, because the crowds tend to be thinner, and restaurants, too, tend to be less busy than on a weekend. A fun museum and bistro walk on the Upper West Side would be a combination of the American Museum of Natural History and the nearby Cafe Lalo on W. 83rd St. I also would suggest a pairing of the Neue Galerie with a nearby cafe, but the two cafes inside the musuem are so good, why go anywhere else? Image above: The Guggenheim on left and Beaux-Arts townhouse on right. View from E. 88th St. by Walking Off the Big Apple.

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli

10 Short Walks from Grand Central Terminal

(updated March 2017) Famously crowded Grand Central Terminal functions as a major crossroads for the city, hosting busy commuters as they come and go from the suburbs via the Metro-North Railroad or within the city via a few subway lines, but the terminal also happens to be a good place to launch short walks. With its south side fronting E. 42nd Street and its massive structure interrupting Park Avenue, Grand Central provides quick access to many of the city's most well-known attractions. The New York Public Library and Bryant Park are only a couple of blocks away from the terminal, a quick jaunt on 42nd Street. And from there, Times Square is just another block or two farther west of the library, its neon shimmering in the distance. One wonders, standing near the intersection of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, how many souls have been lured away from their well-meaning library studies by the beckoning lights of the Theater District. Grand Central Terminal : Before setting

The City That Sometimes Sleeps, and I Am Legend, the Movie

Look at this photo I took of the Washington Square Arch at 7 a.m. this morning. Do you see anyone? I don't see anyone. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Will Smith vehicle, I Am Legend, scheduled for release on December 14. During the shooting of the production in Washington Square Park, I encountered all kinds of stretched cables, fake trees that blew around in bad weather, burned-out cars, and weird greenish lights. Fortunately, I knew it was just a movie. The premise of I Am Legend is that the lead character, Robert Neville, a scientist played by Smith, finds himself the only person (maybe!) living in New York, immune somehow to a deadly virus in the wake of an epidemic. In the trailer of the film, we see the character trudging through the grassy High Line, driving a sports car past empty skyscrapers, and walking his likewise immune dog through the streets. As someone who lives the lonely life of a morning person in New York, with two dogs, I know exactly how he feels. I