New York Architecture TourFamous Buildings in NYC
The famous buildings in NYC are collected here as one working inventory, grouped by district and listed with architect, completion year, height and style. The first half covers Lower Manhattan and Midtown, where the Woolworth Building, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center set the skyline. A later section names the guided walks that pass some of them, so you can turn a list into a route. The bookable walks are compared by district, price and duration on New York architecture tours.
The Empire State Building and other Midtown Manhattan buildings seen from the Hudson River. Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick answer The list at a glance
The most famous buildings in NYC include One World Trade Center at 1,776 feet, the Chrysler Building at 1,046 feet, the Empire State Building at 1,250 feet to the roof, the Woolworth Building at 792 feet and the Flatiron Building at 307 feet. They span two centuries of design, from City Hall of 1812 to One Vanderbilt of 2020. This guide lists them by district with architect, year and height. A later section matches some of them to catalog tours.
Key takeaways
- See the Lower Manhattan inventory from City Hall of 1812 to 56 Leonard Street of 2017.
- See the Midtown inventory, where the Art Deco towers of the 1930s meet the glass slabs of Park Avenue.
- The pick for a first visit is the Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour at $40 per person, 2 hours 30 minutes.
- For the skyline from the water, the Manhattan Official NYC Architecture Cruise at $86 passes One World Trade Center, 8 Spruce Street and the Woolworth Building with AIA New York architects aboard.
Famous NYC Buildings on One Map
Every building on this page, placed by its own Wikidata coordinates and colored by district. Bubbles grow with the number of tours on this site that name the building, and the list under the map holds the same places.
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One World Trade Center
1 of the toursDavid Childs (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), 2014, 1,776 ft, Contemporary modern. 285 Fulton Street.
Stops here: Manhattan Official NYC Architecture Cruise
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Oculus (World Trade Center Transportation Hub)
No tourSantiago Calatrava, 2016, Calatrava ribbed station house. 70 Vesey Street (World Trade Center PATH station). More on Oculus (World Trade Center Transportation Hub).
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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30 Hudson Yards
1 of the toursKohn Pedersen Fox, 2019, 1,270 ft (1,296 ft in another article), Neo-futurism. 500 West 33rd Street. More on 30 Hudson Yards.
Stops here: Private Hudson Yards Tour With Optional Edge Upgrade
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Federal Hall
No tourIthiel Town, Alexander Jackson Davis and John Frazee, 1842, Greek Revival. 26 Wall Street.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Trinity Church
No tourRichard Upjohn, 1846, 281 ft, Gothic Revival. 89 Broadway.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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New York Stock Exchange Building
1 of the toursGeorge B. Post, 1903, Classical Revival. 18 Broad Street.
Stops here: Wall Street Insider Tour
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Woolworth Building
2 of the toursCass Gilbert, 1913, 792 ft, Neo-Gothic. 233 Broadway. More on Woolworth Building.
Stops here: SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown Guided Tour, Manhattan Official NYC Architecture Cruise
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Manhattan Municipal Building
No tourWilliam M. Kendall (McKim, Mead & White), 1914, 580 ft, Beaux-Arts. 1 Centre Street.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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New York City Hall
No tourJoseph-François Mangin and John McComb Jr., 1812, French Renaissance and English neoclassical. City Hall Park, Broadway at Park Row.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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8 Spruce Street
1 of the toursFrank Gehry, 2011, 870 ft, Deconstructivism. 8 Spruce Street.
Stops here: Manhattan Official NYC Architecture Cruise
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56 Leonard Street
No tourHerzog & de Meuron, 2017, 821 ft, High-Tech. 56 Leonard Street.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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E. V. Haughwout Building
1 of the toursJohn P. Gaynor, 1857, 79 ft, Cast-iron Venetian Renaissance. 488-492 Broadway.
Stops here: SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown Guided Tour
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Washington Square Arch
1 of the toursStanford White, 1892, 77 ft (73.5 ft in another listing), Roman triumphal arch. Washington Square Park, foot of Fifth Avenue.
Stops here: Greenwich Village Tour
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Empire State Building
No tourShreve, Lamb and Harmon, 1931, 1,250 ft, Art Deco. 350 Fifth Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Chrysler Building
1 of the toursWilliam Van Alen, 1930, 1,046 ft, Art Deco. 405 Lexington Avenue. More on Chrysler Building.
Stops here: Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour
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Grand Central Terminal
3 of the toursReed and Stem; Warren and Wetmore, 1913, Beaux-Arts. 89 East 42nd Street. More on Grand Central Terminal.
Stops here: Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour, Official Grand Central Terminal Guided Tour, Grand Central Station Secrets Small Group Tour
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New York Public Library (Schwarzman Building)
1 of the toursCarrère and Hastings, 1911, Beaux-Arts. 476 Fifth Avenue. More on New York Public Library (Schwarzman Building).
Stops here: Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour
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St. Patrick's Cathedral
No tourJames Renwick Jr., 1879, 329.5 ft, Gothic Revival. 631 Fifth Avenue. More on St. Patrick's Cathedral.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Rockefeller Center
1 of the toursRaymond Hood and the Associated Architects, 1939, 850 ft (872 ft in another article), Art Deco. 30 Rockefeller Plaza. More on Rockefeller Center.
Stops here: Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour
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Seagram Building
No tourLudwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, 1958, 515 ft (516 ft in another listing), International Style. 375 Park Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Lever House
No tourGordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), 1952, 307 ft, International Style. 390 Park Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Plaza Hotel
No tourHenry Janeway Hardenbergh, 1907, 252 ft, French Renaissance-inspired château. 768 Fifth Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Hearst Tower
No tourNorman Foster (tower); Joseph Urban and George B. Post & Sons (1928 base), 2006, 597 ft, Structural expressionism. 300 West 57th Street.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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The New York Times Building
No tourRenzo Piano and Fox & Fowle, 2007, 1,046 ft, Modern glass curtain wall. 620 Eighth Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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432 Park Avenue
No tourRafael Viñoly, 2015, 1,396 ft, Contemporary. 432 Park Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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One Vanderbilt
No tourKohn Pedersen Fox, 2020, 1,401 ft, Futurist. One Vanderbilt Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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United Nations Headquarters
No tourBoard of Design led by Wallace Harrison (Harrison & Abramovitz), 1952, 509.5 ft, Modern. 760 United Nations Plaza.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Flatiron Building
No tourDaniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinkelberg, 1902, 307 ft, Renaissance Revival with Beaux-Arts elements. 175 Fifth Avenue. More on Flatiron Building.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
No tourNapoleon LeBrun & Sons, 1909, 700 ft, Renaissance Revival (campanile-inspired). 1 Madison Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
No tourFrank Lloyd Wright, 1959, Organic modern. 1071 Fifth Avenue.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art
1 of the toursRichard Morris Hunt and Richard Howland Hunt (Fifth Avenue facade), 1880, Beaux-Arts. 1000 Fifth Avenue.
Stops here: Gilded Age Mansions Guided Tour
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The Dakota
No tourHenry Janeway Hardenbergh, 1884, German Renaissance. 1 West 72nd Street.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Apollo Theater
1 of the toursGeorge Keister, 1914, Neoclassical. 253 West 125th Street.
Stops here: The Soul of Harlem Walking Tour
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Brooklyn Bridge
3 of the toursJohn A. Roebling (completed by Washington Roebling), 1883, 276.5 ft (278 ft in another source), Gothic Revival towers, hybrid cable-stayed/suspension. Spans the East River between Park Row, Manhattan, and Sands Street, Brooklyn. More on Brooklyn Bridge.
Stops here: Brooklyn Bridge & DUMBO Neighborhood Tour, SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown Guided Tour, Manhattan Official NYC Architecture Cruise
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Empire Stores
No tourStudio V Architecture and S9 Architecture (redevelopment), 1869, 19th-century warehouse. 53-83 Water Street. More on Empire Stores.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
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Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower
No tourHalsey, McCormack & Helmer, 1929, 512 ft, Neo-Romanesque. 1 Hanson Place.
No tour listing here names it. See it on your own or from the Midtown and downtown walks nearby.
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan holds the oldest civic buildings in the city and its newest towers, within a few blocks of each other. The list below runs from 1812 to 2017.
The Lower Manhattan Inventory
The table gathers the Lower Manhattan rows of this guide's building inventory, with architect, completion year and height. Two entries carry their own detailed pages, so follow the links for the Woolworth Building and the Oculus. Heights are given only where the sources state them, which is why several rows show no figure. Two years depend on the source: 8 Spruce Street is 2011 in one passage of Wikipedia and 2010 in its infobox, and 56 Leonard Street is 2017 in one place and 2016 in another.
A note on what you can enter. Federal Hall is a National Memorial with free admission and ranger-guided tours of one to two hours. The Stock Exchange building is closed to general public tours, which is why the Wall Street Insider Tour at $39 for 1 hour 15 minutes walks past it rather than through it. The Oculus NYC guide covers the hub, which is free to enter and links PATH to the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, E, J, Z, N, R and W lines.
| Building | Architect | Year | Height |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City Hall | Joseph-François Mangin and John McComb Jr. | 1812 | not stated |
| Federal Hall | Ithiel Town, Alexander Jackson Davis and John Frazee | 1842 | not stated |
| Trinity Church | Richard Upjohn | 1846 | 281 ft |
| New York Stock Exchange Building | George B. Post | 1903 | not stated |
| Woolworth Building | Cass Gilbert | 1913 | 792 ft |
| Manhattan Municipal Building | William M. Kendall (McKim, Mead & White) | 1914 | 580 ft |
| 8 Spruce Street | Frank Gehry | 2011 | 870 ft |
| One World Trade Center | David Childs (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) | 2014 | 1,776 ft |
| Oculus | Santiago Calatrava | 2016 | not stated |
| 56 Leonard Street | Herzog & de Meuron | 2017 | 821 ft |
What Ties Them Together
The Wall Street Historic District, listed on the National Register and covering 63 acres, keeps a medieval street plan instead of the Manhattan grid. Cass Gilbert's 792-foot Woolworth Building held the world's tallest title from 1913 to 1929, and the Rev. S. Parkes Cadman named it the Cathedral of Commerce in 1916. Its lobby has barrel-vaulted ceilings and glass mosaics in blue, green, gold and red, and private lobby tours run at 30, 60 and 90 minutes.
The race ran through Lower Manhattan too. 40 Wall Street, designed by H. Craig Severance with Yasuo Matsui and listed at 927 feet in its own article (the Chrysler Building article gives 840 feet), held the world's tallest title for about a month before the Chrysler Building passed it. The tallest building in the city today is One World Trade Center, 1,776 feet with its spire, its roof at 1,368 feet matching the original North Tower. Frank Gehry's 899-apartment 8 Spruce Street and Herzog & de Meuron's 57-story 56 Leonard Street, the tallest structure in Tribeca, show the contemporary side. To read the district from the water, the AIANY Architecture Cruise at $86 passes the Woolworth Building, One World Trade Center and the Wall Street Art Deco spires on a cruise of 2 hours to 2 hours 45 minutes.
Sources: Wikipedia, National Park Service
Midtown
Midtown carries the densest cluster of famous buildings in Manhattan, from Grand Central Terminal to 432 Park Avenue. The inventory below lists seventeen structures across a century.
The Midtown Inventory
The table lists the Midtown rows of the building inventory with architect, year and height. Three heights depend on the source: Rockefeller Center is 850 feet in one article and 872 in another, the Seagram Building is 515 feet in one and 516 in another, and 30 Hudson Yards is 1,270 feet in one and 1,296 in another. Six entries have their own pages and get two lines each here rather than a section: the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, the New York Public Library, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center and the Flatiron Building.
The Chrysler Building guide covers William Van Alen's 1,046-foot tower at 405 Lexington Avenue, whose spire was raised into place in 90 minutes and held the world's tallest title for about 11 months. The Grand Central Terminal tour page covers Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore's 1913 Beaux-Arts station at 89 East 42nd Street. The New York Public Library tour page covers Carrère and Hastings' 1911 building at 476 Fifth Avenue, which runs a free building tour (check the library's own site for current times). The Rockefeller Center tour and St. Patrick's Cathedral tour pages cover the 22-acre complex of Raymond Hood and the Associated Architects and Renwick's 329.5-foot spires.
| Building | Architect | Year | Height |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flatiron Building | Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinkelberg | 1902 | 307 ft |
| Plaza Hotel | Henry Janeway Hardenbergh | 1907 | 252 ft |
| Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower | Napoleon LeBrun & Sons | 1909 | 700 ft |
| New York Public Library (Schwarzman Building) | Carrère and Hastings | 1911 | not stated |
| Grand Central Terminal | Reed and Stem, Warren and Wetmore | 1913 | not stated |
| St. Patrick's Cathedral | James Renwick Jr. | 1879 | 329.5 ft |
| Chrysler Building | William Van Alen | 1930 | 1,046 ft |
| Empire State Building | Shreve, Lamb and Harmon | 1931 | 1,250 ft |
| Rockefeller Center | Raymond Hood and the Associated Architects | 1939 | 850 ft |
| Lever House | Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois (SOM) | 1952 | 307 ft |
| United Nations Headquarters | Board of Design led by Wallace Harrison | 1952 | 509.5 ft |
| Seagram Building | Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson | 1958 | 515 ft |
| Hearst Tower | Norman Foster (base of 1928 by Joseph Urban and George B. Post & Sons) | 2006 | 597 ft |
| The New York Times Building | Renzo Piano and Fox & Fowle | 2007 | 1,046 ft to pinnacle |
| 432 Park Avenue | Rafael Viñoly | 2015 | 1,396 ft |
| 30 Hudson Yards | Kohn Pedersen Fox | 2019 | 1,270 ft |
| One Vanderbilt | Kohn Pedersen Fox | 2020 | 1,401 ft |
The Setback Skyline
Midtown is where the skyline learned the setback. The Art Deco generation stepped its towers back as they rose. The Empire State Building, designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, was the first building over 100 stories and went up in about 13.5 months, opening May 1, 1931 with 73 elevators and observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors. The Chrysler Building answered in stainless steel, its Nirosta cladding an American first, with car-hood ornaments at the 31st floor and eagles at the 61st. Rockefeller Center, now 19 structures on 22 acres, completed its original complex in 1939, with Paul Manship's 18-foot gilded Prometheus and Lee Lawrie's 45-foot Atlas as its public sculpture.
Postwar Midtown traded ornament for glass. Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson's Seagram Building, about 515 feet by most counts (516 in one listing), set its bronze-and-topaz facade behind a pink granite plaza set back about 90 feet from Park Avenue, and Lever House put its slab on columns, with the slab occupying only a quarter of its site. The newest layer goes vertical and slender: 432 Park Avenue at 1,396 feet and One Vanderbilt at 1,401 feet, the fourth-tallest building in the city, opened in 2020 beside Grand Central after a rezoning tied to $220 million of transit investment.
The compact way to see the Deco core on foot is the Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour at $40 per person, a 2 hour 30 minute walk capped at 10 guests that passes Bryant Park, the library, the Chanin and Chrysler Buildings and Rockefeller Center.
Architect Breaks Down the Evolving Skyscrapers of New York
How the New York skyscraper changed from one era to the next. Third-party video by Architectural Digest. This site did not shoot it and has no relationship with the creator.
Upper Manhattan, the Village and Brooklyn
North of Midtown and across the East River, the inventory shifts from skyscrapers to museums, churches, apartment houses and a bridge.
Upper Manhattan
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets is Frank Lloyd Wright's work in his organic style. It took 15 years to design and build and was dedicated October 21, 1959. The Metropolitan Museum of Art at 1000 Fifth Avenue began in 1880 with a red-brick wing by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, and its Fifth Avenue facade, Great Hall and Grand Stairway are Beaux-Arts work by Richard Morris Hunt and his son Richard Howland Hunt from the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gilded Age mansions tour enters the Met's main hall, along with 972 Fifth Avenue and the Cooper Hewitt main hall.
At the edge of Central Park, the Dakota at 1 West 72nd Street was built 1880 to 1884 by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in the German Renaissance style and is the oldest remaining luxury apartment building in New York City. In Harlem, the Apollo Theater at 253 West 125th Street was designed by George Keister, dates to 1914, seats about 1,500 across three levels, and its facade and interior are NYC designated landmarks. The Soul of Harlem walking tour passes it on 125th Street.
SoHo and the Village
The E. V. Haughwout Building at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway is a five-story, 79-foot cast-iron loft building from 1857, designed by John P. Gaynor with arcaded facades derived from the Sansovino Library in Venice. It is the anchor of the SoHo cast-iron streetscape. The Washington Square Arch at the foot of Fifth Avenue was designed by Stanford White in 1891, follows a Roman triumphal arch close to the Arch of Titus, and stands 77 feet tall by one count (73.5 feet in the Wikipedia infobox) at the southern end of Fifth Avenue.
The SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy walk passes the Haughwout Building on the way to Greene and Prince Streets.
Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Bridge of 1883 was designed by John A. Roebling and completed by his son Washington Roebling, with Gothic Revival towers and a hybrid cable-stayed and suspension structure. Its total length is measured at 5,989 feet from the Centre Street curb, or 6,016 feet with approaches, and sources differ on the tower height, which is why no single figure is printed here. At 53-83 Water Street in Dumbo, Empire Stores is an 1869 warehouse block, redeveloped by Studio V Architecture and S9 Architecture.
South of it, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower at 1 Hanson Place, by Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, was built 1927 to 1929, stands 41 stories and 512 feet with Byzantine and Romanesque elements, and was Brooklyn's tallest building until 2009.
| Building | Architect | Year | Style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum | Frank Lloyd Wright | 1959 | Organic modern |
| Metropolitan Museum of Art (facade) | Richard Morris Hunt and Richard Howland Hunt | 1880 | Beaux-Arts |
| The Dakota | Henry Janeway Hardenbergh | 1884 | German Renaissance |
| Apollo Theater | George Keister | 1914 | Neoclassical |
| E. V. Haughwout Building | John P. Gaynor | 1857 | Cast-iron Venetian Renaissance |
| Washington Square Arch | Stanford White | 1892 | Roman triumphal arch |
| Brooklyn Bridge | John A. Roebling (completed by Washington Roebling) | 1883 | Gothic Revival towers, suspension |
| Empire Stores | Studio V Architecture and S9 Architecture (redevelopment) | 1869 | 19th-century warehouse |
| Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower | Halsey, McCormack & Helmer | 1929 | Neo-Romanesque |
Lower Manhattan seen from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Greenway. Photo: Superbass, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Which Tour Shows Which Building
Not every famous building appears on a bookable tour. This table lists only the pairings where a tour in the comparison names the building on its route, with the per-person price from the listing.
Buildings on Guided Routes
The entries below come straight from each listing's route description. The New York Stock Exchange and Edge cases are explicit: the Wall Street insider tour does not include Stock Exchange entrance, and the Edge deck is only an optional upgrade on the private Hudson Yards walk. For a full side-by-side of operators, durations and meeting points, see the comparison of New York architecture tours on the homepage.
| Building | Tour | Price |
|---|---|---|
| New York Public Library | Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour | $40 |
| American Radiator Building | Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour | $40 |
| Chrysler Building | Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour | $40 |
| Grand Central Terminal | Official Grand Central Terminal Guided Tour | $39 |
| Grand Central Terminal | Grand Central Station Secrets Small Group Tour | $39 |
| Rockefeller Center | Art Deco and Architecture Midtown Landmarks Tour | $40 |
| Metropolitan Museum of Art main hall | Gilded Age Mansions Guided Tour | $40 |
| Woolworth Building | SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown Guided Tour | $28 |
| E. V. Haughwout Building | SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown Guided Tour | $28 |
| Apollo Theater | The Soul of Harlem Walking Tour | $60 |
| Brooklyn Bridge | Brooklyn Bridge & DUMBO Neighborhood Tour | $49 |
| Woolworth Building and One World Trade Center | Manhattan Official NYC Architecture Cruise | $86 |
| 8 Spruce Street | Manhattan Official NYC Architecture Cruise | $86 |
The Self-guided Way
Several of the most famous buildings in NYC cost nothing to see properly. The Oculus at 70 Vesey Street is free to enter and links PATH to the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, E, J, Z, N, R and W lines. Federal Hall at 26 Wall Street is a National Memorial with free admission, self-guided exhibits of about 30 minutes and ranger-guided tours of one to two hours.
The New York Public Library runs a free building tour and a free Rose Main Reading Room tour, so check its own site for current times. The Woolworth Building lobby is otherwise described by tour promoters as closed to the public, so its private 30, 60 and 90-minute lobby tours are the only way past the doors. The Chrysler Building's lobby is publicly accessible, though its hours are not published on an official page, and nothing beyond the lobby is open.
The Flatiron Building is being converted to private condominiums, so treat it as an exterior.
Tips for Seeing the Famous Buildings
Do
- Do add the free NYPL building tour to the Art Deco Midtown Landmarks Tour at $40, because the walk passes the library at 476 Fifth Avenue. Check the library's own site for current tour times.
- Do book the Woolworth lobby tour, because the lobby at 233 Broadway is otherwise described as closed to the public and the mosaics and carved caricatures of Cass Gilbert and Frank Woolworth are inside it.
- Do take the architect-led Manhattan cruise at $86 if you want the skyline buildings explained from the water, because the guides are architects and members of AIA New York and one drink is included.
- Do look up at the Oculus skylight, because it spans about 330 feet and the building is free to enter all year. It is designed to open for 102 minutes each September 11, but that opening has not always worked.
- Do check the NYPL hours before you go, because the Schwarzman Building closes at 6 PM Monday and Thursday to Saturday, stays open to 8 PM Tuesday and Wednesday, and closes on Sunday.
Don't
- Don't expect to enter the New York Stock Exchange at 18 Broad Street, because the building is closed to general public tours, and the Wall Street insider tour at $39 states that entrance is not included.
- Don't plan to go up the Chrysler Building or the Woolworth Building, because the Chrysler's Celestial deck closed in 1945 and the Woolworth's observation deck closed in 1941, and no new public decks are confirmed.
- Don't assume observation deck prices from third-party pages, because official ticket prices for Edge, Top of the Rock and One World Observatory are not printed here, and only the tour card price of $170 for the private Hudson Yards walk with an optional Edge upgrade is quoted.
- Don't look for the Flatiron Building's interior, because the 1902 building at 175 Fifth Avenue is being converted to private condominiums.
- Don't trust one figure for the Brooklyn Bridge tower height, because the National Park Service nomination gives 276 feet 6 inches and Wikipedia gives 278 feet, and this page leaves the conflict open.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most famous buildings in NYC?
The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, One World Trade Center, Grand Central Terminal, the Flatiron Building, the Woolworth Building, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Brooklyn Bridge are the names that recur most. This page's tables give the architect, year, height and style for each, and the Grand Central Terminal tour guide covers the terminal in depth.
Which famous buildings in Manhattan can you go inside?
Grand Central Terminal, the New York Public Library, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Federal Hall and the Oculus are both publicly accessible, and the library runs a free building tour. The New York Public Library tour guide explains what that visit includes.
What are the tallest NYC skyline buildings?
Among the buildings on this page, One World Trade Center tops out at 1,776 feet with its spire, 432 Park Avenue reaches 1,396 feet, One Vanderbilt is 1,401 feet with its spire, and the Empire State Building is 1,454 feet to the tip of its antenna. The AIANY architecture cruise passes One World Trade Center, 8 Spruce Street and the Woolworth Building.
Which famous buildings in NYC are free to visit?
The Oculus is free to enter, Federal Hall has free admission as a National Memorial, and the NYPL runs a free building tour and a free Rose Main Reading Room tour. The Oculus NYC page has more on Calatrava's hub at 70 Vesey Street.
Can you tour the Woolworth Building?
Only through its private lobby tours, offered in 30, 60 and 90-minute versions, because the lobby at 233 Broadway is otherwise described as closed to the public. Tours point out sculpted caricatures of Cass Gilbert, engineer Gunvald Aus and Frank Woolworth. See the Woolworth Building page for the building's own story.
What is the oldest famous building on this list?
New York City Hall, built 1803 to 1812 by Joseph-François Mangin and John McComb Jr., is the oldest city hall in the United States still housing its original governmental functions. The SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy walk passes City Hall Park.