Upcoming Programs

The nominal “park” of the Park Avenue median from 46th Street to 57th Street has stretched and shrunk over the past century. Created out of thin air from 1903 to 1913 during the electrification and double decking of the New York Central’s railyard, underground, Park Avenue is both a bridge and a tunnel. Above “ground,” it is one of the world’s greatest urban boulevards.

Now, the century-old infrastructure of road and bridge is the focus of a lengthy rehabilitation effort by the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Metro-North Railroad, which is responsible for the maintenance and reconstruction of the Grand Central Terminal Train Shed. Over the coming years, as the roof is repaired in phases, Park Avenue’s medians will be widened and the public space redesigned. Working with the landscape architects of Starr Whitehouse, NYC DOT is engaged in the final stages of “putting the ‘park’ back in Park Avenue.”

The Museum’s director, Carol Willis, will offer a gallery tour of The Invention of Park Avenue, which examines how the creation of Grand Central and an avenue out of thin air, was the catalytic connection of rail and real estate that gave Park Avenue its extraordinary, evolving New York identity. Curator’s tours are FREE, but you must book a timed ticket at 3pm on Ticketstripe, through the RSVP button.

The North Neighborhood tour of the Museum’s three thematic walking tours of Battery Park City, on Thursday, July 17 at 4pm, will cover the north residential neighborhood, which was developed in several phases, beginning with Stuyvesant High School at the northeast edge and the esplanade and Rockefeller Park along the Hudson. A diagonal avenue lined with apartment buildings creates one face of the neighborhood, while the inner courts of the large blocks are connected by the delightful Teardrop Park. Located two blocks from ground zero, we will also explore the history and design of the Irish Hunger Memorial completed in 2001.

This tour will meet in the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place.

The North Neighborhood tour of the Museum’s three thematic walking tours of Battery Park City, on Thursday, August 14 at 4pm, will cover the north residential neighborhood, which was developed in several phases, beginning with Stuyvesant High School at the northeast edge and the esplanade and Rockefeller Park along the Hudson. A diagonal avenue lined with apartment buildings creates one face of the neighborhood, while the inner courts of the large blocks are connected by the delightful Teardrop Park. Located two blocks from ground zero, we will also explore the history and design of the Irish Hunger Memorial completed in 2001.

This tour will meet in the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place.