8 Best Sights in Midtown East, New York City

Taking you 1,210 feet and 93 floors above the heart of New York City, in part via an all-glass-enclosed elevator, NYC’s newest observation deck (opened in late 2021) "elevates" the observation deck concept, offering unique immersive and multisensory art installations amid three levels. Among them, the Air exhibit by Kenzo Digital evokes mirrored floors and ceilings to reflect and multiply the incredible skyline views of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and beyond. In fact, there are so many reflective surfaces in this experience that Summit recommends pants and sunglasses to protect your modesty and your eyes.

The 91st and 92nd floors are completely enclosed. The views are endless and even with crowds, it is easy to find an impressive selfie backdrop. After you have had your fill of spotting NYC rooftops and before you come back down to earth, linger a while longer at Après on the 93rd floor, where you can enjoy food, coffee, and cocktails on the wraparound terrace. Those who dare to go higher can try Ascent, the world’s largest exterior glass-floor elevator, which takes you up the outside of the building to its highest point.

The landmark lobby of this Art Deco tower contains an illuminated 12-foot vintage globe that revolves beneath a black-glass dome. Around it, spreading across the floor like a giant compass and literally positioning New York at the center of the world, bronze lines indicate mileage to various international destinations. Movie fans might recognize the building as the offices of the fictional newspaper The Daily Planet in the original Superman movie. Photos from the film's shooting are shown, along with a large clock displaying time zones around the world. On the wall behind the globe, you can check out meteorological gauges, which read New York City's weather—especially fun on a windy day when the meters are whipping about. The Daily News hasn't called this building home since 1995; only the lobby is open to the public (but that's enough). The globe was last updated in 1967, so part of the fun here is seeing how our maps have changed; note Manchuria and East and West Germany.

The impressive stable of 20th-century photographers represented and shown here includes Sally Mann, Robert Polidori, Bill Brandt, Lalla Essaydi, Herb Ritts, Mona Kuhn, and Elliott Erwitt. The gallery also has prints by masters Dorothea Lange and Diane Arbus. Along with focusing on vintage photographs from 1917 to 1939, the gallery has extended to featuring an exclusive circle of contemporary photographers such as Annie Leibovitz.

This small urban oasis gives off a sense of tranquility with a 25-foot-high cascading waterfall set within sculpted granite blocks, a grouping of honey locust trees, evergreen plantings, a raised terrace, an outdoor café, and seating areas. When needed, the park's attendants gives reminders of such visitor rules as no smoking, tripods, bicycles, or pets allowed. The park, which opened in 1971 and was designed by landscape architect Hideo Sasaki, is closed during winter months.

This space is home to two galleries—Hirschl & Adler Galleries and Hirschl & Adler Modern. The galleries focus on American and European paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculpture from the 18th through the early-20th centuries. The latter differs by specializing in modernist, postwar, and contemporary works.

The stylish, serene lobby of the Japan Society, renovated by renowned artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, features interior gardens with large bonsai trees and Sugimoto sculptures, all complemented by a second-floor waterfall. The 1971 building is a city landmark thanks to its Japanese modernist design by architect Junzo Yoshimura, and its second-floor gallery exhibits works by well-known Japanese artists. Past shows have celebrated contemporary masters including Takashi Murakami, Yoko Ono, and Daido Moriyama. The society's annual performing arts season shares works by established and emerging artists in dance, music, and theater. In July, the museum hosts a film festival, Japan Cuts, showcasing contemporary Japanese cinema.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pioneer of modernist architecture, built this boxlike bronze-and-glass tower in 1958, and it remains a must-visit for architecture buffs. The austere facade belies its wit: I-beams, used to hold buildings up, here are merely attached to the surface, representing the idea of structural support. The Seagram Building's innovative ground-level plaza, extending out to the sidewalk, has since become a common element in urban skyscraper design, but at the time it was built, it was a radical announcement of a new, modern era of American architecture. With its two giant fountains and welcoming steps, the plaza also is a popular lunch spot for Midtown workers. Visit late in the afternoon to avoid crowds.

In 1925, prominent real-estate developer Fred F. French was among the first Americans ever to buy up a large number of buildings—most of them tenements—and join the properties into a single, massive new complex. He designed a collection of nine apartment buildings and two parks in the "garden city" mode, which placed a building's green space not in an enclosed courtyard, but in the foreground. French also built a 39-by-50-foot "Tudor City" sign atop one of the 22-story buildings, best viewed from the eastern end of 42nd Street. The development's residential towers opened between 1927 and 1930, borrowing a marketable air of sophistication from Tudor-style stonework, stained-glass windows, and lobby-design flourishes. Tudor City has been featured in numerous films, and its landmark gardens—sometimes compared to Gramercy Park, only public—remain a popular lunch spot among office workers. The neighborhood, which is near the United Nations, was designated a historic district in 1988.