Page 103 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

SOHO AND TRIBEC A  101

5 Children’s piled 22 inches (56 cm) deep in architect, and were moved from
a 3,600-sq-ft (334-sq-m) room. Washington Street, their original
Museum of the Arts The Broken Kilometer, another site, for preservation purposes.
103 Charlton St. Map 3 C4. Tel (212) sculpture by De Maria, can be The houses had previously
274-0986. q Houston St. @ M20, seen at 393 West Broadway. It been used as warehouses and
M21. Open noon–5pm Mon, noon– is composed of 500 solid brass were about to be razed to
6pm Thu & Fri, 10am–5pm Sat & Sun. rods arranged in five parallel rows. the ground, when, in 1969,
& 7 ∑ cmany.org the Landmarks Preservation
Commission intervened to
Founded in 1988, this innovative secure the necessary funding
museum aims to make the most to enable them to be restored.
of children’s artistic potential by They are now privately owned.
providing plenty of hands-on On the other
activities, sing-alongs, side of the high-rise
workshops, and complex is Washington
performances. Children Market Park. This area
aged 1–12 can busy was formerly the site
themselves with of New York City’s
paint, glue, paper, wholesale produce
and other messy A 1901 La France center. The market
materials to create horse-drawn steam relocated to the Bronx
their own drawings and pumper in the City Fire Museum in the 1970s.
sculptures. For inspir ation,
displays of work by local 7 New York City 9 Hudson
artists are exhibited alongside Fire Museum
examples of children’s art from River Park
around the world. Kids can play 278 Spring St. Map 4 D4. Tel (212) Map 4 E5. Tel (212) 627-2020.
around in the dressing-up room 691-1303. q Spring St. Open 10am– q Canal St, Franklin St, Houston St.
and the ball pond, and the 5pm daily. Closed public hols. & 7 ∑ hudsonriverpark.org
museum also hosts a varied = ∑ nycfiremuseum.org
pro gram of events appealing Immediately beyond West Side
to children and families. This museum is housed Highway is the Hudson River
in a Beaux Arts–style 1904 Park, a landscaped promenade
firehouse. New York City’s that stretches north towards
unsurpassed collection of Chelsea and Midtown. Visitors
firefighting equipment and can walk to the tip of the island
memorabilia from the 18th along the shady Battery Park
century to 1917 includes scale City Esplanade all the way to
models, bells, and hydrants. Battery Park. The once-decaying
Upstairs, fire engines are neatly piers and wharves have been
lined up for an 1890 parade. transformed, with fountains,
An interactive fire simulation, gardens, dog parks, and tennis
available for groups, gives courts. Pier 25 features Grand
an insight into firefighting. Banks, an oyster bar on an old
Brightly colored exhibition space at the The museum’s first floor sailing ship, mini-golf and
Children’s Museum of the Arts features an exhibition on beach volleyball, plus a host of
9/11, filled with tributes. snack stalls.
6 New York
Earth Room 8 Harrison Street
141 Wooster St. Map 4 E3. Map 4 D5. q Chambers St.
Tel (212) 989-5566. q Prince St.
Open noon–3pm & 3:30–6pm Wed– Surrounded by modern
Sun. Closed mid-Jun–mid-Sep. 7 ^ high-rise blocks, this rare row
∑ diaart.org/sites/main/earthroom of eight beautifully restored
Federal town houses, with their
Of the three Earth Rooms created pitched roofs and distinctive
by conceptual artist Walter De dormer windows, almost seems
Maria (1935–2013), this is the like a stage set. The houses
only one still in existence. were constructed in the late
Commis sioned by the Dia Art 1700s and early 1800s. Two
Foundation in 1977, the interior of the buildings were designed
earth sculpture consists of by John McComb, Jr., New The city skyline, as seen from Hudson
280,000 lb (127,000 kg) of dirt York’s first major native-born River Park

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