You’re likely already familiar with the city’s iconic selection of art museums, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, but the city offers so much beyond that. So if you’re looking for a fun weekend activity, consider checking out these unique museum finds. From recreated historical homes to vintage subway cars, immerse yourself in local history, explore optical illusions or delve into the perception of flavor with these five museums.
If you’re interested in learning more about the history of New York City, the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side might be just what you’re looking for. Established in 1988, this museum displays apartments of working class immigrants from between the 1860s and 1930s in an effort to tell the often-overlooked stories of everyday New Yorkers. When visiting the museum, there are several options for how you can learn about and enjoy the history of this city, including guided apartment tours and walking tours of New York City neighborhoods. One of the exhibitions takes you back to 1916 as you walk through recreated rooms and even speak to an actress playing Victoria Confino, a Sephardic Jewish teenager who immigrated to the United States in 1913. In all, there are 12 different exhibits to visit in addition to a lager beer saloon — each curated with such detail that it truly feels like a product of its time.
The Museum of Food and Drink is a unique spot in Brooklyn located just a 20-minute walk from the Tandon School of Engineering. MOFAD’s mission is to make people more cognizant of the importance of food, especially as “a joyful approach to encouraging dialogue and understanding across cultures.” It is this goal that drives the careful curation of their fun and engaging exhibitions, including their current exhibition “Flavor: The World to Your Brain,” which unpacks flavor as a sensory journey through our bodies. Curated by both food scientists and culinary anthropologists, this exhibit allows museum goers to learn about the actual processes through which we experience flavor and how companies create and engineer new flavors for consumers.
The Merchant’s House Museum is truly one of a kind. An eight-minute walk from the Washington Square campus, it is the 1832 family home in NoHo that remains completely intact inside and out. The only one of its kind still left from the era, this home was originally purchased by the wealthy hardware merchant, Seabury Tredwell, and his family would go on to live in the house for nearly a century. This museum is committed to the restoration and upkeep of the old home. All of the original belongings, furnishings and decorations remain perfectly preserved to create an authentic look into the life of the wealthy in New York City during the early 19th century. Designated as one of Manhattan’s “first landmarks,” this museum hosts tours for all five unique floors of this historic building. There is also a garden attached which is available for public viewing. They have options of self-guided or guided tours and have opportunities to go on neighborhood walking tours in NoHo around the Bond Street area.
Located in a decommissioned subway station at 99 Schermerhorn St. in Brooklyn, the New York Transit Museum definitely stands out among museums. Only a nine-minute walk from Tandon, the museum is currently displaying three rotating exhibitions. “Shining a Light on The Subway Sun: The Art of Fred G. Cooper and Amelia Opdyke Jones” showcases over 40 original posters from the 1930s to the 1960s that tackle the ideas of cleanliness, safety and New York City transit pride. Another exhibition, “The Subway Is…,” uses images and objects to discuss urban living and all the ways the subway is woven into the everyday lives of New Yorkers. With the introduction of OMNY, physical metrocards are beginning to be phased out, but if you’re curious about some of the old methods of fare collection on the city’s subways, “Ticket to Ride” details the history of fare collection on subways through archival photographs and objects. In addition to these three temporary displays, there are also five permanent exhibitions to check out that explore the labor and construction of New York’s subway system and feature actual vintage subway and elevated train cars going all the way back to 1907.
If you’re looking for some fun photo opportunities, check out the Museum of Illusions located just a 14-minute walk from our Washington Square campus. It contains mind-bending illusion rooms that are bound to wow you. From the Infinity Room that makes you feel like you’re in an endless space to the Reversed Room that dramatically alters your sense of perspective, there are so many fascinating illusions to explore. In addition to the illusion rooms, the museum also boasts a selection of installations that challenge your fundamental assumptions about the world, including but not limited to the “Cloning Table,” “Head on a Platter” and the “Beuchet Chair.”
Contact Yael Grosman at [email protected].
