The Museum of Illusions is a interesting museum in that it is a small museum packed with various exhibitions and hands on displays that are interactive for the visitor. Each one is an experience in itself. The visitor participates in what the display has to offer and it plays with both your mind and with your personality and how you react to it.
The main gallery at the Museum of Illusions
There are a lot of brain teasers and mirrors to throw you off or add to the display to entertain you. The optical illusions will test your mind and your senses. There are titled rooms to test your balance and your sense of sight, mirrored rooms to show location and reaction and small displays to show size and distance.
Admittingly it is a very small museum of the steep price of admission ($24.00 for an adult) and you will only be in the museum for about an hour. The problem with this museum is that once you experience it and if they do not change the displays, there is no reason to go back. The small displays can be experienced on two floors.
The Tilted Room display
The afternoon I was here, the museum was packed with summer campers and school aged kids who dominated the place and it is so small that it was hard to maneuver around the museum. Still it was a very interesting museum to experience once as it will test the power of and exercise your brain.
The Clone Table
Me in the Vertical Room
The Illusions Gallery
History of the Museum of Illusions:
(From the Museum Website)
Enter the fascinating world of illusions which will test your confidence in your senses yet amaze you by doing it. It is world that will confuse you completely, educating you in the process. Visit us and you will be thrilled because nothing is what it seems-especially in the Museum of Illusions!
The Infinity Tunnel
Are you ready for a fascinating adventure? We offer an intriguing visual, sensory and educational experience with a handful of new, unexplored illusions.
The Reverse Room
New York, place to experience illusions!
The Museum of Illusions in New York brings you a space that offers wonderous and entertaining insights into the world of illusions which will delight all generations. The museum is a unique place for new experiences and fun with family and friends. Not only is it an exciting place for children, who adore coming, but it’s also a great place for parents, couples and grandparents!
The Optical Illusions of the museum
Enjoy our collection of holograms, look closely at every optical illusion and observe each installation thoroughly. Our exhibits are a brilliant, playful reminder that our assumptions about the world we perceive are often nothing but a shadow of illusions. Our genuine collection of showpieces will most certainly make your jaw drop!
The Museum of Illusions Master of Numbers
The Museum of Illusions amusing, and awesome features will teach you about how the human brain perceives reality. You will come to understand why your eyes see things which your mind cannot initially comprehend. Make sure you visit our playroom with its intriguing and educational games and puzzles. These brain mashers are great fun but also delightfully tricky!
The Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site at 28 East 20th Street
History of the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site:
From Wiki/National Park Service Pamphlet):
The house is a replica of the birthplace and childhood home of the 26th President of the United States. The house originally stood on the site was built in 1848 and was bought by the Roosevelts in 1854. Theodore Roosevelt was born there on October 27th, 1858 and lived in the house with his family until 1872, when the neighborhood began to become more commercial, and the family moved uptown to 57th Street.
The plaque of the original house
The original home was demolished in 1916 to make way for retail space but upon the death of the President in 1919, the lot was purchased, and the house rebuilt by the Women’s Roosevelt Memorial Association, which eventually merged with the Roosevelt Memorial Association in 1953 to form the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Noted female American architect Theodate Pope Riddle was given the task of reconstructing a replica of the house, as well as designing the museum, situated next door, that serves to complete the site.
Theodore Roosevelt Sr.
Mrs.Alice Roosevelt, Theodore’s mother
The row house next door at number 26, which was the twin to the Roosevelts, was used as a model and some architectural elements from it were incorporated into the replica. The twin house was demolished to make space for the museum. The restoration recreated the house as it was in 1865.
The house is furnished in a mixture of period pieces that would have decorated the house at that time period along with Roosevelt family heirlooms. The was decorated as best as the family at that time could remember. This includes the Living Room, Dining Room, Parlor, the two bedrooms along with the children’s wing. The house had changed over the years so things are not exactly the way they would have been.
The recreation of the Roosevelt Living Room
The Roosevelt Parlor Room
The Roosevelt Dining Room
The Roosevelt Bedroom
The Roosevelt Library/Office in the bedroom area
The Roosevelt Bedroom
The house was rededicated in 1923 and was subsequently refurbished with many furnishings from the original house by the President’s widow, Edith and his two sisters. The widow and sisters also supplied information about the interior’s appearance during Roosevelt’s residency. The Theodore Roosevelt Association donated the birthplace to the National Park Service in 1963.
The lower level of the house is where the gift shop is located and the gallery room with pictures of President Roosevelt and his family and in government events. They also have the original “Teddy Bear” created for the President and the shirt that the President wore when there was an attempt on his life. There is also a series of family portraits as well.
The “Teddy Bear” is located in the display gallery in the first floor
The shirt the President was wearing when there was an attempt on his life
Try to get to the site during one of the tours and the rangers will give you a detailed talk both on the house and on the family. It is also self-guided so you can take your time to walk the house before it closes for the evening.
The Museum of the City of New York at 1220 Fifth Avenue
I have been a member of the Museum of the City of New York for almost twenty years and what I love about the museum is that its concentration is to be everything about New York City and what makes the City so great. Its development from a Dutch Colony to the Modern Metropolis that it is today. It covers the history so well that they created a permanent display entitled “New York at its Core”, an extensive history of the City from its start as being colonized by the Lenape Indians as a fishing and hunting set of villages on the island.
The “New York at its Core” exhibition (MCNY)
Each display takes you through a different point in the history of the development of the City and how each era brought dramatic changes to the fabric of the City from immigration over the years to the fires that leveled the original City and the raise of Wall Street and the Arts to make New York City the Capital of the World. The almost bankruptcy of the City in 1975 to the attacks on 9/11 have really shaped the direction and change in the City to the COVID-19 pandemic reshaping it again. We see how New York City continues to survive. The exhibition is now updated to add the COVID pandemic to the fabric of what is happening in New York City now. This exhibition will continue to evolve over the coming years.
The entrance to “Timescapes”
The film “Timescapes” in the basement theater again tackles the issues of a changing City since its development and the City continues to morph over time. The movie narrated by Stanley Tucci tells the story of New York from the time of the Dutch settlement to the attacks of 9/11 and like “New York at its Core” the issues that come about after every event. The film is shown five times a day and do take the time to see it when visiting the museum.
A tiny clip of “Timescapes” from the Museum of the City of New York
Evening Talk and Film with the Talking Heads and the film “Stop Making Sense”
Just recently I attended a special event at the Museum to honor the Founding Members of the “Talking Heads” Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and their groundbreaking film “Stop Making Sense”. I was lucky to get tickets because the second I saw this on the museum listing I bought the tickets immediately. The event sold out quickly.
‘Talking Heads’ founders Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth
The event was discussion with the creators of the group and how the Talking Heads emerged as a popular group through the 1980’s and 90’s. I have to admit that the two of them have not changed much but looking a bit older. They enchanted the audience with their time with the group and some new things they have in the works. After a quick Q & A, we watched their popular concert film “Stop Making Sense”.
We had such a good time at the event, the I wrote about it for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com”:
Day Two Hundred and Eight: Private Members nights at the New York Museums:
On another recent trip, I visited the exhibition “New York New Music 1980-1986” which was an exhibition on the development of the music scene after the Disco era was over and the rise of MTV. You had a combination of Club Music, Hip Hop, New Wave and the English Wave from Australia and New Zealand coming into the United States plus a resurgence of Rock and Roll after years of the “Disco Duck”. The exhibition highlighted the music of Debbie Harry and Blondie, Run DMC, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna and the rise of music videos. The exhibition brought me back to my last years of high school and my college years as I remembered all these groups.
The “New York-New Music 1980-1986” exhibition
Over the years I have seen exhibitions on everything from the Bankruptcy exhibition of New York City and the rise of crime, the Gilded Era with Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt’s “Electric Light” dress that she wore to Alva Vanderbilt’s famous ball and the wonderful toy exhibitions of early playthings. I have also been to many lectures at the museum with guests such as former Brooklyn President Marky Markowitz.
In 2023, I visited the museum for the first time in months and was able to see the “Gingerbread House Bakeoff” exhibition of well-known and amateur bakers in New York City. The exhibition was a hold over from Christmas and it was interesting to see the detailed gingerbread houses that were on display.
There two that I really liked. One was of Madison Square Park at Christmas time and looked like the pictures I had just taken of the park.
Bryant Park at Christmas time in gingerbread
Christmas scene in New York City
The next exhibition I wanted to see before it closed was the “Food in New York” exhibition. It could have been a little more detailed than what I saw. I thought it was going to have more of the development and history of food in New York and how it pertains to today. It was more artwork related to modern food industry trends. It was interesting but not what I thought it was going to be.
‘Food in New York’ exhibition
Some of the artwork really stood out on the display. I like the Hispanic Ice Carts which you see all over Washington Heights and East Harlem during the warmer months.
Ice Cart “Pimp My Piragua” byt artist Miguel Luciano
Artist Miguel Luciano
“Twilight” by artist Suzanne Anker
The effects of pollination of crops and the loss of bees shown here.
Artist Suzanne Anker
The latest exhibition that I visited on a Members walking tour was the “New York Now: Home” exhibition that opened in the Spring of 2023. The exhibition is based on what the photographers perspective of what a ‘home’ is and how you live through it. There were photos of family events, life outside the home, what a family is, is it your birth family or friends that have become family? There were also some great shots of people taken during the COVID lockdown and how the home became the center point of their lives and sanity. Each photographer gave a different way of looking at these points.
‘New York Now: Home: A Photography Triennial’
The exhibition write up
There were many terrific artists displayed in the exhibition but these are the five that I thought stood out the most:
Photographer and Artist Anders Jones work on the loss of bodegas in his neighborhood due to gentrification.
Artist Anders Jones work at the Museum of the City of New York
I think the museum was looking for a more political and environmental view of food in New York City as opposed to the history and development. It still was an important issue. It also showed all the urban, community and roof gardens that are becoming part of the urban landscape. It is interesting how people are using space to grow food for the benefit of everyone. It was an interesting perspective.
Evening with Walt Stillman for the anniversary of the film, “Last Days of Disco”:
The museum also has a series of talks in movies shot around or about New York City. On a recent trip to the museum I attended the retrospect of director Walt Stillman and his 1998 film “The Last Days of Disco”, which had been a huge hit when it came out. The director talked about the change in times from the 1970’s to the 1980’s and the shift in behavior of the population. There was a moment of time when “Disco was King” and going out was all the rage after years of Vietnam era. Studio 54 led this charge and when it closed in 1980, the party was over.
In conversation with director Walt Stillman the night of the retrospect.
The original trailer for the film.
The Q & A at Lincoln Center for the 20th anniversary of the film.
The series of films deal with the subject matter of New York City and what makes it a special place.
I recently went to see the new Art Deco City-New York exhibition on a private tour. The curator for the show toured us through the era after WWI and during the Depression. Things got more simplistic and cleaner.
You had a youth revolution that wanted to get away from Victorian values and with the lack of resources and money during the Depression, everything became more clean lines, less embellishment and more modern looking.
The exhibit ‘Art Deco City New York’
The bulk of the exhibition came from the collection of Cosmetic owner, Ronald Lauder, who contributed his Art Deco post card collection. Years of collecting showed all of us the changes not just in architecture but attitudes in travel and living. Gone were the bulky and elaborate in was simplistic and clean designs with a fresh approach.
The main gallery with Art Deco post cards
This perspective was shown in the 1939 World’s Fair, where a look to the future showed optimism and a look at new possibilities.
The 1939 World’s Fair
The outfits of that era also represented women and their freedoms from the Victorian era and the excesses. Gone were the days of corsets and bustles and in was the freedom of movement to the modern working woman who have to work to support her family. This reflected in the social life too.
Dresses from the 1930’s
Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building were the big projects of that era. It showed the optimism and show of the possibilities of the modern era during the Depression and kept people working.
Models of Rockefeller Center
The exhibition was very interesting and informative and shows up in the modern era today.
The latest exhibition I attended was “Songs of New York”, a tribute to the rich music scene of the five boroughs through the ages.
The Exhibition sign for “Songs of New York”
The exhibition delves into the rich history of everything from New Wave to Hip Hop to Rock and Jazz. The interactive exhibition has you stepping on a Borough symbol and you hear its rich history of music.
The interactive display on the third floor
The opening remarks from the curator at the opening night
The reception with drinks and snacks for members
Pictures from ‘Look Magazine’ from the collection
Photographs from Allan Tannenbaum
The career of Allan Tannenbaum
The photos of Janette Beckmann of the ‘Hip Hop’ scene with the start of the careers of LL Cool J and Run DMC
The exhibition packs a lot of information into a small space where the members were able to enjoy the music of New York City.
I went to an Educator’s Night for the new ‘Above Ground’ exhibition on the street art collection of Artist Matin Wong. The artist collected the street art of the 1980’s after the Crash of 1987 slowed the demand for this art.
The ‘Above Ground’ exhibition
The sign from the exhibition
The works in the exhibition
The work ‘Futura’
The sign for ‘Futura’
The works by artist Keith Haring
The works in the galleries were creative and colorful. These artists sending a message with their works.
The art of the exhibition
The art of the exhibition
The gallery displaying the works
The exhibition works were from the period of the mid to late 1980’s and these works Martin Wong bought after the Crash of 1987 to help sustain his artist friends whose sales dried for street art. The collection was donated to the museum after the artist’s passing in 1994 (Museum pamphlet).
Evening with Photographer, Ebet Roberts:
I recently returned to the museum for a special evening event for photographer Ebet Roberts
The special event for music photographer Ebet Roberts: The photographer, Ebet Roberts with the museum curator
The evening was a discussion of the artist’s works from the 1970’s and 80’s. What I thought was interesting is how she seemed to fall into it as an artist with newspapers interested in seeing her photographs.
The photographer’s poster for the event
One of her well known works of a musician couple from the 1970’s
The talk was very interesting as she fell into the profession of just taking pictures of bands while attending the events as reporting. Then the papers wanted to see what pictures she had taken. Liking how she captured the groups in a more human fashion, she continued to take more pictures. This led to private sessions and behind the scenes works, capturing the events before and after a concert. It was a very interesting talk.
Special Members Mornings:
I recently attending a Private Members Morning for the opening of the “Alice in New York” exhibition and to see “He Built this City”, the diorama of New York City. These mornings allow us special time to see all the exhibitions, take tours and for the kids, there are all sorts of activities.
‘Another Wonderland’ exhibition
(From the Museum website)
The Museum of the City of New York, in collaboration with New York City Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, presents ‘Another Wonderland: Abram Champanier’s Alice Mural’ (MCNY.com)
The exhibition celebrates the rescue and decades-long restoration of Alice of Wonderland Visiting New York, a major New Deal–era mural cycle created for the children’s ward at Gouverneur Hospital between 1938 and 1940. Commissioned through the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, the sixteen-panel series reimagined Lewis Carroll’s beloved characters exploring 1930s New York City—from the subway and Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island and Central Park—bringing color, fantasy, and joy to a space dedicated to healing (MCNY.com).
After decades of painstaking restoration, and along with two faithfully reproduced panels and a selection of archival photographs, the mural panels will be on view together for the first time in nearly fifty years. The exhibition also situates the mural within the broader story of the WPA and its role in transforming public spaces across New York City (MCNY.com).
The entrance to the exhibition
The description of the exhibition
Alice and her friends leave the novel and arrive in the ‘Big Apple’
Alice and her friends on New York Harbor
They next visited that Statue of Liberty
Alice next took a trip in the subway. At least it wasn’t the 1970’s!
The next flew by the Empire State Building. All I could think about was the airplane scene in the movie ‘Flying Down to Rio’
The clip from “Flying Down to Rio”
They next took a trip on the Staten Island Ferry
Alice visits Coney Island
Taking a plane ride around New York City
Everyone gathering
Alice at the New York Public Library
The end of the exhibition when everyone returns to their books
Queens-born artist Joe Macken began the project in 2004. Over the next 21 years, working first in Middle Village, Queens and later in Clifton Park, New York, he devoted himself to crafting a vast architectural portrait of the city he calls home. Built entirely by hand using everyday materials—including balsa wood, cardboard, and glue—the model spans 50 by 27 feet and comprises over 340 individual sections. It renders the city’s skyline, neighborhoods, and landmarks with remarkable precision, character, and imagination. Macken started with the Comcast Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, infusing its familiar form with details that signal his personal artistic vision (MCNY.com).
The model is on view in the Museum’s Dinan Miller Gallery, presented in an installation that balances close looking with an appreciation of the full scale of the model. In the gallery, we encourage you to use the provided binoculars to see the model in greater detail and to watch the video highlighting Macken’s hand-carved buildings. Weather permitting, access to view the north side of the model will be available through the North Terrace (MCNY.com).
The model of New York City
These are the types of events that make the museum unique and special.
Video on the Model by the Artist
The History of the Museum of the City of New York:
(From the Museum of the City of New York website/Wiki):
The Museum of the City of New York is a history and art museum that was founded in 1923 by Henry Collins Brown. The red brick building with marble trim was built between 1929-30 and was designed by architect Joseph H. Freedlander in the neo-Georgian style with statues of Alexander Hamilton and DeWitt Clinton by sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman, which face Central Park from niches in the facade (Wiki).
The museum was originally located in Gracie Mansion, where available space was limited. One of the first exhibitions was “Old New York” in 1926. This took place in the Fine Arts Building on West 57th Street. The success of the project led to a search for a new, permanent headquarters for the museum (Wiki).
A design competition was held between five invited architects and the Colonial Revival design by Joseph H. Freelander was chosen. The City donated the site on Fifth Avenue and the funds for the construction of the museum was raised by public subscription. The original plans for the museum’s building were scaled back as a result of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The building was finished and dedicated in 1932.
In 2000, there was talk by then Mayor Rudy Giuliani to move the museum to the historic Tweed Courthouse near City Hall but that was over-turned by the incoming Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. In protect the museum director, Robert R. McDonald resigned.
In coming new museum director, Susan Henshaw Jones, planned an extension to the museum and it was completed in 2008. The extension including renovating the existing gallery spaces and adding a new pavilion. New displays and a remounting of valuable artifacts were done to give the museum a refreshed look. In 2011, the Museum of the City of New York temporarily took over operation of the South Street Seaport Museum which itself reopened in 2012 (Wiki).
The museum has a collection of over 1.5 million objects including many items from the 19th and early 20th centuries including paintings, prints, costumes, decorative objects, furniture and an extensive collection of toys. There are also extensive collections of police and fire items as well as shop models, rare books and manuscripts (Wiki).
The Museum of the City of New York in the early Spring
This small museum in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattanville is easy to miss. It is in a small brownstone on West 107th Street right near Riverside Drive. You can see the plaque for the museum to the right of the building and there is a side door to get in. The admission is free but they do ask for a donation if you can do it.
The gallery on the second floor
The museum is a specialty collection of the works of artist Nicholas Roerich. They are mostly landscapes and religious themed that cover three floors of the museum.
The is a beauty to all his works especially the ones concentrated in the Himalayas with their colorful and spiritual themes.
The artist’s portrait of his mother on the third floor
It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to see all the floors. A nice touch they had in the afternoon that I was there was a piano player whom you could hear play throughout the brownstone. When you go, it will be a pleasant afternoon where you are not fighting the crowds of the larger museums.
The art pieces enlighten you and I felt gave you a sense of hope.
(The following information is from the museum website)
Artist Nicholas Roerich
(From the museum website)
The Nicholas Roerich Museum was founded in 1949 to house a permanent collection of over two hundred paintings by the Russian-born artist, poet, philosopher and humanitarian, Nicholas Roerich. The museum also houses a library of books and maintains an archive and a collection of artifacts relating to the areas of Roerich’s interests (Museum guide).
The Mission of the Museum:
The mission of the Nicholas Roerich Museum is essentially a narrow one: to make available to the public the full range of Roerich’s accomplishments. These, however, are not narrow; they cover the realms of art, science, spirituality, peacemaking and more. Because Roerich’s activities ranged widely, so do the museum’s.
The second floor galleries
The Museum Collection:
Nicholas Roerich is known first and foremost as a Russian-born artist. His paintings, of which there are thousands around the world, explore the mythic origins, the natural beauty and the spiritual strivings of humanity and of the world.
One of the more spiritual paintings in the collection
The museum houses approximately two hundred of these works and keeps most of them permanently on display for visitors who come from around the world. Indeed, for many of these visitors, the museum is a destination of great importance; the paintings speak to them of their own inner yearnings and possible fulfillment. For them, Roerich’s paintings are a kind of teaching-about spiritual development about culture and its role in human life and about opportunities for the achievement of peace in a fractious world.
The second floor galleries
The beautiful landscapes on the second floor
Publications & Booklist:
The museum also keeps in print a number of books by and about Roerich and his life and work and a substantial stock of postcards and reproductions of his paintings. These too are seen by many as more than just prints; they are hung in homes with a degree of appreciation that is not often given to such things.
The gallery on the first floor with some of the more religious works
Cultural Events:
In addition to these functions, the museum also maintains an active schedule of cultural activities.
The second floor galleries
It was Roerich’s fervent belief that the role of cultural development in the peace and evolution of the world is fundamental and that it is therefore the responsibility of those who work in creative and cultural fields to strive always for that peace and evolution and for those goals to be the chief impulses guiding their creative work. Information about these ideas is always available.
The second floor gallery with Asian themed art
The Roerich Pact & the Banner of Peace:
The museum sustains an ongoing effort to spread public awareness of the intermingled roles of peace and culture and the ways in which each sustains the other. Information and materials about The Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace are always available.
The patronage of the museum through the Katherine Campbell-Stibbe Foundation
Throughout this century of wars and national struggles, the yearning of the public for ways of achieving peace has been great; the ideas of the Pact and the Banner provide a welcome answer to those yearnings.
The history of the museum through the years
As Roerich’s ideas become better known around the world, attendance at the Museum grows and requests for information and materials about him and his art and social achievements increase.
The gift shop on the first floor. The director of the museum even sells honey from the beehives on top of his building.
*This information is from the Museum’s website.
Disclaimer: This information was taken from a combination of the museum’s website and from the biography of the artist.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 