Flowers... on a roof?!

A few nights ago, I made my way downtown to the Financial District. I was on a mission to discover a secret hideaway, built for New Yorkers seeking to escape the overwhelming noise of the city streets.

What I found was The Elevated Acre, located at 55 Water Street. 

Allow me to take you on a tour.

First, you must find the hidden staircase.

Credit: www.55Water.com

Ride the escalator or take the stairs up to the top. When you get there, you will see this:

Credit: www.55water.com

You have entered into a world of beauty, filled with flowers and greenery, overlooking the East River with magnificent views of the Brooklyn Bridge and beyond.

A view from the other side:

Credit: www.55Water.com

The landscaping is gorgeous! As I walked around, I noticed yellow daisies peaking out from behind some bushes. I felt like I was in a royal garden.

At night, a 50 foot LED light sculpture entitled "The Beacon of Progress," lights up the plaza. 

credit: www.NYTimes.com

On the other side, there is a huge lawn with "year round grass" (i.e. fake grass that looks remarkably real).

Credit: www.elevatedacre.com

The night I was there, I saw a young couple relaxing on the grass and enjoying each other's company. They looked like they had just gotten out of work.

If you are in the neighborhood, I encourage you to check it out! The Elevated Acre is minutes away from The South Ferry subway station, Staten Island Ferry and Battery Park. It is also on the same block as the Police Museum and the beautiful Vietnam Veterans Memorial (both of which will be detailed in coming posts).

Check out http://www.elevatedacre.com/ for more information.

Additional pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwofford/sets/1214929/

The Elevated Acre at 55 Water Street is open Daily: May 1 through Sept. 30, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Oct 1 through April 30, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Free Admission (!)

Skyscrapers Galore!

**Just want to give a shout out to my friend A who spotted me on my afternoon excursion today. Hope you enjoyed your outing this afternoon!

This afternoon, I checked out the Skyscraper Museum, located across the street from The Museum of Jewish Heritage by Battery Park. Its a cute little museum that takes about 45 minutes to see in its entirety.

The museum is exactly as it sounds. All about skyscrapers. Given my crazy fear of heights and the fact that just looking at super tall buildings gives me the shivers, it was an odd choice museum for me to visit. But I loved all the cool pictures and videos they had on exhibit (although I did cringe in fear at the height of some of the buildings!).

The design of the museum is really cool! They have mirrors on the ceiling, so it looks like the room is much larger than it actually is.

Source: NYPI.net

This is a New York Times article from Sunday, January 19, 1964.

The caption under the picture of the twin towers reads as follows: "New look at skyscrapers: Model of the proposed trade center demonstrates how twin 110-story towers will soar above their satellite buildings, to be 70 feet high."

They also showed a 15 minute long video about the construction of the Twin Towers. It was extremely interesting, but also very sad at the same time. All the work that went into building the Twin Towers just crashed to the ground (in addition to the tragedy of all the lives lost) on 9/11.

On my way home, I passed through the recently built South Ferry Subway station.

Credit: Wikipedia

The South Ferry station has some fantastic artwork! The station was designed by Doug and Mike Starn, and art on display is called See it Split, See it Change (don't ask me why, I haven't thought about it deep enough yet).

Check out the trees (I love trees) entitled "Silhouetted Images of Trees," and the intricate stainless steel fence!

credit: starnstudio.com

The beautiful leaf on the left is made out of fused glass panels, and the map on the right is mosaic.

credit: starnstudio.com

The map is actually a skillful combination of a topographic map from 1640 with a street plan from The Battery to 155th street.

I enjoy traveling on the subway and noticing all the great little details that decorate the Subway stations. Next time you're traveling on the Subway, take notice of these details - the moldings, the mosaics, the tiles, etc. You may be surprised at how much you can find!

More information about the artwork of South Ferry Station can be found at http://www.starnstudio.com/MTA_SF.html.

For information about the Skyscraper Museum, visit: http://www.skyscraper.org