From palatial mansions to intimate galleries, these NYC museums are hidden gems without all the crowds.
As a major cultural and artistic hub , it should come up as no surprise that New York City is menage to some of the world ’s most famous museums . So when it comes to foot traffic , renowned institutions like The American Museum of Natural History , The Guggenheim Museum , Museum of Modern Art , and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are never in unretentive supplying .
Alongside these giant , fine art devotee can uphold to expand their horizons with aid from a crowd of littler , but still mighty museums . From the account of NYC transit and skyscraper to deep dive into fashion trends and Tibetan shrines , these underrated and small museum show a hidden side of NYC ’s art picture .
Museums in Manhattan
El Museo del Barrio
East HarlemThe El Barrio neighborhood in East Harlem is full of Afro - Latino , Latino , and Caribbean small business sector , community of interests nitty-gritty , and museums likeEl Museo del Barrio . open in 1969 , the studio touts an telling permanent aggregation that cross more than 800 yr of Latin American , Caribbean , and Latino artistry , artifact , photography , and video . For those calculate to plan their sojourn ahead of time or dive deep into the museum ’s history , download the bilingual digital template that ’s available viaapp .
Museum at FIT
ChelseaThe only museum solely dedicated to fashion in NYC can be found on the Fashion Institute of Technology campus in Manhattan . The Museum at FIT lets fashion lovers explore cautiously curated galleries of garment and accessory . old exhibitions have centre on the works ofemerging Latin American creative person , the impact of hip hop on fashion , and the fluctuate trend of argument sleeves .
Rubin Museum of Art
ChelseaIf you have n’t visited the Rubin Museum of Art , you have eight months to get to Chelsea . After 20 days , the Himalayan art and culture museum is shut down the door at its lasting location on October 6 and transitioning into a traveling exhibition of Buddhist works from the Tibetan Plateau . verify to see the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room , which expose an elaborate family shrine covered in art and ritual target , and the Mandala Lab , which call for guests to give up all five weed through interactive video , scents , carving , and musical instrument .
The Skyscraper Museum
Battery ParkHome to more than 300 skyscrapers , NYC is well - versed in the artwork of build up not out . So it ’s no wonder that the vertical metropolis is home to an entire museum consecrate to the staggering computer architecture . Through exhibitions and curriculum , the Skyscraper Museums educates visitors on the major architect behind NYC ’s visible horizon , as well as construction , design , engineering , and environmental effects .
Museums in Brooklyn
New York Transit Museum
business district BrooklynNew Yorkers have a love / hatred relationship with the underpass , but the engineering and technology that has pass into the creation of the urban center ’s transit organisation is inarguably impressive . site underground in a 1936 subway post , the New York Transit Museum walk visitor through more than 100 years of NYC ’s passage history . There ’s also a rotating exhibit of vintage underpass cars , some which date back to 1907 .
Museums in Queens
Museum of Moving Image
AstoriaThe Museum of Moving Image is a siren call to television devotee , digital medium fiends , and film buffs . Here , museum expo are go with by regular motion-picture show screening , in - somebody panel with film producer and scholars , and access to an online archive of film . display search entertaining issue like this class ’s Oscar snubs , Jim Henson ( the Jehovah of the Muppets ) , and the constitution and production design fromThe Exorcist .
The Noguchi Museum
AstoriaThe Noguchi Museum was the first museum in the country to be opened , design , and installed by a living creative person to display their own study . The artist was landscape painting architect Isamu Noguchi . Lauded for his various and innovative approaching to design that combines element of the East and West , Noguchi created the indoor / outdoor space to boost visitor to form attachments and decipher the piece of work on their own . The artist ’s vision is evident through the lack of barriers and informational placards around the sculptures , models , drafting , and personal possessions .
Museums in The Bronx
Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum
Pelham Bay ParkThe stunning Bartow - Pell Mansion has been passed down from multiplication to generation for C . project in a Greek Revival manner , the three - story home boast a dramatic helical staircase , graceful parlors , sweeping lawns , and terraced gardens . Now own by the City of New York and used as the clubhouse for the International Garden Club , the sign is now a public museum feature well - kempt grounds and historically accurate nineteenth - century interiors .
Museums in Staten Island
Alice Austen House Museum
RosebankThis picturesque , historic Dutch farmhouse on Staten Island was home to one of America ’s earliest and most prolific womanhood in photography , Alice Austen , and her collaborator Gertrude Tate in the early nineteenth century . Now a National Historic Landmark , the more than 300 - year - old family operates as a museum for Austen ’s work , which consists of 8,000 beautifully intimate photographs of her private life story and street life sentence throughout Staten Island and Manhattan .
Sri Lankan Museum
Stapleton HeightsAt just 18 years old , Julia Wijesinghe set up the world ’s first Sri Lanka museum outdoors of Sri Lanka . After years of construct the museum ’s appeal , Wijesinghe now welcomes New Yorkers to inflate their knowledge of Sri Lankan culture through sculpture , paintings , instruments , stone , and more . If you ’re feeling peckish afterwards , drop by the nearby Wijesinghe fellowship eatery calledNew Lakruwana .
Garden at The Noguchi Museum in Astoria, Queens|Photo by Nicholas Knight. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, NY / Artists Rights Society
"¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today" exhibit at Museum at FIT in Chelsea|Photo by Darian DiCanno
New York Transit Museum|Felix Lipov/Shutterstock
Museum of Moving Image in Astoria|Photo by Peter Aaron/Esto, Photo courtesy of Museum of the Moving Image
Alice Austen House Museum in Rosebank|Brian Logan Photography/Shutterstock
