New York in Pictures: 53 Free Photos and a Short City Guide
New York City in 53 free photos: the skyscrapers of Midtown, from the Empire State Building to the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center, the lights of Times Square, the United Nations and the Guggenheim, Lower Manhattan with the World Trade Center before and after 2001, the Statue of Liberty and the harbour, and the steam, fire escapes and subway of the streets. Each set of photos has a short note on the place.
New York at a glance
- Getting there: three airports: JFK and LaGuardia in Queens and Newark in New Jersey. From JFK the AirTrain links to the subway and the Long Island Rail Road.
- Getting around: the subway runs day and night; tap in with a contactless card or phone (OMNY). Manhattan above 14th Street is a simple grid of avenues and streets.
- Money: US dollar. Prices in shops are shown before sales tax, and a tip of 18 to 20 percent is expected in restaurants.
- When to go: April to June and September to early December. Summer is hot and humid; winter is cold, but the Christmas lights are worth it.
How to download: click a photo to see it large, then use Download. The originals are about 1200 × 800 pixels: right for blog posts, slides, social media, school projects and video call backgrounds.
Midtown skyscrapers: Empire State, Chrysler and Rockefeller Center
The Empire State Building of 1931 was the tallest building in the world for almost forty years; its observatories on the 86th and 102nd floors are open late into the night. The Art Deco Chrysler Building of 1930 has a steel crown of stacked arches. At Rockefeller Center the bronze Atlas holds up the heavens on Fifth Avenue, and Top of the Rock gives a view of the Empire State Building itself.
Times Square and Broadway
Where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue, the giant screens of Times Square stay lit all night. The theatres of Broadway are in the side streets around it; the TKTS booth under the red steps sells same-day tickets at a discount.
The United Nations, the Guggenheim and Lincoln Center
The United Nations headquarters on the East River, finished in the early 1950s, offers guided tours. Frank Lloyd Wright’s spiral Guggenheim Museum of 1959 stands on Fifth Avenue by Central Park, and the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center glows through its great arched windows at night.
Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, opened in the early 1970s, were destroyed in the attacks of 11 September 2001. Some of these photos show them still standing; others show the rebuilding of the site, with the new 7 World Trade Center and the towers of the World Financial Center. Today One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial pools stand there. The glass Winter Garden, with its palm trees, was rebuilt after the attacks.
The Statue of Liberty, the harbour and the city from the air
The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was dedicated in 1886. Ferries leave from Battery Park for Liberty Island and Ellis Island; book ahead if you want to climb to the crown. The free Staten Island Ferry passes the statue too. From the air you see how Manhattan fits between the Hudson and the East River, crossed by the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.
Streets, steam and the subway
Steam rising from the street comes from one of the largest steam heating networks in the world, under Manhattan. Fire escapes zigzag down the old tenement houses of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, and in the outer boroughs the subway runs above the street on elevated tracks.
New York far from New York
New York-New York, a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip with a copy of the Manhattan skyline and a roller coaster, and a signpost that puts the real city 6,345 km away.
Tips for a first visit
- Buy timed tickets online for the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 Museum.
- Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn towards Manhattan, for the skyline in front of you.
- Take the free Staten Island Ferry for a view of the statue and the harbour.
- Plan one area a day; the city is bigger than it looks on the map, and the subway is faster than a taxi.
More about New York
New York City, “The Big Apple”, is the largest city in the United States and is visited by millions of travellers every year. New York is so popular because it offers architecture, very varied culture (migrants from many countries are estimated to speak 800 different languages), history and special events that cannot be found anyplace else. New York City is situated at the mouth of the Hudson River, providing one of the world’s largest natural harbors. It was probably this that attracted the Dutch to found the first trading post there in 1626, but they named it “New Amsterdam”; “New York” only became its name twenty years later when the British gained control and re-named it after the Duke of York, King Charles II’s brother.
Statue of Liberty
America’s most famous symbol of freedom stands on Liberty Island, accessible by ferry from Battery Park. It is usually visited along with nearby Ellis Island, where a museum commemorates the USA’s history of immigration. You can go inside the statue and ascend to its crown. France gave the statue to the United States in recognition of their friendship during the American Revolution. The statue is of the Roman goddess of freedom, Libertas, bearing a torch and a stone tablet on which is written the date of the American Declaration of Independence.
Metropolitan Opera House:
Broadway / 63rd St. The new Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1966. The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of many buildings: the Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, New York State Theater…The complex was constructed between 1959 and 1972.
Trump Tower
737 Fifth Avenue / 56th Street. This spectacular 68-storey building was erected in 1983. Developer: Donald Trump. Architect: Swanke, Hayden & Conell.
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center, named after John D. Rockefeller, consists of 19 buildings in midtown Manhattan. Rockefeller (1839-1937) made his money in oil after starting the Standard Oil Company in 1870, and became the richest man in America. During his 40 year retirement he spent a lot of the money for the public good, founding several universities in the US and the Philippines, and paying for a lot of new medical research. Rockefeller’s foundations continue to this day.
The United Nations Headquarters: Architect: Wallace K. Harrison. The 39 storey building was finished in 1953.
It is the home of the international organisation and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in New York. The complex houses the General Assembly, the Secretariat Building, the Dag Hammerskjold Building and the conference Building.
Salomon R. Guggenheim Museum: 1071 5th Ave at 89th St. Opened in 1959. Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright. “The Guggenheim” is one of the foremost museums of Modern Art in the world. Its permanent collection includes Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, as well as early Modern and contemporary art.
Empire State Building: At Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. Held the record as the world’s tallest skyscraper for 40 years.
86th Floor Observatory. (1050 feet). Open 9.30 to midnight daily. Glass-enclosed area and outdoor promenades. It has 3.6m visitors per year. Some of the best views of downtown Manhattan are from this building.
World Trade Center
When the World Trade Center was built in 1973, it quickly became better known as “the twin towers”, which at the time were the tallest buildings in the world. The Center is most famous as the target of one of the most shocking terrorist attacks against the USA on “nine-eleven” when Islamist hijackers flew two airliners into the towers, causing the South Tower to collapse and the North Tower to burn, with the loss of 2,753 lives. Probably everyone who saw it still remembers the powerful visual image of the burning tower slowly collapsing behind billowing dust, as shown live on television.
But right from the start the World Trade Centre had led a controversial existence. Its construction required the compulsory relocation of many small businesses and 100 residents, who mounted a campaign against it; and there was criticism of the design as soulless by the American Institute of Architects.
In 1975 there was a fire in the North Tower, and in 1993, in what came to be known as “the World Trade Center bombing”, 680kg of explosive packed in a truck in the underground garage was detonated, killing 6 people. In 1998, in an event that might make a good film, the Bank of America on the 11th floor was robbed of over $2 million by a team of small-time crooks, all of whom were soon caught. One illegal but noble deed that did make a good film was the tightrope walk from one tower to the other and back again, carried out by French performer Philipe Petit. His act of skill and courage in 1974 was later documented in the film Man on Wire.
After a period as “Ground Zero”, the WTC site is being redeveloped into the “One World Trade Centre”, which will be the tallest office tower in the western hemisphere when it is completed later in 2013. There will also be a 9/11 museum and memorial, recording the names of all 2,977 victims of the World Trade Centre bombing and 9/11, including those who died on the two airliners used as weapons.
More free photos
- San Francisco pictures
- Las Vegas pictures
- California pictures
- Canada pictures
- Free night city pictures
- Free bridge pictures
- New Jersey tourist attractions
- Free city skyline pictures
- Free city street pictures
Questions about these New York photos
Can I use these New York pictures for free?
Yes, for personal and commercial projects. All we ask is a link back to BigFoto.com; the box at the top of the page has a credit link you can copy.
Are there photos of the Twin Towers?
Yes: several photos in the Lower Manhattan section show the World Trade Center towers before 2001, and two show the rebuilding of the site.
