These 22 Majestic Structures Are the Reason New York City Is the Architecture Capital of the World 

Completed in 1812, New York City Hall is one of the oldest city halls in the country. The front façade was originally covered in marble and the back in brownstone, later replaced with limestone. The palatial structure, inspired by Georgian architecture, is now a National Landmark.

After John D. Rockefeller donated a 17-acre plot of land on the banks of the East River, the UN tasked Wallace K. Harrison with its headquarters’ design. Harrison enlisted the help of several other architects, including Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. The tower’s look reflects the international-style aesthetics, which was meant to symbolize the future and convey a sense of modernity.

RELATED: These 19 Striking Buildings Exemplify the Best of Brutalist Design Around the Globe

Several architects have worked on the magnificent beaux-arts building of the MET, located at 1000 Fifth Avenue. Richard Morris Hunt designed the facade, but after his untimely death, his son, Richard Howland Hunt, finished the project. Then it was the architecture firm McKim, Mead & White, who created the museum’s two glass wings while Roche-Dinkeloo worked on the rear. Today, the museum consists of more than 20 structures and covers an area of more than two million square feet.

One of the largest cathedrals in the world, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, covers an area of more than 120,000 square feet on Amsterdam Avenue. It is built in a Gothic Revival style that was popular in the country at the end of the 19th century.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s striking building is the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was commissioned for the project in 1943. Guggenheim’s only requirement was for the structure to be completely one of a kind. Wright later explained that the curvy design that completely stands out among the city’s angular architecture would be “the best possible atmosphere in which to show fine paintings or listen to music.”

RELATED: The Latest Starchitect Project to Come to NYC's High Line Is a Geometric Wonder

New York City’s newest cultural center in the Hudson Yards neighborhood opened its doors in 2019. The structure’s innovative expandable design was inspired by an unrealized building project in the U.K. called The Fun Place that, similarly to The Shed, had a flexible framework that could change and adapt to the artists’ needs.

The white-winged structure of the Oculus in Lower Manhattan is already one of the landmarks of New York City. Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava, who has a penchant for buildings inspired by organic forms and living organisms, is behind the eye-catching design representing a dove taking flight.

The Chrysler Building with its terraced top is one of the most famous art deco structures in the world and a symbol of New York City. The design was conceived by William Van Alen, who modeled the beautiful ornamentation of the façade after features found in Chrysler cars at the time.

Located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan along the West Side Highway, this Frank Gehry-designed building houses the headquarters of InterActiveCorp. The 10-story structure is covered in white ceramic-painted glass panels that give the entire building a nautical, sail-like look.

Completed in 1931, the legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel is an architectural landmark and a true art deco masterpiece. The 43-story property is undergoing an extensive renovation that began in 2017 and is expected to wrap up in 2022. The hotel’s newest addition is the Towers of the Waldorf Astoria, a residential space located atop the property that will offer 375 new homes and 50,000 square feet of luxury amenities.

RELATED: Blending Historic Grandeur With Modern Amenities at the Robert Couturier-Designed Upper East Side Tower

The towering art deco silhouette of the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan is impossible to miss even from a distance. At 1,454 feet, it was the tallest building in the world from its completion in 1931 until 1970, when the World Trade Center’s twin towers were finished.

Originally the Fuller Building, the Flatiron Building got its name from the nickname that New Yorkers had for the triangular region on the intersection between Fifth and Broadway Avenues—the flat iron. The structure’s dramatic shape and richly ornamented beaux-arts façade have inspired many artists and photographers through the years making the building one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Big Apple.

Conceived by architect Pierre LeBrun in 1909, the elaborate MetLife Tower was inspired by the 16th-century bell tower of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice that had collapsed seven years prior. Unfortunately, in 1964 most of the Renaissance ornamentation of the 700-foot tall building was removed as part of a renovation project. But even without it, the structure, with its enormous clocks, still commands a lot of attention—now as part of the New York Edition hotel, an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property.

The 15-acre complex of buildings that makes up the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in Manhattan is the work of many architects, including Eero Saarinen, Wallace Harrison, and Philip Johnson. The Center’s Revson Fountain with its “floating” granite ring on Josie Robertson Plaza is another major landmark attracting tourists and New Yorkers alike.

The New Museum’s seven-story building was designed by Tokyo-based architects Kazuyo Sejima and Pritzker Prize winner Ryue Nishizawa. The 175-foot tall structure consists of seven rectangular boxes stacked on top of each other. This approach allowed Sejima and Nishizawa to deliver a building that provided various open, light-filled spaces that lack columns and are all of different heights.

Located in Midtown Manhattan, the striking 23-story American Radiator Building stands out with its black and gold façade created by John Howells and Raymond Hood. The beautiful structure even inspired artist Georgia O'Keeffe who featured it prominently in one of her paintings dedicated to New York City named Radiator Building—Night, New York.

Built between 1929 and 1940, the Rockefeller Center is a complex of 14 buildings inspired by art deco aesthetics. The structures are embellished with beautiful mosaics, sculptures, and mural paintings, but its most famous feature has to be the sunken plaza with the gilded statue of Prometheus.

Aside from being one of the oldest and largest art museums in the country, the Brooklyn Museum's beaux-arts building in Prospect Park is also one of the most beautiful ones. The west wing of the museum was first opened in 1897 and was followed by the central pavilion in 1905. Construction took about 30 years and included artistic contributions by sculptors such as Daniel Chester French, whose statue of Abraham Lincoln sits in the Lincoln Memorial.

The elaborate Gothic façade of Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan is in sharp contrast with the angular architecture of the skyscrapers that dominate Lower Manhattan. The church was conceived by British immigrant Richard Upjohn, who drew inspiration from English perpendicular Gothic style of the 14th century. Trinity Church is built from brownstone—a material that was readily available at the time.

It took 16 years to design and build the New York City Public Library, but the result was well worth the wait. The Fifth Avenue building is a magnificent example of beaux-arts architecture in the city that took 530,000 cubic feet of marble to complete. The library’s entrance is flanked by the enormous statues of two lions that are known as Patience and Fortitude.

In 1903, architecture firm Reed & Stem won a design competition to design New York City’s new railway terminal. And while the company’s plan included some pretty innovative features for that period (such as pedestrian ramps), the facade of the structure is actually the product of another architecture firm, Warren & Wetmore. Their idea was to design the façade by incorporating three triumphal arches in it. Parisian artist Sylvain Saliéres was brought in to create decorative finishes and ornamental inscriptions, while materials such as Italian Botticino marble, Guastavino tiles, and Tennessee marble were used for some of the interior features.

The stylish 18-story Ansonia on the Upper West Side was built in 1904 and was the world’s largest apartment hotel that spanned 1,400 rooms. Among its luxury amenities at the time were a laundry, valets, an on-site tailor, liquor and cigar stores, a florist, a bank, and many more. The building also featured a ballroom, Turkish baths, tea rooms, a theater, and a palm garden.