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MuseumList

Merchant House Museum

Worth a stopEast Village, Manhattan

Refreshing: most historic houses are rich families or tenements; this one’s a middle-class family. Liked the tour guide.

What it is

Preserved 19th-century home of a wealthy merchant family, with intact interiors & exteriors.

Pair it with

Worth a detour or better, within a 15-minute walk. Numbers match the map.

  1. 1Grey Art Museum0.1 mi · Free

    Fantastic and shockingly large modern art collection for a museum no one’s heard of.

  2. 2Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation0.3 mi · $15

    Massive collection of Chaim Gross sculptures plus his collection of art from well-known artists.

  3. 3Museum of Street Art0.5 mi · Free

    Take the elevator to the 20th floor of a hotel and walk down 20 flights; the stairwell is the museum.

  4. 4Drawing Center0.7 mi · Free

    Large collection of drawings, all modern.

  5. 5Museum of Chinese in America0.7 mi · Free

    Solid permanent exhibit on Chinese immigration to America.

  6. 6Museum at Eldridge St0.7 mi · Free

    European-style 1800s synagogue in NYC, who knew.

Also on the block, if you have time

New York Marble Cemetery (0.2 mi, free), Center for Architecture (0.3 mi, free), Terrain Gallery (0.4 mi, free), New Museum (0.4 mi), Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (0.4 mi, free).

Skip Ukrainian Museum (0.1 mi), even if you’re passing: “Random Ukrainian artifacts in a room with no context.”