6 Best Sights in Flatiron District, New York City

Figures representing Wisdom and Force flank the main portal of this imposing Beaux-Arts courthouse, built in 1899. The structure's purpose coincides with artistic symbolism, and there are statues of great lawmakers, including Moses, Justinian, and Confucius, lining the roof balustrade. In total, sculptures by 16 artists adorn the ornate building, a showcase of themes relating to the law. A branch of the New York State Supreme Court, this is one of the most important appellate courts in the country: it hears more than 3,000 appeals and 6,000 motions annually and also admits approximately 3,000 new attorneys to the bar each year. Inside the courtroom is a stunning stained-glass dome set into a gilt ceiling. The main hall and the courtroom are generally open to visitors weekdays from 9 to 5.

When completed in 1902, the wedge-shape Fuller Building, as it was originally known, caused a sensation. Architect Daniel Burnham made ingenious use of the triangular wedge of land at 23rd Street, 5th Avenue, and Broadway, employing a revolutionary steel frame that allowed for the structure's 22-story, 286-foot height. Covered with a facade of limestone and white terra-cotta in the Italian Renaissance style, the building's shape resembled a clothing iron, hence its nickname. When it became apparent that the building generated strong winds, gawkers would loiter at 23rd Street hoping to catch sight of ladies' billowing skirts. Local traffic cops had to shoo away the male peepers—one purported origin of the phrase "23 skidoo."

The benches of this elegant, tree-filled park afford great views of some of the city's oldest and most charming skyscrapers—the Flatiron Building, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, the gold-crowned New York Life Insurance Building, and even (to the north) the Empire State Building—and serve as a perfect vantage point for people, pigeon, and dog watching. Add free Wi-Fi, Shake Shack, temporary art exhibits, and free summer and fall concerts, and you realize that a bench here is certainly a special place to be.

New York City's first baseball games were played in this 7-acre park in 1845. On its north end, an 1881 statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens memorializes Civil War naval hero Admiral David Farragut. An 1876 statue of Secretary of State William Henry Seward (the Seward of the term "Seward's Folly," coined when the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867) sits in the park's southwest corner, though it's rumored that the sculptor placed a reproduction of the statesman's head on a statue of Abraham Lincoln's body.

In 1909, with the addition of a 700-foot tower resembling the campanile of St. Mark's in Venice, this 1893 building became the world's tallest—but it was surpassed in height in 1912, when the Woolworth Building was completed. The Met Life Tower was stripped of much of its classical detail during renovations in the early 1960s but remains a prominent feature of the Midtown skyline. The clock's four faces are each three stories high, and their minute hands weigh half a ton each. If the view from the street doesn't quite cut it, you can reserve a room in the skyline itself: Marriott International and Ian Schrager operate a luxury hotel, the New York EDITION, in the clock-tower portion of the building.

The provocative collection at this 14,000-square-foot museum features artwork as well as intriguing ephemera like vintage pornographic photos and condom tins, S&M paraphernalia, antimasturbation devices from the 1800s, and explicit film clips. Interactive exhibits include the multifloor "Super Funland: Journey into the Erotic Carnival." Titillating special exhibitions have probed such topics as desire on the Internet, the sex lives of animals, and erotic content in the media. Although the subject matter is given serious curatorial treatment, the museum experience is geared to fun and the gift shop is full of fun sexual kitsch. Only patrons over 18 are admitted, and the museum is open late—until midnight on Friday and 10 pm on other evenings—which makes it a great date night venue.

There's no exact formula to get kids excited about math, but the sleek two-floor National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath)—the only cultural institution of its kind in all of North America—comes close to finding the perfect fun-to-math ratio. Kids can ride square-wheel trikes, create human fractal trees, build virtual 3-D geometric shapes (which can be printed out on a 3-D printer for a fee), use lasers to explore cross sections of objects, solve dozens of puzzles, and generally bend their minds. The popular Robot Swarm exhibition allows kids to explore swarm robotics and interact with two dozen small (Roomba-like) glowing robots using simple math rules. Exhibits are best suited to kids aged six and up, but preschoolers can still enjoy many interactive exhibits like the Math Square, a light-up floor programmed with math games, simulations, and patterns.

The museum closes at 2:30 pm the first Wednesday of every month.