CARNEGIE HILL — This stairway doesn't lie on the whispering quote.
The Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. at East 104th Street, has unveiled a stairway installation featuring famous "heavenly quotes" and images about the Big Apple's history, MCNY officials said in a statement.
This "City Steps" installation, located in the MCNY's southern stairwell, includes quotes from cultural luminaries such as poet Edgar Allen Poe and artist Georgia O'Keefe, according to the museum.
“I call this our stairwell showroom,” Susan Henshaw Jones, MCNY director, said. “Mayor Bloomberg recently encouraged New Yorkers to take the stairs to improve their health. Well, we want our visitors to strengthen their minds while they strengthen their bodies.”
The quotes largely provide impressions of New York from notable names.
Edgar Allen Poe, for example, said of the city: "I have been roaming far and wide over this island of Manhattan. Some portions of its interior have a certain air of rocky sterility which may impress some imaginations as simply dreary — but to me it conveys the sublimes.”
And Georgia O'Keefe described the city's impact upon her artistic process, saying: "One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.”
Other cultural icons quoted range from poet Walt Whitman to comedian Woody Allen.
Henshaw Jones said that the quotes reflect the city's spirit — especially making the most out of things.
“Just like New York City, our museum finds ways to find opportunity around every corner,” she said. "When you visit, you can experience even more of what has made our city so remarkable and fantastic.”
