Monuments to visit Côte Est Etats-Unis

This magnificent suspension bridge and its blue-grey steel piers connect Manhattan to Brooklyn, as does its famous neighbour Brooklyn Bridge. Built between 1901 and 1912, it starts from the Lower East Side boundary with Chinatown, to connect the DUMBO district to Brooklyn, on the other side of the East River. You can cross it on foot or by bike, it is much less crowded than the Brooklyn Bridge, but the untimely passage of the subway makes the walk rather difficult! The Manhattan Bridge was immortalized on the poster of the film Il était une fois en Amérique (1984).

The huge building is preceded by monumental stairs and surrounded by gigantic columns, which makes it immediately noticeable! Next to Madison Square Garden, right across the street, it stands out frankly. This is the main building of United States Postal Services (USPS), the American postal service. It was built in 1912, and you can still post postcards on it! Part of the building is part of a major expansion project at Penn Station. Once the work is completed, this is where Amtrak trains should be operating.

The Waldorf Astoria, built in 1931, provisionally closed its doors on March 1, 2017 for important work. For 86 years, it was one of the most beautiful hotels in New York, and certainly the most luxurious. Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Hepburn, along with Franck Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and all American presidents, the most prestigious and richest tenants (15 000 US $ after all) have won in his suites. The gangsters of the large Italian families also had their habits at the hotel during the Prohibition. This iconic building that appears in many films and series - weekend at the Waldorf (1945), the Tenenbaum family (2001), The Sopranos - will unfortunately lose its splendour to the great regret of the New Yorkers. The Chinese insurance company that bought the building decided to renovate it fully, including part of its facade. The hotel part will be tiny and most of the rooms will be converted into luxury shops on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors.

This memorial is dedicated to the 32nd American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), but above all to the historic period he had to manage: that of the great depression. 4 rooms make up this together, each representing a mandate from the President, one of the most important being of course the one dedicated to his New Deal policy intended to enable the country to recover from the crisis of 1929. 

This university, founded in 1789 by Jesuit John Carroll, is known for his law school. On sunny days, the beautiful lawns of the campus incite laziness. Bill Clinton, Pat Buchanan (Conservative politician) and the children of Donald Trump (Ivanka and Eric) were educated there. Enjoy the Healy Hall, a historic site, and its beautiful clock tower.

City Hall is New York City Hall, home to the city council, the mayor's offices and various other government departments. The building, built between 1803 and 1812 and restored in 1956, is a prestigious colonial-style building. The steps of this building are famous and popular because of the various events and press conferences that took place there. In the lobby, you can see the trophy won by the New York Yankees in 1996 at the world championships. You can also visit the Governor's Room, an elegant room where various portraits of important men illustrating the history of the United States (Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton...) are displayed. This room was George Washington's office. City Hall Park around the building is a very pleasant green space. In the past, it was a place of public executions. Don't be surprised by the very French influences of architecture, it was the Frenchman Joseph François Mangin (1794-1818) who drew the plans for the building. The vaulted windows and ornaments are inspired by the hexagonal architecture of the time. It is also where many New Yorkers get married here! To say"yes" to New York, you must go to the adjoining building, the Office of the City Clerk - Marriage Bureau, where you will obtain your marriage license for the modest sum of US$35. You can get married the next day. However, it is impossible to choose the time of the ceremony, you will have to go there and wait until it is your turn.

The 82 steps of the museum and the statue of Rocky (at the bottom of the steps, on the right side opposite the museum) are unmissable of a visit of Philadelphia. We scramble to take pictures in front of the famous (and fictive) boxer immortalized by Stallone in the saga eponymous and we climb the steps running as "the Italian standard" in the first of six films. The statue appeared in the 3 rd opus, and if originally it was (as in the film) at the top of the steps, it was moved to avoid too dangerous gatherings. This saga, which tells the story of a man full of ambition from the poor neighborhoods of Philadelphia becoming a successful boxer of success, has contributed greatly to raising awareness of the city internationally.

A magnificent example of a Gothic Revival style Art-Deco skyscraper, the building (one of the first in New York City to be classified as a historic monument) erected in 1924 stands its 103 m of black brick crowned with gold above Bryant Park. Renamed the American Standard Building, since 2001 it has housed the Bryant Park Hotel, whose rooms are far from the splendour of the façade. He inspired the painter Georgia O'Keeffe to paint her famous Radiator Building, Night New York (1927).

You can see this famous building from the road since the famous political scandal of 1974, which led to the fall of the Nixon administration and the resignation of the president. The latter had monitored the opposing political clan, the Democrats, who had an office in the building. The journalists who had uncovered the first elements of the scandal had been informed by the mysterious informant "Deep Throat". Watergate is famous for its adaptation into a film (Les Hommes du Président with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman). It is now a simple office building.