NYC Rainy Day Museum Planner: Libraries and MoMA in Midtown

On a wet day in Midtown, think of the route as a straight line north. The Morgan Library & Museum sits at Madison Avenue and 36th Street, the New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building fills Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, and the Museum of Modern Art is on 53rd Street. This rainy day museum planner keeps the outdoor walking to one six-block stretch and one subway ride.

Start at the Morgan, because its rooms are best before the afternoon crowd. Pierpont Morgan commissioned Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White to build his private library, finished in 1906, and his son opened it to the public in 1924. Today you enter through Renzo Piano's 2006 glass addition, where Gilbert Court is a tall, bright atrium. On a stormy morning the rain streams down the glass above the café tables.

Walk through to the East Room, the original library, where three tiers of walnut bookcases climb to a painted ceiling and a large sixteenth-century Flemish tapestry hangs over the fireplace. Visitors move slowly and talk quietly here. Staff will ask you not to lean on the cases. The Morgan owns three Gutenberg Bibles, and one is often on view in the room, though displays rotate.

Morgan's study across the rotunda is smaller and darker, with red damask walls and a heavy desk. Do not skip the temporary exhibitions in the newer galleries. They are where the Morgan shows drawings, music manuscripts and literary papers from its collection, and they are often the reason regulars come back. Plan on ninety minutes for the whole building, and pick up a coffee in Gilbert Court before you head back out into the weather.

This is the one walk worth an umbrella: up Madison Avenue from 36th to 41st Street, then west a block to Fifth Avenue. Store awnings and building overhangs along Madison give partial cover, so stay close to the buildings rather than the curb. If the rain is sideways, a short cab ride is fine, but the walk takes about ten minutes and passes some fine Murray Hill townhouses on the way.

The Schwarzman Building opened in 1911, designed by Carrère and Hastings, and its two marble lions were named Patience and Fortitude by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in the 1930s. Climb the steps or use the side entrance on 42nd Street, which skips most of the wet staircase. Inside, Astor Hall's white marble keeps the noise down, and the bag inspection at the door is quick. Shake off your umbrella before you go in. Guards notice puddles on the marble.

The Rose Main Reading Room on the third floor is the photograph everyone wants: long oak tables, brass lamps and a ceiling of painted skies, restored and reopened in 2016. It is a working reading room, so speak quietly and keep to the visitor area if a guard asks. On the first floor, the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures, opened in 2021, displays rare items from the collection in one gallery.

The detail families love is in the Children's Center on the ground floor: the original stuffed animals that belonged to Christopher Robin Milne and inspired Winnie-the-Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga and Tigger, displayed in a glass case. It takes five minutes, and it is easy to miss if you go straight upstairs. An honest note: on a rainy Saturday the reading room fills with sightseers, so a weekday visit is calmer.

From the library, take the stairs down into the 42nd Street–Bryant Park station. On weekdays the M train runs from there straight to Fifth Avenue/53rd Street, a short walk from MoMA's entrance. Otherwise ride to 47–50 Streets–Rockefeller Center and use the underground concourse to get most of the way under cover. Either way, the rain only touches you for the last block on 53rd Street.

MoMA's 2019 expansion by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with Gensler, added gallery space and made the collection easier to walk in a loop. The fifth floor holds the stretch of the collection from the 1880s to the 1940s, where Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night draws a permanent crowd. Head there first, then work through Monet's Water Lilies and Matisse's Dance (I) when the room around the Van Gogh is three deep.

Skip the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden in heavy rain; Philip Johnson's 1953 design is beautiful, but the marble paving gets slick and the sculptures are just as good viewed through the lobby glass. Instead, use the time for the design and architecture galleries, which most visitors rush. The museum shops at street level are a decent place to wait out a shower before heading back to the subway.

All three buildings check bags, and MoMA does not allow large bags or wet umbrellas in its galleries, so use the coat check in the lobby. Book a timed ticket for the Morgan and MoMA before you leave home. The library does not need one. If you are short on time, choose the Morgan and the library, which together make an easy half-day with only the Madison Avenue walk outdoors.

For lunch, eat at the Morgan's café or pick something near Bryant Park before going underground. Avoid planning MoMA for the last hour before closing on a rainy weekend, when the lobby and coat check get backed up with everyone arriving at once. Wear shoes with real grip: marble floors at the library and the steps outside both turn slippery when wet.

When you come out of MoMA, ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a warm dinner within a few blocks of 53rd Street or a quiet bar to sit out the rain before the train home. Tell it how far you are willing to walk and what you are in the mood for, and Karpo suggests a short list of options to choose from.