New York Cityscape — 3D Map of Lower Manhattan

Manhattan is an island, and nowhere is that more apparent than at its southern tip. The Hudson to the west, the East River to the east, the harbour opening to the south — and at the centre of it all, the dense, irregular street pattern of Lower Manhattan, the oldest part of New York, where the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam took root in the early 17th century before the British grid arrived to impose order on everything above Houston Street.

This model captures the southern tip of Manhattan at 1:5000 scale, from the pre-grid organic lanes of the Financial District to the towers of Wall Street rising above them. Cast in white resin and mounted in an oak frame, the water surrounding the peninsula on three sides is one of the most distinctive features of the model — and one of the most striking arguments for the optional blue river finish.

The area

The model covers Lower Manhattan — the historic core of New York City, where the streets still follow the organic pattern of New Amsterdam rather than the Commissioners' grid that took over above Houston Street in 1811. The Financial District anchors the centre, with Wall Street, Broadway and the irregular block pattern of the original Dutch settlement clearly legible. The Hudson River frames the western edge, the East River the eastern, and the tip of the island — where Battery Park and the ferry terminals face out towards the harbour and the Statue of Liberty — closes the southern end of the frame. The concentration of towers above the pre-grid street pattern is one of the great contrasts in world urbanism: some of the tallest buildings on earth rising from streets that were once country lanes and Native American trails.

Options and finish

• Frame: Oak frame, available in light or dark stain
• Acrylic case: Optional 
• Hudson and East Rivers: Standard white or optional blue finish
• Display: Hanging system included — display vertically on a wall or horizontally on a desk or tabletop
• Scale: 1:5000

Other sizes

Also available in two alternative formats: New York Cityscape (L) covers the same area at 1:2500 — larger and more detailed. New York Cityscape (M) extends the coverage up to Midtown at 1:10000.

For more on how our cityscapes are made — the satellite data, the process, the thinking behind them — see our 3D cityscape art guide.