Nestled into a bustling neighborhood of high-rise apartment buildings and street-level antique shops on Second Avenue at 56th Street in mid-Manhattan, stands The Manhattan Art & Antiques Center, housing the most vital, eclectic, extraordinary assortment of art and antiques found anywhere.

“We have the finest quality, widest variety and best value all under one roof,” says Stephen Roedler, director of The Center. Indeed, Manhattan Art & Antiques Center is a three level urban mall catering to the discerning, consumer, serious collector, investor, antiques buff, designer, architect or tourist looking for the perfect, surprisingly affordable gift.

Housing a variety of galleries – some full-scale showrooms, others small shops filled with jewelry, silver and objects of art, The Manhattan Art & Antiques Center has the ambience of a glorious shopping plaza, each shop more intriguing than the one before. Specializing in such diverse items as period furniture, Georgian silver, antique jewelry, folk art, Brüssels tapestries, clocks, architectural sculpture, Asian art & antiques and African carvings, The Center is a destination for a quick purchase or a full day of browsing and shopping.

HISTORY

When Glenwood Management Corporation planned to build a luxury high rise complex, the question was raised of how the street level space was to be utilized. The creative vision of an indoor urban mall devoted to art and antiques would expand the space and provide a new home for the small antiques merchants who had been uprooted from their traditional sites scattered along Second & Third Avenues. This new environment provided many more vendors the opportunity to participate in this unique upscale shopping mall. “We helped preserve the original shopping flavor of the area and we provided New York City with a unique and revitalizing cultural asset,” Steve Roedler explains.

Opened in October 1975, The Center now houses more than 100 galleries, linked by elevators and a spiral staircase. Each level has a flavor all its own. Entering on the lobby level, one is enticed by an array of boutiques displaying jewelry, china, silver and many other art objects. The first concourse which is actually one level below the lobby, is like an avenue lined with spacious galleries. Here one can find antique tapestries, art deco furniture, clocks, carpets, and fine objects of art from all over the world, including extensive collections of Asian art and antiques. The second concourse, below the first, has a calming water fountain surrounded by plants at the foot of the spiral staircase, a peaceful place to reenergize before taking an international tour of the larger shops devoted to European furniture, architectural antiques, Asian and African art and Americana.

IDEAL SHOPPING

Prices at The Manhattan Art and Antiques Center range from a mere $10 to $500,000, so everyone from the sophisticated collector to the cost-conscious shopper looking for a unique gift can find something appropriate to their needs. And the possibilities are endless: “We are virtually a mini United Nations”, Roedler states. “since most of these dealers travel extensively and frequently return to their home countries, The Center offers as wide a range of international art and antiques as can be found under any one roof in the world.” In fact, many dealers from abroad make regular trips to the Center to find things to replenish their own galleries.

The Center also serves as a major source for interior designers and their clients. They can furnish a home, full apartment or select one or two special items for a dramatic room accent. It’s an incredibly convenient resource for them.

“It wasn’t long ago,” Roedler explains, “Europeans and Asians complained that that their nations’ art and antiques were being consumed by affluent Americans. Today, by contrast, the flow of purchases is more balanced with much of the American inventories being bought by both overseas collectors and Americans.”

It’s no surprise that The Center’s clientele includes an increasing number of people looking for investments for value appreciation. “Having been burned by other forms of investment, many executives are emulating Europeans and Asians who have traditionally sought protection in the rising value of art and antiques.” Many corporations now buy antiques as both an investment and a way to add sophistication and style to their office and corporate image”, says Roedler

Some of the exciting galleries at The Manhattan Art & Antiques Center include Hemingway African Gallery, offering a vast range of African sculpture, pottery, masks, rugs, blankets beadwork and paintings; Flying Cranes Antiques, Ltd., exhibiting Japanese and Chinese art and antiques from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Nelson and Nelson displaying dazzling examples of late 19th and early 20th century silver; Hoffman-Gampetro, presenting an elegant assemblage of silver, glass, china, porcelains and furniture and Sundial NYC featuring antique clocks and accessories. These are just a few of the many exciting finds at The Manhattan Art & Antiques Center.