Address
Central Park West at 79th Street, NY, NY 10024
Phone Number
(212 ) 769 5200
Date Visited
12/28/2015
Website
American Museum of Natural History
Description
The American Museum of Natural History is located on Central Park West in Manhattan. A parking garage is located directly under the building, with handicapped access directly into the building.The Rose Center entrance is handicapped accessible, as is the 77th Street entrance (for special programs only). Each of these entrances has double doors to enter.
All public areas in the museum are wheelchair accessible. All theatres include wheelchair locations and companion seats. All eating establishments in the museum are wheelchair accessible.
Handicapped accessible restrooms are located on the following floors:
Lower level near the subway entrance
Lower level, Rose Center for Space
First floor, Charles Dana Education Wing
First floor, Rose Center for Earth and Space
Third floor, Hall of Primates
Fourth floor, Orientation Center
A single-occupancy, family bathroom is on the main floor, near the Cafe on One.
Four large elevators will get you to all floors. Galleries are spacious, with places to sit in many of them.
- Doors: glass, double
Number of floors: 5
Elevators: 4
Ramps: none
Steps and staircases: staircases to all floors
Width of aisles: galleries have ample space
Places to sit: benches in most galleries
Location of restrooms: on all floors
Type of restroom: wheelchair accessible on all floors except 2nd: family restroom on main floor
Ease of entry and exit: configuration of several restrooms is tricky
Baby changing station: yes
Available food services: 3 different venues - check website
Friendliness of staff: pleasant and helpful
Notes: *Fee parking is available in a garage under the museum, with handicapped access directly into the museum.
The American Museum of Natural History is a New York City gem. It is also huge. It consists of 27 interconnected buildings, 45 permanent exhibition halls, a planetarium and library. The museum is 1,600,000 square feet and houses 32 million specimens. The museum gets 5 million visitors annually. My husband and I think most of them were there on the same day we were.
Since there is so much to see and do in such a large space, it would probably be a good idea to go to the museum’s website to plan the visit in advance.
There are a variety of special exhibits and shows at any given time. We set out to see “The Power of Poison.” This is an extraordinary exhibit both in the information it offers, and the manner in which it is presented.
The museum has several entrances. Check to see where it would be easiest for you to enter and exit.
There are different admission packages in addition to the basic entrance fee;
a good reason to figure out what you would like to do before getting there. The personnel manning the admission counters are very helpful and quite pleasant. Telling the gentleman which exhibits we were interested in, and the amount of time we had, allowed him to schedule us in what turned out to be the best use of our time with the least amount of steps. We got to see everything we wanted with barely any retracing of our steps, something that we greatly appreciated.
Looking at the museum map allowed us to get an idea of where the handicapped restrooms are located. A single-occupancy family bathroom is located on the main floor, near the Café on One. This is probably a good thing to know because it was not easy to find a person to ask directions.
The museum has four large elevators. All public areas, including the theaters are wheelchair accessible. There are companion seats as well.
Spacious galleries, many with places to sit, make viewing easy.
Although we did not take time to eat, the museum has a variety of eating establishments, all with wheelchair accessibility.
As always we at Destination Accessible advise you to check a venue’s website, www.amnh.org, when planning a visit to “know before you go.”
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