Walk down 6th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, and you will feel the crushing weight of capitalism. The corporate towers are fortresses of steel and glass, their lobbies guarded by security turnstiles and stern-faced doormen. To the average pedestrian, these buildings are “keep out” zones.
But if you know the secret code of New York City zoning law, you know something the tourists don’t: you have the legal right to walk into many of these luxury buildings, sit on their furniture, use their clean bathrooms, and enjoy their air conditioning—all for free.
These spaces are called Privately Owned Public Spaces, or POPS. They are the result of a “Faustian bargain” made between the city and real estate developers in 1961. The deal was simple: if a developer wanted to build a skyscraper taller than the legal limit, they could add extra floors to the top if they agreed to build and maintain a public park at the bottom.
The result is a hidden network of over 550 secret oases scattered across the city. Some are simple concrete plazas, but the best ones are elaborate, climate-controlled indoor atriums with waterfalls, bamboo forests, and art installations.
The “Hidden” Garden of Ford Foundation
One of the most spectacular examples is the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice on 43rd Street. From the outside, it looks like a severe, rusted-steel box. But walk through the revolving doors, and you enter a subtropical rainforest.
The atrium soars 12 stories high, filled with magnolia trees, ferns, and a terraced garden that smells of damp earth and moss. Sunlight streams in from the glass roof, illuminating a space that feels miles away from the honking taxis outside. It is quiet, serene, and completely free. You can sit on a bench and read a book for hours, and no security guard will ask you to leave. It is yours.
The Elevated Acre: A Secret Meadow in the Sky
In the Financial District, where space is at its most expensive, there lies a literal acre of grass hidden 30 feet in the air. This is the Elevated Acre at 55 Water Street.
To find it, you have to look for a nondescript escalator tucked away on a side street. Ride it up, and you emerge onto a rolling green lawn with a boardwalk offering stunning views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River. It’s a favorite lunch spot for Wall Street insiders, but for a visitor, it feels like discovering a glitch in the matrix—a silent meadow floating above the chaotic FDR Drive.
The Waterfall Tunnel of Midtown
Perhaps the most surreal POPS is at 6½ Avenue. Yes, New York has fractional avenues. Between 51st and 57th Streets, mid-block pedestrian arcades cut through the massive office towers.
One of these arcades, at 1325 Avenue of the Americas, features a glass tunnel that passes directly underneath a thundering waterfall. You can walk through the lobby, surrounded by the sound of crashing water, a bizarre moment of Zen in the middle of the corporate grind.
How to Spot Them
The trick to finding these spaces is to look for the plaque. By law, every POPS must display a small sign near the entrance. It usually features a tree icon and the words “Public Space.”
However, developers often try to hide these signs or make the entrances look intimidating to discourage the “riff-raff.” They might put a security desk right in front of the door or use dark tinted glass. Do not be deterred. If you see the plaque, that space belongs to you.
Walking into a POPS is a power move. It changes your relationship with the city. You stop being a passive observer on the sidewalk and become an insider, unlocking the hidden amenity layers of the metropolis.
So the next time you are tired, hot, and overwhelmed by the crowds of Times Square, don’t look for a Starbucks. Look for a luxury lobby with a small tree sign. Walk past the doorman, find a leather armchair by a waterfall, and enjoy the places to visit in New York that the billionaires built for you.