2 Best Performing Arts Venues in Upper East Side, New York City

Completed in 1881, occupying an entire city block, this Gothic-style brick building is now an arts center but was originally the headquarters, drill hall, and social club for the Seventh Regiment, a National Guard unit called the "Silk Stocking" regiment because its members were mainly drawn from wealthy Gilded Age families. The reception rooms on the first floor and Company Rooms on the second floor were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, and other fashionable designers of the time. A major renovation included restoring Tiffany-designed Veterans rooms and the building's facade. These days the armory is used for trade shows, huge art installations, plays, and concerts, which take full advantage of the 55,000-square-foot drill hall. Intimate artist conversations, recitals, and experimental performances are held in the smaller, first- and second-floor spaces. A 75-minute walking tour visits the first floor period rooms, the drill hall, and part of the second floor; buy tickets in advance.

Renamed as The 92nd Street Y, New York—92NY, for short—this grand Upper East Side cultural institution is undergoing a $200 million plan to redevelop its campus, expand its programming, and revamp and enhance performance spaces. Well-known soloists, jazz musicians, show-tune stylists, and chamber music groups perform in 92NY's freshly renovated 905-seat Kaufmann Concert Hall and in the new Arnhold Center, a dance and performance complex with an adjoining dance studio. But the programming is hardly limited to music and dance—its calendar brims with popular lectures and readings series featuring big-name film and TV stars, authors, poets, playwrights, scientists, medical experts, political pundits, and media bigwigs (many events are livestreamed and archived online). Film programs, arts and crafts workshops, and family-friendly events are also worth checking out.