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Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

USA / New Jersey / West New York / West 42nd Street, 234-242
 tourist attraction, wax museum

10-story building completed in 2000, adjoining the east side of the Hilton Times Square, housing Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and formerly Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Madame Tussaud's is the New York branch of the world famous wax museum based in London, containing over 200 life-sized, physiologically accurate representations of well-known people. The Ripley's contained a sprawling, oft-interactive collection of curiosities ranging from shrunken heads to unusual animals.

The front facades on 42nd Street are ostensibly faced in pre-cast concrete, but are almost completely masked by an array of signage and various projecting attachments. The Ripley's entrance, at the west, has an angled, projecting marquee in red, gold, and hundreds of light bulbs; above it is an array of signboards. At the west end, the upper floors are exposed, with double-windows, and a circular window at the top. The wax museum's entrance at the east side is painted red, with recessed glass doors and show-windows at the sides, all set beneath a projecting glass-and-metal flying saucer element. Rising above this is a semi-cylindrical framework for a pair of external elevator cabs of curved glass. A vertical signband fronts the cylinder with letters spelling out "MADAME TUSSAUDS", grasped by a giant silver hand at the top. Another hand at the ground floor holds a smaller, round sign.

The rear facade on 41st Street is clad in grey-green metal above a pre-cast concrete ground floor with a freight entrance and service doors. Rows of horizontal lines cross the facade, with a few metal vents at the 2nd and 4th floors, and the only windows (in bands at the west half) at the 7th floor. The Ripley's branch closed on November 28, 2021.

www.nycwax.com
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°45'22"N   73°59'18"W

Comments

  • I have seen Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London, which is much better than the one in New York.
This article was last modified 9 months ago