Poets House

Reopened in early 2010, the Poets House Children's Room is a sunlit getaway, with views of Rockefeller Park and the Hudson River. The whimsical space is outfitted with furnishings like a canoe-shaped bookcase, an old-fashioned birdcage and antique school desks painted mustard yellow. Other accents include five manual typewriters (conveniently loaded with sheets of paper); a sturdy card catalog, now obsolete thanks to digital databases, holds bric-a-brac like wooden eggs, shark teeth and pressed leaves—all meant to spark youngsters’ poetic imaginations. The inviting space holds frequent programs for children.