New York as you've never seen it before (via Instagram)

Think you've seen it all in the one of the world's most visited cities? Here we present some of the most striking views of some of New York's lesser-known quarters as captured on Instagram. 

Roosevelt Island

The island that sits on the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, named after former US president Franklin D Roosevelt, has a fascinating history dating back to 1637, including a period as a quarantine site for criminals, smallpox patients and the mentally ill in the early to mid-19th century. The destitute conditions of the island’s prison and several hospitals were chronicled by English author Charles Dickens in 1843.

Many of these buildings have become city landmarks such as the Renwick Ruin (the remains of an 1854 smallpox hospital, pictured above), Blackwell House (a 1796 farmhouse and one of New York’s few remaining examples of 18th-century architecture) and the Octagon Tower (pictured below) from 1843 which formed part of New York City’s first insane asylum.

The island’s tram is the country’s only aerial commuter tram, among the 20 other trams in operation across the US and Canada.

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Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital

The island forming part of the city’s historic Statue of Liberty attraction (which is set on nearby Liberty Island) is also home to an abandoned hospital (pictured below), which dates from 1902 and once served as a detention facility for immigrants arriving on the island who were considered to be too ill and physically unfit to enter the country. There they would either be released to start their life in the US or be sent back to their home countries if they didn’t recover.

The complex was the first public hospital to open in the US and the largest at the time. It functioned as a hospital until 1930 before it was abandoned in 1954. Its main building was restored and opened as a museum in 1990, while the unrestored parts of the complex were opened to the public for hard-hat tours from October 2014.

Belvedere Castle

The sprawling Central Park, one of the city’s defining landmarks, is full of quiet corners offering an escape from the city, such as the Belvedere Castle (pictured below) built in 1869. Overlooking the reservoir to the north (now known as the Great Lawn) and the Ramble to the south, the castle offers the highest views over the park and its surrounding cityscape.

From 1919, much of New York’s weather data was measured from the castle’s tower by the National Weather Service before the castle was restored and reopened as a visitor centre and souvenir shop.  

The Ravine

Tucked away in the North Woods - a 40-acre woodland part of Central Park - drowning out the rush and noise of the city, is the quiet calm of The Ravine (pictured below). Forming the park’s only stream valley, its waterfall is created by a loch that’s dammed in several places to create the cascades. The area was intended by the park’s designers to resemble the wilderness of the Adirondack Mountains of rural upstate New York.

The Campbell

This historic bar and cocktail lounge, formerly known as the Campbell Apartment, has been one of Grand Central Station’s throwback staples for nearly 20 years. The former lavish office space of John W Campbell, an American businessman, was built in 1923 to resemble a 13th-century Florentine palace, complete with a hand-painted, plaster of paris high-beamed ceiling and a mahogany balcony, which still remains today.

The incredible space was restored to its former glory in 1999, and reopened this month as The Campbell under new ownership. Having seen the likes of several famous faces including George Clooney, Liam Neeson and former US president Bill Clinton, the dark and atmospheric bar is an ideal spot for a nightcap in the Jazz Age era, retaining its old-fashioned feel with classic interiors including expansive windows made with centuries-old glass.

NY Botanical Garden

For more garden escapes, there’s none other than the New York Botanical Gardens, where last month American sculptor Dale Chihuly, the artist behind the glass chandelier in the lobby of the V&A in London, unveiled his latest series of dramatic sculptural installations around the pool (pictured below), courtyard and conservatory of the gardens.

The Lowline

Following the success of the city’s hugely popular High Line, an elevated public park built on an abandoned freight railway line on Manhattan’s West Side, earlier this year the city introduced The Lowline (pictured below), currently set in a preliminary space for what will be the world’s first underground park when it is completed (a rendering of which is pictured further below), hopefully by 2021.

The Lowline is an all natural green space that aims to breathe new life into a disused trolley terminal dating back to 1908. Using innovative solar technology designed by James Ramsey of the New York-based Raad Studio, sunlight will be transmitted throughout the park via a reflective surface underground. Set in the 1.5-acre space of the Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal, below Delancey Street, in the heart of Manhattan's Lower East Side, the Lowline is located in "one of the least green areas" of the city but hopes to be a "bright new spot" for the area.

Surfing beaches

Beyond the much-loved Coney Island, the Big Apple offers a host of sandy beaches just a short metro or car journey from the heart of the city in Queens and Brooklyn, including Rockaway Beach (pictured below) and Long Beach - New York’s only two surfing beaches.

The coastal resort area of Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, pictured below, (named after Brighton, England, in 1878, which around the same time was becoming a popular day-trip destination for Londoners after the arrival of the London and Brighton Railways service in 1841) offers a welcome escape from the crowds of neighbouring Coney Island and is a popular spot for locals. Offering plenty of specialty restaurants and shops offering vodka, black bread, dumplings and jams, Brighton Beach is known as “Little Odessa” for its Ukrainian feel.

The Cloisters

Set in a 1930s-built cloisters (pictured below) in Fort Tryon Park, this museum houses the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Medieval collection: over 5,000 pieces, including tapestries, statues, stained glass and ornate metalwork. The building’s stone passageways were designed to resemble the abbeys of medieval western Europe.

The Oculus

The major transport hub (pictured below) designed Santiago Calatrava - the Spanish architect behind several iconic structures around the world including the City of Arts and Sciences and the Science Museum in Valenica - opened last year as part of the newly built World Trade Center complex.

It features a striking unusually shaped spiky exterior (pictured below) and all-white cathedral-like interior, with an almost spaceship-like futuristic feel in its shopping mall area.

Pomander Walk

The historic collection of 27 buildings (pictured below) was built in 1921 by a nightclub manager who had hoped to expand the site into a hotel but died before the plan ever came to fruition. The complex remained and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1982 following a risk of it being demolished. The houses lend a Tudor-esque feel, with facades similar to those seen on the timber-framed Tudor period homes seen in Stratford-upon-Avon.

There are also historic structures on Grove Court, a private courtyard surrounded by 19th-century townhouses, and colourful homes on MacDougal Street (pictured above) and MacDougal Alley in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of Manhattan.

Inscape

This striking 5,000 sq-ft meditation studio (pictured below), on West 21st Street in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, attempts to offer a retreat from the city and an oasis of calm through “multi-sensory experiences using light, sound, scent and inner reflection”.

NYC in the clouds

Head to the top of New York's Empire State Building on a cloudy night for an atmospheric encounter. In the fog, there will be few other tourists and so no queues.

On the viewing platform, when completely surrounded by a mass of white fog, it feels like you are sitting up with the clouds. If it's windy and cold, clutch each other close for warmth and keep your eyes peeled for the occasional peek of the enchanting Manhattan skyline when the fog parts.

10 amazing things you probably didn't know about New York

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