2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The museum’s original 5th Avenue incarnation in 1880. Photo from Library of Congress.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was incorporated in 1870. Seven months later, the Museum acquired its first object, a Roman sarcophagus, and opened to the public in the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue between 53rd and 54th Street. The Museum next occupied the the Douglas Mansion at 128 West 14th Street, before moving to its current location on Fifth Avenue in 1880. The stately brownstone building at 681 Fifth Avenue was later replaced by a more high-rise commercial and office building.