AIA New York organizes several different walking tours throughout Manhattan and the boroughs, with a special focus on modern and contemporary architecture. Expert guides, all members of AIA New York, walk intimate groups of visitors through some of New York City’s most distinctive neighborhoods, exploring the city’s rich history and stunning new buildings, as well as creative examples of adaptive reuse, urban planning, and development.
Questions? Email tours@aiany.org.
Upcoming Walking Tours
Walking Tour: Madison Avenue, High Fashion, and Historic Preservation
General Public: $30
Meet at the Madison Avenue BID offices: 29 East 61 Street, Third Floor, New York, NY 10065
Join AIANY and the Madison Avenue BID as we set out to discover the history behind Madison Avenue’s landmark buildings and explore how high-fashion retail has been incorporated into the district to create a world-famous shopping destination. The area has evolved from brownstones built in the 1870s and 1880s to lavish Beaux Arts townhouses by celebrated architects such as McKim, Mead & White, Carrère & Hastings, and Ernest Flagg, to luxury apartment buildings designed by Rosario Candela, Emery Roth, and others. Since the early 20th century, many of these historic residential buildings have been transformed to accommodate prestigious stores. The tour will examine architecture from 1870 to the present on and near Madison in the East 60s and 70s, an area entirely within the Upper East Side Historic District. We will consider how landmark designation has preserved the avenue’s distinctive character.
This monthly tour is offered in partnership with the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District (BID), a public-private partnership established in 1996 with the goal of enhancing the quality of life for the community and its visitors. The BID focuses on public safety, sanitation, promotion and advocacy for the district, striving to make Madison Avenue a more attractive and dynamic place in which to shop, live, work and visit.
AIANY Guide: John Arbuckle, Assoc. AIA
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Health and Safety Guidelines:
AIANY cannot be held liable and assumes no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Tour is limited to 15 attendees. Walkups cannot be guaranteed a spot on the tour.
Cancellation Policy:
AIANY Walking Tours take place rain or shine, please dress for the weather. There are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges, unless we cancel a tour.
Walking Tour: Medieval Lower Manhattan
General Public: $30
Meet across the street from Trinity Church at 89 Broadway. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start of the tour.
New York City was originally known as New Amsterdam when it was founded in 1625 as a trading and resupply post for The Netherland’s West India Trading Company. In 1664, the British took control of New Amsterdam and changed its name to New York City. It became a key city in England’s expansionist colonization of North America, yet the Dutch culture of commerce and trade is embedded in the core of NYC’s purpose and history. The downtown district is rich in the city’s historic development of buildings, national political history, and the evolution of a capitalist economy centered on Wall Street. We will walk the circumference of New Amsterdam as it existed in 1664—sites include Wall Street, the NY Stock Exchange, Fraunces Tavern, India House, and Federal Hall National Memorial. This walking tour highlights the contrast in urban form actualized during the Netherlands' transition into its late Medieval and Renaissance eras and into the 1811 NYC Commissioners’ City Plan—the city’s famous street grid.
AIANY Guide: William M. Singer, AIA, LEED AP BD + D
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AIANY cannot be held liable and assumes no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Tour is limited to 15 attendees. Walkups cannot be guaranteed a spot on the tour.
Cancellation Policy:
AIANY Walking Tours take place rain or shine, please dress for the weather. There are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges, unless we cancel a tour.
Policies
AIANY Walking tours take place rain or shine, please dress for the weather. There are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges, unless we cancel a tour.
Accessibility
Please note that AIANY walking tours are not ADA accessible. However, since accessibility requirements can vary from person to person, please email tours@aiany.org prior to purchasing your tickets for more information.