Historic Hotels of Midtown from the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age

Grand Architecture, Posh Style & Eccentric Guests

(Best suited for adults and teenagers that have a strong interest in architecture and New York history.)

Overview

This walking tour tells the story of the famous hotels of Midtown from The Plaza and St. Regis to the Peninsula and Waldorf Astoria. Learn what the neighborhood was like before they were built and how they survived the challenges of Prohibition and beyond.

We’ll cover all kinds of hotels: transient, apartment, bachelor, Raines law, and more, but the focus will be on the lavish, post-Gilded Age hotels that set the standard for elegant design and cutting-edge technologies. Many residents settled in for months or even years. Get ready to hear their incredible stories.

The Tour:

On the walking tour, you will:

• Hear how wealthy New Yorkers both fought and embraced grand hotels (and each other)

• Discover how a double strand of pearls was part of a key real estate transaction

• Understand how hotels whet the appetite of visitors for new technologies, served as exemplars for genteel behavior, and facilitated mobility by providing services usually found in the home

• Enjoy stories of fabulous parties and eccentric hotel guests

• Learn how the ‘apartment hotel’ was really a sleight of hand to circumvent zoning laws

• Consider why John Jacob Astor could have regretted commissioning his face to appear in a Maxfield Parrish mural

• Learn how reining in of sidewalk dining structures is nothing new

Please Note

The walking tour runs rain or shine — dress for the weather!

Private Group: Please contact us for pricing and availability