Private Gilded Age: Upper East Side

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The Waning Days of New York's Gilded Age

About

This is the 3rd of my "Gilded Age" tours (though you do not need to have come on the others to enjoy this tour). While my original Gilded Age tour explores the origins of New York's Gilded Age, and my "New Money" tour explores the divide between the era's old-money Knickerbockers and their Parvenu rivals, this tour looks at the era's final decades which played out on the Upper East Side. Here, some of the city's most powerful families established themselves in the 1890s and 1900s, building splendid mansions along 5th Avenue, Madison Avenue, and the leafy blocks in-between. But these were the grasping final years of the Gilded Age. Many of the surviving mansions we'll visit on this walk were built by a generation of millionaire heirs and heiresses whose fortunes would soon be ravaged by two world wars, a Great Depression, and a bombardment of modern incursions, not the least of which was the automobile and its spatial demands.

On this walk, we will see some of the largest and most spectacular mansions which survive from New York's late Gilded Age. They were built for Vanderbilts, Astors, Roosevelts, Pulitzers, and Carnegies, and they represent the passing of a glittering era of excess the likes of which would not be seen again.

Start Location

General Sherman Statue (NW corner, 59th & 5th)

End Location

Likely the corner of 92nd & 5th, though much depends on pace

Duration

3 Hours, 3+ Miles

Cash tips are always welcome but are neither required nor expected.