Explore the Ruins of a Forgotten City in the Middle of Manhattan: Gilded Age New York

Duration

2.5 to 3 Hours

About

History is recorded in the streetwalls of the city, and this tour seeks out the Gilded Age city when the finest shops, theaters, hotels and museums radiated out from Madison Square. It was the carriage trade era of top hats, fashionable brownstone living, and hotel life. It was a time when saloons, brothels and gambling halls were common, and just across Broadway in a district known as the Tenderloin, where the Garment District is today.

You'll see an American culture in the throes of development. We see the exquisite architecture of the newest building type of the time: the department store. We go only a few feet to cross into the more fun (or dangerous, depending) part of town where we bring back to life a culture of saloons, brothels and gambling halls. We cross back to Fifth Avenue where once again in a head-spinning turn we are surrounded again by more sophisticated architecture.

Historic images will transport you back to that brilliant city that only lasted about 25-30 years. Extraordinary change swept through in a remarkably brief period of time, and more than once! We'll unpeel the layers of rural farmland overrun with a residential homes, overrun with a fashionable city, overrun with commercial business buildings for manufacturing, trade, and offices.