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Private Tour of the Gilded Age City around Madison Square

Overview
What visitors will take away from this tour was just how small the Gilded Age city of New York was. Distrcits for shopping and theaters, for the upper and middle classes, were all a block or so away from each other. Not only that, but the apartment building, department store and office tower were all new innovations, and at their social heights in the same place around Madison Square just as telephones and electicty were coming on the scene.

Most fascinating will be the proximity all of these venues, from the carriage trade shops and the homes of familes like the Roosevelts, Astors, and Schermerhorns, were to the blocks of illiicit, often raucous nightlife activity in the old Tenderloin just a few blcoks away.

This is a tour de force of the Gilded Age City of NEw York around Madison Square.
City: New York City
Wed 02 Apr
i
You can choose the date already on the booking website
Starting at $425.00
Wed 02 Apr
Starting at $425.00
Make a reservation
What's Included
Expert guide
Additional Info
  • Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
  • Service animals allowed
  • Public transportation options are available nearby
  • Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
What To Expect
1
Madison Square
Pictures enhance a short walk and talk around Madison Square, including the hisotries of Met Life and the first Madison Square Gardens at the height of the Gilded Age.
2
Broadway
We begin hte process of circumnavigating the ruins of the long forgotten city, when the telephone and electricity were brand new and not yet common to households. It was the age of the department store, hte apartment buildnig and the office towers, new ways of living, working and playing for a rising middle class. Each thoroughfare that crossed at Madison Square held a different class-based attraction of some form of commercia culture, including a redlight distrcit of blocks above 23rd Street and west of Broadway! Here, we begin the tour with the carriage trade shops of upper class wealth along Broadway, including th old Lord & Taylor and Arnold Constable & Co buildings, among others.
3
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue below 23rd Street has its own particular hisotry of development like no other place in hte city. Here, the Garment Distrcit was "diverted" from Midtown. The built environment here is different from any other blocks around.
4
Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas)
Sixth Avenue was the middle class shopping district and retains its spactacular array of buildings as the city moved from cast iron to steel frame construction. Some of the buidlings include: Seigel-Cooper, B. Altmans, Hugh O'Neill's, and Adams Dry Goods Store.
5
Broadway
Above 23rd Street history takes an abrupt turn as a few steps take us into the old tenderloin, blocks of concert-saloons, brothels and gambling halls from a time when the main form of entertainment in the house was the piano.
6
Flatiron District
We cross back to Fifth Avenue and again into a realm of substantial architecture. Here, early experimental forays into multiple family housing: apartment-hotels, French flats, bachelor flats, early coops are the featured buildign types. Some of the buildings include: the Wilbraham, Holland House, Seville and the Martha Washington.
7
Madison Square Park
We end the tour in Madison Square Park with some last interesting histories, inluding the Worth Monument, Delmonico's and the old Brunswick Club.
Show 4 more stops
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

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