Midtown Manhattan has seen more than its fair share of landmark battles. On this walk, we consider the landmark rationale and battle history of the Villard Houses/Palace Hotel (one of the earliest battles), St. Bartholomew’s Church (with issues of church/state conflict), Lever House (one of the new breed of modern landmarks), and Grand Central Terminal (whose landmark status was finally upheld by the Supreme Court).

Third session of this NYU course. Five walks (Thursday afternoons, April 10, 17 and 24 and May 1 and 8) take us to Manhattan’s major monuments of art deco architecture.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

Fourth session of this NYU course. Five walks (Thursday afternoons, April 10, 17 and 24 and May 1 and 8) take us to Manhattan’s major monuments of art deco architecture.

Fifth session of this NYU course. Five walks (Thursday afternoons, April 10, 17 and 24 and May 1 and 8) take us to Manhattan’s major monuments of art deco architecture.

The Upper East Side – Manhattan’s gold coast – maintains an aura of conservative respectability, and perhaps as a result never attracted as much Art Deco flash as its counterpart on the west side of Central Park. Nevertheless, tucked among the Beaux-Arts town houses and sedate neo-Georgian apartment buildings, the neighborhood has some remarkable examples by some of the city’s best architects of the period.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

This tour, which includes the former Custom House, Steamship Row, Castle Clinton, Federal Hall, and the House of Morgan, will discover well-known highlights as well as some unexpected delights. From the spectacular skyline up in the air to archaeological relics down underground, Downtown remains one of the world’s great urban treasures, even as it rebuilds.

A walk along midtown Manhattan’s major boulevard of Art Deco skyscrapers.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

See the great Broadway theaters built between the turn of the century and the onset of the Great Depression­ – stunning works of art that are monuments to the lively history of American theater.

Towering above the narrow streets of 17th-century Nieuw Amsterdam are some of the city’s finest 20th century skyscrapers., including the best of Ralph Walker, once voted the “architect of the century” by his peers.

On February 1, 2013, the beautifully restored Grand Central Terminal celebrated its centennial, accompanied by exhibitions, events and the new book, Grand Central Terminal: 100 Years of a New York Landmark. The terminal’s creation combined engineering bravado, technological wizardry and real estate savvy with innovative planning and Paris-inspired Beaux-Arts design. This illustrated lecture brings the terminal to life – its remarkable history, stunning architecture and central role in creating Midtown Manhattan. Free and open to the public.

A pleasant stroll along Central Park West for a closer look at the buildings that form Manhattan’s major residential skyline. We’ll see the great twin-towered skyscraper apartment buildings – the Century, the Majestic and the El Dorado – and other multi-colored jazz-age fantasies of high living overlooking the park.

A meandering walk across the upper west tracts of the Upper West Side, looking at Art Deco marvels from West 85th to 103rd streets, Broadway to Riverside Drive.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

Midtown Manhattan has seen more than its fair share of landmark battles. On this walk, we consider the landmark rationale and battle history of some of the biggest.

Lecture covering the great skyscrapers of architects Raymond Hood, William Van Alen, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Ralph Walker, then tracing the adaptation of this “skyscraper style” through apartment buildings on the Bronx’s Grand Concourse, airport terminals at LaGuardia, the Central Park West residential skyline, automated midtown parking garages, diners, hotels, department stores, banks and theaters.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

Art Deco in the borough of Queens – a bus tour sponsored by the Art Deco Society of New York. Watch this space for further details!

A pleasant stroll along Central Park West for a closer look at the buildings that form Manhattan’s major residential skyline. We’ll see the great twin-towered skyscraper apartment buildings – the Century, the Majestic and the El Dorado – and other multi-colored jazz-age fantasies of high living overlooking the park.

This tour of Tribeca, focusing on its many cast-iron wonders, is offered to newly minted members of the Victorian Society New York (the local chapter of the Victorian Society in America), founded in the kitchen of the late preservation advocate Margot Gayle. Without Margot’s efforts, Tribeca might not be the protected historic neighborhood it is today. Though the tour is by invitation only, there’s a simple way to cadge an invitation: join Victorian Society New York!

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

Since the ill-fated Tower of Babel, mankind has been powerfully attracted to the idea of buildings rising into the clouds. The Empire State Building and the Sears Tower still rank among the world’s tallest and most famous buildings, while the latest contenders for the “world’s tallest” title rise close to a quarter mile into the sky. Why so high? Was it strictly dollars and cents? Or was something more at play? This illustrated journey across a century and a half of the race to the top pays special attention to the design and construction of the Trade Center.

This walk through the east side of Midtown South includes an unusual collection of buildings, each different from the next.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

A meandering walk across the upper west tracts of the Upper West Side, looking at Art Deco marvels from West 85th to 103rd streets, Broadway to Riverside Drive.

Reservations required. Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling.

Reservations required. Rockefeller Center — New York’s urbane urban wonderland — is full of surprising history, remarkable art and stunning architecture. Conceived as a new home for the Metropolitan Opera, but built instead as Radio City, Rockefeller Center is a private real estate venture that has evolved into the public square of Midtown Manhattan.