Walking Tours

Meet at SW corner of 42nd Street and Park Avenue under the arcade of the Philip Morris Building.

Between the exuberant clock on the façade of Grand Central Terminal and the modern interpretation of time on the façade at the end of Park Avenue South lies an encyclopedia of the architecture of New York City. James Renwick Jr. and Stanford White prominently represent the 19th century, while projects by Cass Gilbert, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Harvey Wiley Corbett ushered in the first forty years of the 20th century.  Contemporary work by Ulrich Franzen, Ennead Architects, Michael Graves, Renzo Piano, Pelli Clarke Pelli, Christian de Portzamparc, Gwathmey Siegel, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Davis Brody Bond, and SOM are highlighted on this corridor and adjacent blocks.    

This tour examines several urban and architectural issues including NYC zoning, the Manhattan grid, bonus plazas, Class A and Class B office buildings, and façade organizing principles.  

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Joseph Lengeling AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity—promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at the landside end of Pier 62 (opposite W. 22 St.), adjacent to the Skate Park and Classic Harbor Line ticket booth. 

View a stunning variety of new architecture in West Chelsea and the Far West Village, as well as portions of Hudson River Park and the innovative design of the High Line, around which these new buildings are clustered.  Included are buildings designed by Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Neil Denari, Annabelle Selldorf, Ennead Architects, Richard Meier and others.

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Amidst the Upper East Side’s celebrated array of Beaux Arts, Colonial Revival and other landmarks, can be found important examples of Modern architecture designed by some of America’s most prominent and influential architects of the twentieth century. Discover some of New York’s earliest remaining examples of Modernism designed by William Lescaze, unique townhouses by Edward Durell Stone and Paul Rudolph, an innovative apartment complex by Gordon Bunshaft of SOM, and institutional buildings by Philip Johnson, Edward Larrabee Barnes and Ulrich Franzen. Learn about Marcel Breuer’s icnonic Whitney Museum, now the Met Breuer, and its recent restoration. Guided by John Arbuckle, Assoc. AIA, President of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of DOCOMOMO, an international organization dedicated to preserving Modern architecture, this tour will visit Modern highlights in the East 60s and 70s, in and near the Upper East Side Historic District.

Please note CES credits are not available for this tour. Registrants will be informed of the starting point in the week preceding the tour. Tour will proceed rain or shine.

$10 AIA and Friends of the Upper East Side Members, $20 General Public.

Co-sponsored by Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts and AIANY Center for Architecture.

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at Wall Street & Broadway in front of Trinity Church  

While the Financial District is widely known for its historic architecture, it also boasts a variety of distinctive Modern buildings, many of them linked to urban design initiatives of the 1960s and 1970s. The tour focuses on what has come to be known as “Skid(more) Row” (Chase Manhattan Plaza, 140 Broadway and One Liberty Plaza) and the Water Street corridor, once planned to be the route of the Second Avenue Subway. We discuss adaptive reuse of older structures, and view downtown Manhattan’s signature spires of the 1930s en route. Highlights include buildings by SOM, Pei Cobb Freed, Kevin Roche, Philip Johnson, Davis Brody, Tsao & McKown, and Frederic Schwartz, among others.  

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at the southwest corner of Broadway and Vesey Street (by St. Paul’s Chapel)  

Rebuilding the World Trade Center site in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been a daunting, contentious and dynamic process. Yet the 9/11 Memorial opened on the tenth anniversary of this tragic event and the 9/11 Museum opened in May of 2014. One World Trade Center, officially the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, is nearing completion.  

This tour offers participants an opportunity to experience the 9/11 Memorial and to see the current state of construction at the World Trade Center site. We discuss the highly publicized competitions for the site’s master plan and memorial, and delve into the design and development of each of the main structures including the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, office towers and transportation hub. Together we consider the influence and concerns of the different stakeholders by comparing the initial winning plans for rebuilding at Ground Zero to the final, much altered, designs that we see today.  

We will also examine the history of the original World Trade Center site and the transformation of Lower Manhattan after World War II, and we’ll compare Minoru Yamasaki’s 110-story Twin Towers, built on a 16-acre superblock, with current efforts to reconnect the new WTC to the street grid and surrounding neighborhoods. Finally, we explore how the current emphasis on safety, security and sustainability is a response to the design and engineering of the original complex, the 9/11 attacks and a greater concern for ecologically-friendly architecture 

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Doug Fox

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at corner of Macdougal St. and Macdougal Alley (between W. 8th St. & Waverly Pl.), across from Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist. 

Discover lesser-known examples of Modern architecture, some stunning new buildings, and creative examples of adaptive re-use in the West Village and Meatpacking District.  Included are buildings designed by Joseph Urban, Albert Ledner, Edgar Tafel, Paul Rudolph, Hugh Hardy, Kohn Pedersen Fox, SOM, SHoP, Morris Adjmi, Selldorf Architects, WORKac, BKSK, DDG and others.  Several interiors are included.  

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at the North side of Pulitzer Fountain in Grand Army Plaza, near Fifth Ave. & 59th St., across from the Plaza Hotel. 

Much of the new construction in Midtown Manhattan has been, and continues to be, near the south end of Central Park.  This tour will traverse North Midtown from Grand Army Plaza to Columbus Circle, viewing buildings by Norman Foster, Christian de Portzamparc, SOM, Robert A. M. Stern, Cesar Pelli, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Helmut Jahn, and I. M. Pei, as well as historic structures by Henry Hardenbergh, Warren & Wetmore, and Cass Gilbert.  New and forthcoming supertall residential towers will be included.   

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at the north side of the fountain in City Hall Park. 

Explore the rich history of New York’s Civic Center area, with a focus on urban planning, development, and architecture. From City Hall Park to Foley Square, to Police Plaza and Chatham Green, this tour includes exterior visits and expert interpretation of City Hall, Tweed Courthouse, Surrogate Court, Municipal Building, International Trade Court, Javits Federal Building, the Department of Health, Criminal Courts, State Building, New York Supreme Court and Annex, US Courthouse, Manhattan Correctional Center, Police HQ, Murry Bergtraum High School, Chatham Green, and Chatham Towers.  

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Gail Cornell

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

 Meet at the fountain in the plaza of Lincoln Center.  

Discover the evolution of this pioneering midcentury cultural complex. On this tour we explore Lincoln Center’s origins as an urban renewal project by the infamous Robert Moses, announced in 1956. We begin with the Center’s design and construction by some of  our most iconic Modern architects in the turbulent 1960s, and conclude with its reimagining by Diller Scofidio and Renfro in this past decade for 21st century New York. 

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: John Kriskiewicz, Assoc. AIA 

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

This one-and-a-half hour private guided walking tour will educate attendees about the historic and modern architecture of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), as well as the groundbreaking biomedical research taking place across its facilities. CSHL, founded in 1890 and sited on the former grounds of a nineteenth century whaling company, is now an international leader in contemporary biomedical research and education. In 2009, CSHL was augmented by the addition of a hillside complex that increased research space by 40%. To downplay its size and preserve the quaint village aesthetic of its site conditions, this addition consists of six multicolored buildings that are arrayed around a plaza and connected via subterranean passageway. Collaboration within and across scientific fields is considered a hallmark of the CSHL scientific culture.

This walking tour is mostly outdoors and will take place rain or shine. It includes areas of stairs and steep hills and is therefore not recommended for people who have difficulty walking.

Learn more about the walking tours | Get directions to CSHL

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Please Note: Registration for AIA New York and Center for Architecture events constitutes your agreement to the use of you and your guest(s) image or voice in event-related digital and print reproductions (photo/video/etc). If you do NOT agree, email info@aiany.org.

Meet at southeast corner of Park Avenue & 47th St. (in front of 245 Park Ave.) 

Park Avenue is the epicenter of Corporate Modernism. View three Modern masterpieces by SOM’s Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois, Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building, as well as “vernacular” Modern office buildings by Emery Roth and others. Also included are a distinguished Art Deco tower and lobby, a Morris Lapidus-designed hotel, and late Modern and Postmodern designs by Edward Larrabee Barnes, Philip Johnson, and I. M. Pei.   

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at Roosevelt Island Tram Station on Roosevelt Island.  

View a sampling of buildings spanning four centuries on the island formerly known first as Blackwell’s Island, later Welfare Island, and—since 1973—Roosevelt Island. Join us and explore a new community planned by Philip Johnson & John Burgee, the recently completed FDR Four Freedoms Park designed by Louis Kahn in 1973, and the new Cornell Tech campus.  Other highlights include the restored Blackwell farmhouse and Good Shepherd Chapel, James Renwick’s Smallpox Hospital ruins, housing by Johansen & Bhavnani, Sert, Jackson & Associates, and Gruzen Samton, and new Cornell Tech buildings by Morphosis and Weiss/Manfredi. 

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at northeast corner of Third Avenue & 52nd St. (in front of 875 Third Ave.) 

View a variety of classic Modern, late Modern and Postmodern designs by SOM, Philip Johnson, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Eero Saarinen, Kevin Roche, Kohn Pedersen Fox and others. Highlights include Lever House, the Seagram Building, Citicorp Center, the CBS Building, and the Museum of Modern Art’s multi-building complex. Smaller gems like the former Rockefeller Guest House, Austrian Cultural Institute and Paley Park are also included, as are interior spaces featuring work by artists Isamu Noguchi and Louise Nevelson. 

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at North side of Pulitzer Fountain in Grand Army Plaza, near Fifth Ave. and 59th St., across from Plaza Hotel. 

View a variety of classic Modern, late Modern and Postmodern designs by Kohn Pedersen Fox, Cesar Pelli, Rafael Vinoly, I. M. Pei, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Helmut Jahn, Paul Rudolph, Edward Durell Stone, Harrison & Abramovitz, and others, as well as historic structures by Ely Jacques Kahn, Emery Roth and Henry Hardenbergh. Several interiors are included.  

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. just below Astor Pl. 

Explore new architecture on Cooper Square, Bond Street, and the Bowery. Highlights include new residential developments on Bond Street, new hotels, and older landmarks in these historic NYC neighborhoods. Additional details forthcoming.

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Arthur Platt AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at the landside end of Pier 62 (opposite W. 22 St.), adjacent to the Skate Park and Classic Harbor Line ticket booth. 

View a stunning variety of new architecture in West Chelsea and the Far West Village, as well as portions of Hudson River Park and the innovative design of the High Line, around which these new buildings are clustered.  Included are buildings designed by Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Neil Denari, Annabelle Selldorf, Ennead Architects, Richard Meier and others.

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.

Meet at Roosevelt Island Tram Station on Roosevelt Island.  

View a sampling of buildings spanning four centuries on the island formerly known first as Blackwell’s Island, later Welfare Island, and—since 1973—Roosevelt Island. Join us and explore a new community planned by Philip Johnson & John Burgee, the recently completed FDR Four Freedoms Park designed by Louis Kahn in 1973, and the new Cornell Tech campus.  Other highlights include the restored Blackwell farmhouse and Good Shepherd Chapel, James Renwick’s Smallpox Hospital ruins, housing by Johansen & Bhavnani, Sert, Jackson & Associates, and Gruzen Samton, and new Cornell Tech buildings by Morphosis and Weiss/Manfredi. 

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.

Guide: Kyle Johnson AIA

AIANY and the AIANY Architecture Tour Committee and its tour guides will not be held liable and assume no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Walking tours endorse the initiatives of FitCity – promoting physical activity through design.