Midtown Manhattan Art and Architecture Walking Tour

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. We begin at the boundary of Hells Kitchen and Times Square with an overview of the city's historic move uptown. We cover the basics of historical (academic) architecture up to the Modern period, and from overblown Beaux Arts to ornament-free skyscrapers. We learn the fundamentals of zoning in this POPS (Privately Owned Public Space). Works by Sidney Simon and Matt Mullican.

   15 min

2. The subway station below Worldwide Plaza is an example of evolving zoning law history; incised granite by Matt Mullican is part of the program.

   3 min

3. On the way to Citizen M and Julian Opie's larger-than-life wall art we scan the skyline for Hearst Tower and the New York Times Building.

   3 min

4. We stop at the Allianz Building and Warner Music Group to take in the view of Times Square from the north. Zoning laws achieved a look inspired by Tokyo!

   Passes by

5. We use the Brill Building to launch into a short discussion the role Times Square and much of today's Midtown played (and still do) as holding almost a monopoly on the history of American culture: Music, theater, radio, television, books, magazines, newspapers, advertising, even automobiles.

   5 min

6. We pass the Winter Garden, the Taft Hotel, and the building that inspired the song MONY MONY. We transition into private corporate space in the lobby of 787 7th Avenue and we go from commercial culture to corporate commercial. Expensive art and monumental feats of architecture are the mainstays of the remainder of the tour. Roy Lichtenstein opens us to the world of corporate art appropriately with Mural with Blue Brushstroke, a work he painted in place before the building opened. Out back in the POPS are works by Sol Le Witt and Barry Flannagan.

   5 min

7. We look as far uptown as we can along this 6-block long quirk in zoning, so-called "6 1/2 Avenue," a mid-block arcade that doesn't quite connect Times Square with Central Park.

   3 min

8. They have a world renown collection and their lobby is divided between temporary and permanent exhibits that include Frank Stella and Sarah Morris.

   5 min

9. The lobby of the Time and Life building is a Modern classic with its stainless steel panels and terrazzo floor. Large wall art by Fritz Glarner, a student of Mondrian.

   3 min

10. Monumental is the common theme to works by Hiroshu Senju and Kan Yasuda. Outside on the plaza is La Gran Manzana.

    Passes by

11. We stop in 1221 (the McGraw Hill building) the see a work by visual artist Mark Bradford. Out onto Sixth Avenue stand below "Skyscraper Alley," some of the worst products wrought by man and zoning law. Across the street begins the art and architecture, and story Rockefeller Center, one of the greatest civic-minded entrepreneurial (seriously) projects in modern history. The Art Deco of Rockefeller Center would come to define the style. Most interesting to point out are the subtle shifts from the "Modernistic" (Art Deco) to the Modern as the project progressed after the passing of Raymond Hood.

    5 min

12. We learn the origin story of the name for every venue today named Roxy.

    3 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 38 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in New York City

• Its from-price is 50% below the median of the 692 city tours we list in New York City.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 176 of 692.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About New York City

New York City packs skyscrapers, famous museums, Broadway theatres and dozens of distinct neighbourhoods into five boroughs that hum day and night.

Manhattan is the classic first stop. Times Square glows above the theatre district, Central Park stretches for blocks between the Upper East and Upper West Sides, and the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center define the midtown skyline. Downtown, the 9/11 Memorial, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge sit close together, and boats run out past the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island.

Top-ranked sights in New York City: Statue of Liberty, Central Park, National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

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