Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue Walking Tour
This tour focuses on the design and history of the great mansions of Fifth Avenue and their owners who constructed them as lavish displays of their wealth and status in Gilded Age New York City. The tour starts at East 70th St & Fifth Avenue (at the Richard Morris Hunt Memorial) and ends at the Cooper-Hewitt (2 East 91st Street), the former homes of two protagonists on this tour – Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) and Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919).
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Book a Private Group Tour of the Gilded Age Mansions
A review on TripAdvisor for our Gilded Age Mansions Tour:
Gilded Age Magic
“I did the Gilded Age walking tour with Emma. Loved it. Emma is a treasure with an unending amount of fascinating and fun information. She was an absolute delight and I learned so much about the architecture and social history of the Gilded Age. I cannot recommend her (and the Bowery Boys) enough.”
The term “Gilded Age” is used to refer to the period of booming economic growth in the USA in the second half of the 19th century. In New York City this is the period when robber barons like Frick and Carnegie built some of the most extravagant urban palaces the city has ever seen.
Beaux-Arts was the dominant style of architecture in this period, as the greatest American architects, from Richard Morris Hunt to Stanford White to C.P.H. Gilbert, all studied abroad in Paris. These three architects and many others created French châteaux, Italian palazzi, Gothic castles, and Neoclassical mansions in the heart of New York City, and helped give Fifth Avenue along Central Park the cachet it still holds today as one of the city’s most famous residential neighborhoods.
Tour guides Emma Guest-Consales, Ph.D., Billy Nemec, Bill Shaffer, Aaron Schielke, and Krikor Daglian take turns leading this walk for a stroll up the avenue to gaze at grand residences, to see their exteriors, and to hear stories of their designers and owners.
Don’t miss this experience that takes you back in time to the Gilded Age and up one of the most famous streets in the world.
Our tour guide Emma with a private tour.
A recent sold-out public tour.
A review from Heather Cox Richardson:
“I just wanted to tell you how incredibly impressed I am with Emma Guest-Consales. I’ve done three tours with her now, and they have all been extraordinary. Her ability to weave history — both US and European — art, culture, and architecture together to create an image of New York society in any era is astonishing. I’ve urged all my friends to book her for a tour — it is my guess that a lot of folks don’t know such tours are available, let alone that they are easy and affordable — and look forward to many more.”
A review on TripAdvisor for our Gilded Age Mansions Tour:
Gilded Age Tour – Thanks, Billy!
“Did the Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue tour with Billy and had a wonderful experience! He was knowledgeable, entertaining, and fun. Even as a New Yorker the Bowery Boys Walking Tours are so interesting – would highly recommend!”
“The Gilded Age Mansion walking tour with Aaron was a fantastic addition to my NYC trip. I highly recommend taking the tour- it was super informative, smoothly run, and just a great time out in the city.”
Press: The tour was featured in The Boston Globe in 2022!
Person – Walking Tour: $50.00
(Best suited for adults and most children over 8 years old.)
Cooper Hewitt (Carnegie Mansion)
Venetian Room – interior of the Payne Whitney mansion
Walking Tour: 2 hours
Please note: This tour does not go inside any of the mansions, and the list of featured mansions can vary depending on the tour. The tour starts at East 70th Street & Fifth Avenue and ends at 2 East 91st Street. We will send you complete details when you sign up.
About one mile of walking
Let us organize a very special experience for your group or organization to see the Gilded Age mansions of Fifth Avenue. Please contact us to set up a private tour!
Emma Guest-Consales, Ph.D. is an experienced guide, lecturer, and author who has taught art and architectural history in New York City for more than fifteen years. Emma also leads the Ladies’ Mile Cast-Iron Tour and Central Park History and Landscape tour.
Billy Nemec is an experienced tour guide and jazz musician with a deep knowledge of the Gilded Age. He has a certificate of Historic Preservation from New York University and hosts an American Revolution Tour.
Aaron Schielke is a licensed New York City tour guide who loves exploring cities. He also leads the Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses Bowery Boys Walk.
Bill Shaffer is a licensed New York City tour guide and the author of The Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grifter, a Founding Father’s Disgraced Descendant and a Trial at the Dawn of Tabloid Journalism.
Krikor Daglian is a licensed tour guide and a New York City resident for nearly twenty years. He also leads The Other Side of the Gilded Age walking tour in Lower Manhattan, far from the glamor and gold of Fifth Avenue.
Amy Cook is a tour guide certified by the Guides Association of New York City. She has a BA in History, with a specialty in Urban Planning. She has called Brooklyn home for almost 25 years and loves to visit historic hotels around the world.
Study up for our walking tour by listening to The Gilded Gentleman episode “The Gilded City: New York 1870 – 1900.”
For Groups & Corporations
Book this tour privately for your family, friends, or special occasion — or have us build something custom for your company or school.
Book as a Private Tour For Companies & Schools