New York Tours
Click here for information about Dr. Seth Gopin's new book, Skyscrapers of New York, available for purchase NOW.
From American university honors students to the French Prime Minister, Dr. Seth Gopin has been showing off buildings and art in New York and Paris for the past thirty years. Along with his course in Paris (Spaces and Places: the Historical Development of Space in the City of Paris), the skyscraper tour has proven to be extremely popular with the scores of visitors to New York.
1. The Rise of the New York Skyscraper.
The New York skyscraper is considered an iconic image of the United States. This lecture explores the historical origins of the skyscraper from the Flatiron Building, one of the first skyscrapers in New York, to buildings completed just before World War II. The tour is both instructive and fun. Before it is over, participants will not only be able to recognize the differences between the skyscrapers of each decade but will also have a good sense of the engineering and social forces which influenced them. This tour affords both first-time visitors and life-long residents of New York City a new way of looking at these important buildings.
Buildings which will be discussed are:
The Flatiron Building (1904),
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower (1909),
The Woolworth Building (1913),
The Chrysler Building (1930).
2. New York Skyscrapers as Icons of Modernity.
After World War II, the New York skyscraper was transformed by modernist forces. These iconic buildings shed all reference to past buildings, embracing new materials and responding to new ideas of mid-century office planning. Many of these buildings are lost in the busy fabric of the city today and escape the attention of even the savviest urban dweller. The informative and amusing tour will surprise everyone, including those who are familiar with New York. Behind these seemingly simple structures of steel and glass is a chronicle of the social forces which helped form the post-war city.
Buildings which will be discussed are:
The Lever House (1952),
The Seagram Building (1958),
60 Broad Street (1961),
World Trade Center (1973),
CitiCorp Building (1977),
AT&T (1984),
One Worldwide Plaza (1989).
3. Building Outside the Box: the Post Modern Skyscraper.
From terrorism to environmental pressures, Skyscrapers have reacted to a variety of forces in the 21st century. This tour explores how architects and engineers around the world, particularly in New York City, have been able to creatively adapt these massive buildings to issues of new technology, the green movement, and to political pressures, thereby creating still new icons for a new millennium. The tour is both instructive and fun and no one leaving it will look at the city skyline in the same way.
Buildings which will be discussed are:
Conde Nast Building (1999),
Westin Hotel (2002),
Time Warner Center (2004),
Hearst Magazine Tower (2006),
New York Times Building (2007),
Freedom Tower (2013).
Contact us for additional information regarding Metro Insights New York Skyscraper Tours
