Financial District NYC Architecture Walking Tour
Description
Join us for this extraordinary experience of the Art and Architecture of New York's Financial District and Ground Zero! At the southern tip of Manhattan, east and west sides of the island converge in the stunning eruption of skyscrapers, defining New York’s iconic skyline. During our Financial District Tour, we will explore the dynamic contrasts of old and new in this part of the city by examining its distinctive architecture, which speaks to New York’s colonial past as well as showcases some of its boldest contemporary developments. Key sites that will be discuss include Battery Park City, Wall Street, Frances Tavern, Stone Street, Trinity Church, World Trade Center, the 9/11 memorial, Fulton Station, and the revitalization of the East River waterfront.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your licensed guide Dr. Ivan Shumkov will meet you at the Glass Carousel at the Battery Park and start the tour from there.
Visit the historical Trinity Church from 1846
Visit the historical Federal Reserve by York & Sawyer from 1924, which stores most of the gold in the world.
Visit the Federal Hall by Town & Davis from 1842
See the extraordinary Woolworth Building by Cass Gilbert from 1912.
Visit the historical Chase Manhattan Bank by Gordon Bunshaft (SOM) from 1960, and see it's public art and architecture.
Visit the Fulton Station by Grimshaw from 2015.
See by New York by Frank Gehry 8 Spruce Street from 2010.
Visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum by Snohetta, Michael Arad and Peter Walker, 2011
Visit the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church by Santiago Calatrava from 2020.
Visit the Perelman Performing Arts Center by REX from 2023.
See the World Trade Center buildings: WTC1, David Childs (SOM), 2015 WTC2, in-process WTC3, Richard Rogers, 2018 WTC4, Fumihiko Maki, 2015 WTC5, Kohn Pederson Fox, in-process WTC7, David Childs (SOM), 2015
We'll end the tour with a visit to the Oculus Path Station by Santiago Calatrava from 2015,
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Not recommended for people who have problems walking.
Reviews(33)
Ivan was an awesome tour guide for the financial district. I definitely recommend a private tour if you can as that's the chance to really nerd out with Ivan who is not just an architect, but also a historian. As I recently read the book The Rising by Larry Silverstein, he helped customize the tour where we focused in on the history and rebuilding of the WTC. It's a tour I'm still thinking about and can't wait to do the Midtown one tour with him.
Wonderful tour with Ivan. Learned so much about a neighborhood in my city that I just don't spend much time in these days. Ivan is so friendly and great at answering everyone's questions. The tour was the perfect mix of sites and architectural styles/eras/etc.
Thanks a lot for joining us with your family! I look forward to continue exploring New York together at our next tours. All the best!
Amazingly well guided tour. Great choice of beginning and endibg with lots of commhnication . we visited some amazing new places. as a lifelong new yorker I saw plenty of new spaces buildings and monuments and Ivan is ana amazing guide. attentive and communicative as well as extremely knowledgeable. overall , an amaingly well curated experience of the battery and financial district.
We loved our tour of downtown Manhattan. Ivan was super knowledgeable and highly engaging- we would highly recommend this tour. Can’t wait to take another one!
Thanks, dear Abigail! It was a pleasure meeting you and your family. I'm so happy you enjoyed our tour and look forward to seeing you again at our next ones. Ivan
Thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the Financial District with Ivan, who moved effortlessly from the city's oldest history to architecture past and present. He was a great and generous guide - tireless, full of expertise and great stories, very willing to adapt the tour to suit the interests and knowledge of native New Yorkers, and showed us extra things that weren't on the tour. I definitely plan to be a repeat customer and highly recommend him to visitors and locals alike wanting to learn more about our great city.
Thank you, dear Lucia! It was such a pleasure meeting you and Bruce. Thanks for your great questions and insights as a local New Yorker. I hope to see you both soon at our next tours. Please let me know when you would like to continue our journey through New York! Ivan
We were a three generation family on this tour. It was excellent as most of where we walked was carfree. Ivan was excellent as he knew the history as well as the architecture. We learned a lot and hat a great time. I highly recommend.
It was great having you and your family on our tour, dear Elaine! I look forward to seeing you all next time you visit NYC and welcoming you to another tour.
A one-of-a-kind tour you can’t find anywhere else!! For the architecture to understand the city and its history. It’s the best way!
Thanks for joining us on our Financial District tour, Shuyao! I'm so happy you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you soon at our next ones so we can keep exploring and enjoying NYC together.
This tour was a highlight of our 7 days stay in NYC. Our group of eight chose this tour because of our love of architecture and we were excited to find a tour led by Ivan, an architect and professor at Columbia University. The tour was educational and fun. We enjoyed walking through the different sites of lower Manhattan besides just seeing the World Trade Center and Wall Street. We wished that we had more time to take some of his other tours to see the uniqueness of other NY neighborhoods. Thank you Ivan.
Ahh, thanks so much for your great review! I really enjoyed meeting you and your friends and family. It was great to explore the city together and have fun with some of the of the greatest buildings and places in New York. I hope you'll visit us again soon and we can continue our journey together!
We really enjoyed this tour. It was a very cold day, but Ivan, our guide, made a real effort to keep us comfortable by going inside buildings whenever we could to warm up. The tour itself was very interesting, with lots of great information, and Ivan’s background as an architect really came through — he could answer every question we threw at him. He was friendly, patient, and engaging the whole time. The headphones were also a big plus, as they made it easy to hear him clearly. Definitely recommend this tour.
Hi Sofia, many thanks to you and your boyfriend for joining us. Your questions and comments made our tour even more interesting and engaging. I'm so happy you had a great experience and look forward to seeing you next time you visit NYC. Safe travels to Madrid and good luck with your work!
Was very informative and interesting. Our teens even enjoyed it. Our guide William was great and then helped us get to our lunch reservation after the tour.
Thanks a lot for joining us! We look forward to seeing you again at our next tours. Happy new year!
