Manhattan Unlocked Historical and Architectural Walking Tours: WTC progress

PLEASE BEAR WITH US DURING A WEBSITE UPGRADE AND BLOG RE-LAUNCH

Manhattan Unlocked Historical and Architectural Walking Tours

Discover hidden-in-plain-sight history and decode the streetscapes of Manhattan on our multi-faceted walking tours where history and architecture meld. Manhattan Unlocked answers the question every New Yorker has asked, "why is this building next to that building, and that building next to this building?" We take that question to its logical conclusion and let the built environment--the city itself--tell its own story!

We realized there's more to the million-and-one things to be seen on the surface of the city today. Manhattan Unlocked takes into account ancient geography and historic transit, in addition to commerce, architecture, immigration and everything else, to explain the city's growth and development. In fact, New York City can only be understood from an all-of-history, holistic point of view.

About Us

Manhattan Unlocked began as a blog over a decade ago to decode and make sense of the streetwalls of the city. New York City is an architectural complex and constellation of neighborhoods that stretches almost 5 miles from the Battery to Central Park through the island's core. Yet, what looks like a jumble of buildings on any given block (we realized long ago) couldn't be random. There had to be a logic to the blocks; patterns to the neighborhoods. Neighborhoods comprising cast iron buildings or skyscrapers had to be part of some overarching narrative. There had to be a way that Tribeca, Museum Mile, SoHo and the Garment District were part of the same story.

We soon realized that in the search for the single-story, "unified theory," behind New York's easily recognizable, enigmatic built environment, we needed to hit the pavement so to speak. Manhattan Unlocked Historical and Architectural Walking Tours was born (thank you Viator and TripAdvisor, but now bookings can be made directly!). The blog had been put on hiatus, but we hope to begin updating soon, and with a new look!

Join us on a walking tour, follow our blog (when it gets back in gear), or wait for the book, Build: The History of of New York City on the Island of Manhattan.

Thanks for visiting!!!

To see the details and book a walking tour click the big blue button below. Check out our TripAdvisor reviews! But you'll save a few dollars by clicking below.

Midtown Manhattan Art and Architecture Walking Tour

Midtown West, Times Square, Rockefeller Center & Park Avenue

Holdouts! Based on the Book by Alpern & Durst

Midtown East, Grand Central & Rockefeller Center

Recreate the Most Requested Walking Tour of 1840s New York

Astor Place, NoHo, SoHo, Chinatown & the Civic Center (Foley Square)

Tenement Housing and Immigrant Life: A Lower East Side Story

Foley Square, Chinatown & The Lower East Side

Explore the Ruins of a Forgotten City in the Middle of Manhattan

Madison Square, Nomad, the Flatiron District & Chelsea

The old blog remains below....(sorry any shortcomings in our early years of research).

Click Here to See Tours

Friday, November 26, 2010

WTC progress

Just a quick post and a few pictures to show the progress at the WTC site, the soon to be Reflecting Absence memorial in the footprints of the towers. They tested the waterfalls a few weeks ago.

I haven't gotten choked up about September 11 in a long time, but the size of the memorial is staggering when you see it for the first time. It was difficult to view, but I guess it's supposed to be.

That's part of the footprint of the South Tower, I think that's a generator and lights being hoisted up.

The South Tower footprint/Reflecting Absence being born...

The view from the Winter Garden. I've been at this spot maybe a dozen times since September 11 and for years the feeling was like you were looking at a construction site. With the memorials in view now, the feeling here is starting to change.