Manhattan Unlocked Historical and Architectural Walking Tours: Book tours here

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. What most people consider New York City is an architectural complex and constellation of neighborhoods stretching 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 again soon, and with a new look!

Join us on a walking tour, and we look forward soon to fascinating posts about the built environment. The manuscript is pretty well done, and with a little luck we look forward to Build: The History of of New York City on the Island of Manhattan.

Thanks for visiting!!!

To see 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.