Walking Tour – Renovating the Financial District: Skyscrapers, Plazas and the Impact of Zoning

While the Financial District is widely known for its historic architecture, it also boasts a variety of distinctive Modern buildings, many of them linked to urban design initiatives of the 1960s and 1970s. The tour focuses on what has come to be known as “Skid(more) Row” (Chase Manhattan Plaza, 140 Broadway and One Liberty Plaza) and the Water Street corridor, once planned to be the route of the Second Avenue Subway. We discuss adaptive reuse of older structures, and view downtown Manhattan’s signature spires of the 1930s en route. Highlights include buildings by SOM, Pei Cobb Freed, Kevin Roche, Philip Johnson, Davis Brody, Tsao & McKown, and Frederic Schwartz, among others.

Tours will run rain or shine. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to tour start time. Registration is limited to 15; walk-ups are not guaranteed a spot on the tour. Some tours utilize VOX amplification systems; attendees are welcome to bring their personal earbuds.