Tours Details
Date: Every Sunday
Start time: 3pm EST
Duration: 2 hours (~30min walking)
Meeting Point: Frick Collection
End Point: Museum of the City of NY
Participants limit: 10
New York Upper East Side Art and Architecture Tour
Shining with the tarnished gleam of New York’ Gilded Age the ornate town houses of the Upper East Side stand as a monuments to the moneyed families that played an essential role in the city’s growth. In this Upper East Side Architecture Tour, we will examine highlights from this Victorian era legacy including the Henry Clay Frick mansion, the Metropolitan Museum, the French Consulate, and, of course, Central Park. In addition, our tour will look at modern masterpieces such as the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright and the former Whitney Museum Marcel Breuer.
Some Projects Featured on this Tour
Central Park, Calvert Vaux & F. L. Olmstead, 1858
Frick Collection, Carrere & Hastings, 1914
Former Whitney Museum, Marcel Breuer, 1966
French Consulate, Walker & Gillette, 1926
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Calvert Vaux, 1874; McKim, Mead & White, 1904
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1959
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum,
Museum of the City of New York, Joseph J. Freedlander, 1929
The tour price includes a ticket to the Museum of the City of New York.
Languages
Public tours are in English. Private tours are available in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Russian, Bulgarian and Catalan.
Frick Collection
Your Architect Guides
Ivan R. Shumkov, PhD
Dr. Ivan Shumkov is a New York based architect, urban planner, entrepreneur, and professor with more than 20 years of experience across the private, public, and academic sectors. He is the founder of Build World and Build Academy, organizations dedicated to providing professional solutions and education for the built environment.
Ivan combines his experience of practicing and teaching architecture with his passion for discovering and sharing the history and secrets of New York. His tours provoke curiosity, show hidden urban gems, and provide opportunities for experiencing and understanding art and architecture in a unique way. He helps his guests to see and connect the city through the eyes of an architect. They are activated and transformed by these immersive experiences and view the city in a new way.
Ivan is a licensed NYC tour guide. Being fluent in multiple languages, he can conduct tours in English, Spanish, Catalan, Bulgarian, French and Italian.
William M. Singer, AIA, LEED AP BD + C, NCARB
William M. Singer, AIA, LEED AP BD + C, NCARB, is currently a discerning Code and Zoning Specialist for the NYC Department of Buildings. With a long and rich background in designing and constructing major public facilities—including courthouses, schools, transportation hubs, and cultural landmarks—William brings a wealth of knowledge to our tour. His impressive resume includes being a partner at Gruzen Samton Architects, a leading NYC architecture and planning firm, a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Slovenija, with graduate degrees in both Architecture and English. For the exceptional renovation and modernization of El Museo Del Barrio, he was honored with a City of New York Arts Commission Excellence in Design award (2004), a NYS AIA Merit Design Award for Adaptive Reuse (2011) and a Municipal Arts Society Master Works Award for Community Catalyst (2012).
William blends his passion for architecture, urbanism and history into a love of teaching—sharing information and knowledge. His 13 years of teaching in NYU’s Graduate Program for Real Estate Development, where he created and honed his cycle of walking tours, merge with 10 years of providing tours to One To World, the official Fulbright Programming organization in the NYC Metro area, enhances his knowledge of NYC through active engagement with tour colleagues—questions and discourse about NYC significantly sharpen the focus of observing the city. The way to know a city is through one’s feet.
Semi-Private Walking Tour
Experience NY with a small group of up to 10 other Art and Architecture professinals, enthusiasts and lovers.
Exclusive Private Tour
You’ll experience NY by yourself or with a group of your family, freinds and colleagues. Call or email us to customize your tour experience.
Experience New York with our PhD Architect-led Tours
Our public tours are 2 hours of transformational experiences that connect people with the city on a deeper level. We focus on 8 areas according to the location, neighborhood and their distinct character - weaving culture, history, architecture, art and design in an engaging, story-telling manner to uncover some of the city’s hidden gems and best-kept secrets.
