Gilded Age Mansions Tour in New York

Name: Gilded Age Mansions Tour in New York
Brand: Matthew LaSpata
SKU: 384704P1
Price: 40 USD
Rating: 5 (353 reviews)

Recommended by 97% of travelersBadge of ExcellenceNew York City, USA

2 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore the storied past of New York City’s Gilded Age through the mansions left in its wake. Learn about the people who designed and lived in these buildings during this pivotal time in American history. Let a guide show you around these incredible buildings, and regale you with tales about everything from romance and generosity to scandal and murder.

A tour of New York City’s opulent Gilded Age architecture
Enjoy access to some of these incredible mansions
Learn Gilded Age history from your tour guide
The tour is wheelchair-friendly, and service animals are welcome

What's Included

Access to mansions

Snacks

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

1 E 78th St, New York, NY 10075, USA
We will meet you on the steps at the building at 1 East 78th street. Right on 78th street, just off 5th avenue.

End point

1109 5th Ave, New York, NY 10128, USA

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation

Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Questions?

Visit the Viator Help Centre for any further questions.

Product code: 384704P1

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.9

353 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 353 reviews

Girls tour.

Cindy_L, Jan 2025

Learn a great deal of history. Most of tour is from the outside as we were told interiors were not as historically maintained. Did not view an entire mansion interior.

Matthew was a great tour...

Lisa_T, Jan 2025

Matthew was a great tour guide. He was very knowledgeable about the guided age and New York society during this time period. We saw a lot of beautiful buildings and heard some great stories. He is a very entertaining storyteller and kept the tour fun and interesting. Highly recommend.

Gilded age mansions

Lucy_r, Jan 2025

This tour worked well and cold weather since we were able to go inside a few buildings. Our guide even had hand warmers for us.

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed going inside the buildings. Thanks for your review.

Great history lesson of...

Chad_W, Jan 2025

Great history lesson of the Gilded Age with connection to modern times (popular TV shows). Matt was an excellent guide! I wish we could have gone inside a few more of the buildings but understand why we couldn’t.

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed going inside the buildings. Thanks for your review.

Stories, steps and Gilded Age style!

tricia_c, Jan 2025

Amazing tour! Learned so much from the incredible guide. He was personable and knowledgeable with amazing stories.

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed the tour! Thanks for your review!

Great walking tour!

Ruth_C, Jan 2025

Fantastic and engaging tour! The buildings we were able to see and enter were nicely augmented by additional photos, history, and anecdotes from our guide. Our guide was knowledgeable, friendly, and conscientious - making sure everyone stayed together and gathered in to hear his narration. Highly recommend this tour!

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed going inside the buildings along with the rest of the tour. Thanks for your review!

Great tour for a change of pace in the city!

Schuyler_L, Jan 2025

The gilded ages tour was a nice chance to see some hidden gyms in the upper east side. Matthew was a great tour guide and we couldn’t recommend this tour enough!

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed the change of pace in the hidden gems of the Upper East Side. Thanks for your review!

Gilded age walking tour

Teresa_K, Jan 2025

Great tour! Care (our guide) made it interesting and fun. Got to go into a couple of old mansions which were gorgeous.

Response from Host, Jan 2025

Care is an excellent and talented guide! Thanks for your review!

A sometimes hidden but always colorful history of 5th Avenue

Jon_K, Jan 2025

Although I'm not from NYC, I love stories about the Gilded Age. And this tour was a treat – even in near-freezing temps in January. Most of this tour is outdoors with a few welcome indoors stops. But be prepared for whatever weather there is. Our guide generously provided hand-warmers to everyone, and they were much appreciated. Back to the tour. Our guide nimbly used many images on an iPad to augment his tales of the people and buildings we were there to hear about. Sadly, many of the impressive building from the Gilded Age are gone (or hidden behind scaffolding), but there are enough that managed to survive to give a sense of what that time was like. Stories of large and colorful characters that left their imprint in many ways on one of the most amazing streets in the world. I've read some about some of these characters, but even I learned a few things I never knew before. And now I can never look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the same way ever again.

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad that even though you’ve read about some of these character you still learned a few things! Thanks for your great review!

Great Narrative Added Life to the Tour

James_W, Jan 2025

Our guide was excellent. Even brought along hand warmers to compensate for the cold. We saw a lot of interesting buildings but more important was the narrative that went along with each. I'd recommend this to my friends without hesitation.

Response from Host, Jan 2025

Thanks for your review! I’m glad you enjoyed the tour and the hand warmers!

Interesting guilded tour

Claire_G, Jan 2025

Matthew was a very informative tour guide. We learned many interesting things on this tour. It as extremely cold and Matthew gave us all hand warmers. It was a nice thought. We would recommend this tour

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you appreciated the hand warmers. Thanks for your review!

Our tour guide was so...

Patricia_C, Jan 2025

Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and loved for us to ask questions. Great Guilded tour. Would do it again

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed being encouraged to ask questions. Thanks for your review!

Very worthwhile!

Sarah_C, Jan 2025

Entertaining, interesting, the guide Care was excellent - knowledgeable, professional, accommodating and fun to listen to

Response from Host, Jan 2025

Care is great! Thanks for the review!

Well done !

Linda_T, Jan 2025

The tour exceeded my expectations- our guide provided us with so many interesting facts about this time period, the mansions constructed and the people involved- both architects and owners. We especially enjoyed the stories- a well done tour,

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad the tour exceeded your expectations. Thanks for your review!

Excellent tour guide beautiful day

Allison_C, Jan 2025

Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and pleasant. We learned so much and got glimpses into life during Manhattan’s Gilded Age.

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed the tour! Thanks for your review!

Excellent "Gilded Age" tour

szandrabarbara_p, Jan 2025

Short version: Definitely would recommend, 10/10. Long version: I selected the tour based on personal recommendations so my expectations were high :) and this walking tour did not disappoint! Matthew was extremely knowledgeable with a great sense of humor. He is rather a presenter, a performer (almost would say an actor himself?) than a simple tour guide, he showed plenty of pictures to the relevant topics and he made sure that we did not freeze to death :) we selected a sunny but freezing cold December day, that is... It was also a nice touch that hand warmers were handed to us at the beginning which did help the situation! It was also great that some of the information we could get inside of buildings, again, not to be standing outside on a December day did help our comfort feelings. I wish we could see the buildings that are behind scaffoldings at the moment - he talked at length and showed us the pictures and obviously it is not his fault that some of the more memorable Gilded Age buildings are currently behind scaffoldings. We saw a lot, we learnt a lot and I would definitely love to return to another tour - either with Matthew or even to walk the Gilded Age tour again with another guide. There is so much to see about this splendid age in New York and I'd be curious to hear and see even more - maybe on a nice Spring / Autumn day!

Response from Host, Jan 2025

Wow! Thanks for your great review! Glad you enjoyed it!

Good experience

Oliver_C, Jan 2025

Overall good experience in a short space of time. Tour guide was vey knowledgeable and would recommend

Response from Host, Jan 2025

I’m glad you enjoyed the tour! Thanks for your review!

Great way to see the Upper East Side

Rebecca_H, Dec 2024

My boyfriend and I were on a quick Christmas trip to New York and we booked a couple of tours and excursions in different parts of Manhattan. The Gilded Mansions Tour was a GREAT way to see the Upper East Side. Care was our guide - and he did a wonderful job of sharing insights about the Gilded Age in New York and bringing to life the mansions through the personal stories of the people who lived there. We did not have enough time to go back to a few of them that offered home tours, but on our next trip we are definitely inspired to do so!

Response from Host, Jan 2025

Care is a great guide! Thanks for your review!

Care is an amazing and...

Gary_L, Dec 2024

Care is an amazing and energetic tour guide. He is very knowledgeable about the period. He was a pleasure to have him lead the tour.

Response from Host, Dec 2024

Care is very talented! Thanks for your review!

Outstanding Tour!

Jake_P, Dec 2024

My wife and I took this tour at 12:30 pm on December, 26. Our tour guide was a young man named Care. Care could have not been any more articulate, friendly, kind, or knowledgeable. For context, my wife is a college music professor and I am a high school history teacher. Both of us were refreshingly thrilled with Care’s professionalism, presentation, and knowledge of the Guilded Age mansions and time period. We spent 5 days in New York City and had so many wonderful experiences, from a Broadway show to the Statue of Liberty, Grand Central station, Times Square, etc… yet this Guilded Age tour truly sits top of my list of must do’s in New York City for anyone who appreciates history, culture, learning and knowledge. Take this tour! You will not be disappointed! P.S. it was about 31° when we took this tour. Care had hand warmers available for anyone who wanted them. My wife loved this! We both loved his kind nature and attention to detail!

Response from Host, Dec 2024

Care is a great human being and a talented, thoughtful guide! Thanks for your review!

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