Virtual Tour: Madison Avenue, High Fashion and Historic Preservation

Join AIA New York and the Madison Avenue BID for this virtual tour, as we discover the history behind Madison Avenue’s landmark buildings and explore how high-fashion retail has been incorporated into the district to create a world-famous shopping destination. The area has evolved from brownstones built in the 1870s and 1880s, to lavish Beaux Arts townhouses by celebrated architects such as McKim, Mead & White, Carrère & Hastings, and Ernest Flagg, to luxury apartment buildings designed by Rosario Candela, Emery Roth, and others. Since early in the 20th century, many of those historic residential buildings have been transformed to accommodate prestigious stores.

This tour will examine architecture from 1870 to the present on and near Madison in the East 60s and 70s, an area almost entirely within the Upper East Side Historic District, and consider how landmark designation has preserved the avenue’s distinctive character.

This event is offered in partnership with the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District (BID), a public-private partnership established in 1996 with the goal of enhancing the quality of life for the community and its visitors. The BID focuses on public safety, sanitation, promotion, and advocacy for the district, striving to make Madison Avenue a more attractive and dynamic place in which to shop, live, work and visit.

AIANY Guide: John Arbuckle, Assoc. AIA