Walking Tour: Reshaping FiDi’s Water St. and the East River Waterfront

Meet at Water St. & Pine St., in plaza south of Wall Street Plaza (88 Pine St.) 

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 from the 1960s and ‘70s. This tour will focus on the Water Street corridor—once planned to be the route of the Second Avenue Subway—emphasizing the variety of public spaces created through urban design efforts initiated by the Office of Lower Manhattan Development under Mayor John Lindsay.

The tour will also feature new construction in the vicinity of the Staten Island ferry and recent improvements on the East River waterfront, as well as examples of historic preservation, reconstruction, and adaptive reuse. Highlights include work by Pei Cobb Freed, Emery Roth & Sons, SHoP Architects, Frederic Schwartz, Marvel Architects, Hanrahan Meyers, and Ken Smith, among others.

AIANY Guide: Kyle Johnson, AIA

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Health and Safety Guidelines:

COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks are strongly encouraged for all visitors. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in your guide requesting that you kindly leave the tour group. Refunds will not be provided for tours canceled due to a failure to comply with safety guidelines. 

AIANY cannot be held liable and assumes no responsibility for any injury or loss incurred by participants in these programs. Tour is limited to 15 attendees. Walkups cannot be guaranteed a spot on the tour. 

Cancellation Policy: 
AIANY Walking Tours take place rain or shine, please dress for the weather. There are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges, unless we cancel a tour.