{"id":367305,"date":"2026-10-07T23:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367305\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T23:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:00:07","slug":"7-fascinating-facts-i-learned-from-an-nyc-gilded-age-walking-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367305\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Fascinating Facts I Learned From an NYC Gilded Age Walking Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

On November 1, season four of The Gilded Age will premiere, and all over again, audiences will daydream about residing in ornate Beaux-Arts mansions<\/a> along Fifth Avenue. While several structures from this era still stand and are open to the public\u2014including the Frick, Cooper Hewitt, and the Morgan Library\u2014there\u2019s something about tracing this era of Manhattan on foot, neighborhood by neighborhood, past rows and rows of private homes, that really feels like traveling back in time. On a recent afternoon, I met up with historian Keith Taillon<\/a> to do just this: view the city with fresh eyes, but through a nostalgic lens.<\/p>\n

In addition to being a historian, author<\/a>, and tour guide, Keith also runs a popular Instagram account (@keithyorkcity<\/a>), where he rabbit holes on topics like the demolition of the original Penn Station, why we call it \u2018The Big Apple,\u2019 and Gilded Age<\/a> fun facts galore. He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in history and a master\u2019s in urban planning, so his tours contextualize the city\u2019s past through its \u201cstructural configuration,\u201d as he puts it.<\/p>\n

We begin our Gilded Age walkabout on a tree-lined street in Greenwich Village on a sunny Wednesday in late September. Very few tour guides focus on Lower Manhattan when covering the Gilded Age, but for Keith, it\u2019s the start of his entire narrative arc (and for good reason).<\/p>\n

Eager to learn why? Continue below for a few of the riveting (and sometimes juicy) tidbits I learned along the way.<\/p>\n

The Upper East Is Where the Gilded Age Went to Die<\/p>\n

When we think about the Gilded Age (and see its glamorous depictions in film and television), the Upper East Side<\/a> is often the centerpiece. But this is only half the story. \u201cMost people focus on that neighborhood because it\u2019s where the surviving mansions are,\u201d Keith explains. But when he does his Upper East Side tour, he always tells guests it\u2019s where the Gilded Age went to die. \u201cIt\u2019s where the younger generations of families who got their start down here, in houses like these, moved with their inheritance and spent themselves into oblivion just in time for World War I and the Great Depression.\u201d So while the Upper East Side is an example of the excess that led to the end of the Gilded Age, the houses in Greenwich Village<\/a> up to about 42nd Street are more indicative of the kinds of families who led to the start of the Gilded Age. \u201cI often tell people, 90% of the buildings I\u2019m talking about on my tours Downtown are gone,\u201d he says. \u201cBut down here, you\u2019re actually walking in the footsteps of the people that defined how the Gilded Age played out.\u201d<\/p>\n