Archtober at the Seaport
Free walking tours. Virtual tours. A look at the historic buildings of Lower Manhattan—from the inside. It’s all part of Archtober, NYC’s month-long Architecture & Design Festival. Discover the city through an architect’s eyes. Here at the Seaport, that means exploring the South Street Seaport Museum’s impressive collections of buildings and digital archives. Archtober events include:
A Walking Tour of the Seaport’s Printing Past
October 23, 2–3pm
Explore the Seaport’s history as New York’s job printing hub. This free walking tour takes place in buildings where passenger and shipping services printed tickets and ads. Learn more about the bustling industry that sprung up in the neighborhood in the 19th century from tour leader Rob Wilson, Bowne & Co. art director and operations manager. A printing demonstration at Bowne & Co.’s working print shop rounds out the tour. Registration is required.
Photo courtesy of the South Street Seaport Museum
A Virtual Tour of Schermerhorn Row
Anytime
Explore the Seaport’s history from home. This free, on-demand virtual tour takes you inside the upper floor of the Seaport Museum at Schermerhorn Row. Learn what makes the 1810–1812 building one of the most significant examples of early 19th century commercial architecture in the city. Take the tour.
Photo courtesy of the South Street Seaport Museum
Inside Thompson Warehouse
Anytime
Watch the secrets of a 19th century cast-iron building be revealed. This virtual tour takes you inside the renovation process of Thompson Warehouse on Water Street. South Street Seaport Museum President and CEO Capt. Jonathan Boulware leads the tour, discovering layers of history like cart tracks in the building’s basement and the machinery of an early elevator. Go behind the scenes.
Photo courtesy of the South Street Seaport Museum
Explore Online Collections
Anytime
Browse a treasure trove of architectural history with a click and a scroll. The South Street Seaport Museum has added more than 100 newly digitized artifacts to the 2,000 already available digital assets of the over 83,000 items in the collection. You can view the digitized assets via the museum’s free, online database. Watch the architectural fabric of New York City evolve by checking out the archive of building elements—from bricks, doors and windows to wallpaper samples and terracotta ornaments. Start exploring.
-
- Photo courtesy of the South Street Seaport Musuem
-
- Photo courtesy of the South Street Seaport Museum
A blog about architectural elements collected by New York author Joseph Mitchell also helps to illuminate the rich history of the Seaport, and more virtual tours of the neighborhood are available via the Urban Archive iPhone app. Download and start exploring. There is also a mobile map and guide to all Archtober events across the five boroughs available here.
For more information and the latest news from the South Street Seaport Museum, visit:
Featured photo courtesy of the South Street Seaport Museum