Ginny Poleman
Then & Now: View from Central Park
Things have certainly changed since 1957. Up top is a painting by Adolf Dehn (1895-1968), from the New York Historical Society's...
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NYC Encounters
Walking & Virtual Tours
Art, Architecture, History & Trivia
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or as a fundraiser for your organization!
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Upcoming Tours & Webinars
Click on tour link for sign-up page
Sun, September 17, 2023
11 AM - 1 PM
With nearly 30 sculptures, beautiful reliefs, and variety of architecture, its 843-acres is both an urban natural jewel as well as visual feast for the eyes! Escape from the busy streets of Manhattan to explore the exquisite public art inside Central Park.
Thurs, September 21, 2023
11 AM - 1 PM
Come explore the old and the new at South Street Seaport, featuring the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city, and the newly repurposed Tin Building as a culinary marketplace by Chef Jean-Georges. With vintage photographs, this tour will show how South Street Seaport has evolved when it was one of the first and busiest streets in Manhattan to today’s tourist destination.
Thurs, September 21, 2023
7 - 8 PM EST
Let’s venture north of Westchester County to explore some of the remaining mansions built by New York’s 19th century wealthy and powerful businessmen and politicians, including two Presidents, FDR, and Martin Van Buren.
Fashion in Art Tour
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Fri, September 22, 2023
12:45 - 1:45 PM
FREE with Museum admission. No registration necessary. This cross-collection tour looks at fashion — clothes, hair, jewelry, etc — using sculpture, paintings, and decorative objects in the museum's collection. Meet in Gallery 534, the Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco.
Sat, Sepember 23, 2023
Discover the secrets of one of NYC’s most iconic buildings
Learn about the design flaw in the main concourse
Find one of NYC’s most elegant cocktail bars formally an office, a speakeasy and a jail
Peek into the entrance of the glass walkways
Decipher the hidden symbols of the family that built Grand Central
Sat, October 7, 2023
11 AM - 1 PM
From architectural details that included turrets, gargoyles, moats, and wrought iron inspired by Italian Renaissance tombs — to prominent American families that included names like Carnegie, Pulitzer, Vanderbilt, and Frick — it's time to travel up Fifth Avenue and uncover the incredible sights and stories behind the Gilded Age mansions that still line the avenue.
Fashion in Art Tour
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Fri, October 13, 2023
12:45 - 1:45 PM
FREE with Museum admission. No registration necessary. This cross-collection tour looks at fashion — clothes, hair, jewelry, etc — using sculpture, paintings, and decorative objects in the museum's collection. Meet in Gallery 534, the Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco.
Fashion in Art Tour
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Monday, October 23, 2023
12:45 - 1:45 PM
FREE with Museum admission. No registration necessary. This cross-collection tour looks at fashion — clothes, hair, jewelry, etc — using sculpture, paintings, and decorative objects in the museum's collection. Meet in Gallery 534, the Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco.
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Private Walking Tours
Visiting NYC?
Book a private tour! Choose from a selection of in-person
walking tours for your group.
Two-hour Walking Tour
$200 for up to 4 people.
$35 for each additional attendee, max of 15 people
Other neighborhoods, Street Art, Art Gallery, or Art Museums tours
can be customized for your group!
Two-hour Custom Tour
$300 for up to 4 people
$35 for each additional attendee, max of 15 people
The Slow Down Tour of
Grand Central Terminal
2-hr Walking Tour
No need to rush through Grand Central Terminal on this slow down tour exploring the history, architecture, and stories of NYC's landmarked Beaux Arts jewel.
Gilded Age Mansions
of Museum Mile
2-hr Walking Tour
Stroll up Fifth Avenue from the Frick Collection to the Cooper Hewitt Museum seeing the turn-of-the-20th century homes and hearing the stories of their wealthy owners, familiar names like Pulitzer, Whitney, Carnegie, and more!
Highlights of
Central Park
2-hr Walking Tour
Hitting the major attractions of Central Park, this tour will highlight the structures, sculptures, and history of this magnificent urban space within Manhattan.
Gilded Age Department Stores
of Ladies Mile
2-hr Walking Tour
As we take the steps of women of the 1890s who window shopped on 6th Avenue, we'll look up at the magnificent architecture of the department stores of the Gilded Age with names long gone, like Siegel-Cooper, and some still hanging on, like Macy’s.
Poems, Oreos, & Cowboys: History of Chelsea & the High Line
2-hr Walking Tour
What do the Night Before Christmas, Oreos, and cowboys in New York City have in common? Learn that and much more as you take this two-hour walk through the history of Chelsea and the High Line listening to the stories of this revitalized area of restaurants, high-end shops, art galleries and mid-19th century brownstones.
The 1915 Farley Post Office
& new Moynihan Train Hall
2-hr Walking Tour
The old Farley Post Office is one of the last vestiges of McKim, Mead, & White’s architectural designs in the old Penn Station neighborhood. See how this Beaux Arts beauty was painstaking conserved to its former glory, and how the rest of the building was repurposed as the new, modern train hall, honoring the original Penn Station.
Explore South Street Seaport!
2-hr Walking Tour
Come explore the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city, and the newly repurposed Tin Building as a culinary marketplace by Chef Jean-Georges. With vintage photographs, this tour will show how the Seaport has evolved from one of the first and busiest streets in Manhattan to today’s tourist destination featuring the South Street Seaport Museum and its fleet of historical ships, Schermerhorn Row, the Titanic Memorial, and the revitalized Pier 17. And of course, great photo spots of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Custom Neighborhood, Art Gallery,
Art Museum, or
Street Art Tours
2-hr Art Tour
Specially developed for your group including the latest exhibitions, you can choose a tour of galleries, an art museum (MoMA, Whitney, Frick, Guggenheim), or neighborhood street art (Chelsea, Greenwich Village). This tour can be customized for families with kids 10-years and up.
Rockefeller Center —
City within a City
2-hr Walking Tour
Using his own money, John D Rockefeller Jr. envisioned an ambitious 22-acre city-within-a-city of 19 buildings with offices, restaurants, TV studios, theater, all during the Great Depression. On this walking tour, discover the magnificent Art Deco architecture, view some of its site-specific art installations, and hear the story behind the most famous Christmas tree and how it came there at Rockefeller Center.
Midtown Fifth Avenue
Then & Now
2-hr Walking Tour
What was once 5th Avenue’s Millionaire Row at the turn of the 20th century, with neighbors named Vanderbilt and Whitney, is now a canyon of Manhattan’s finest hotels, high rises, and retail. What remains? You'll see some of the finest Gilded Age churches, hotels, private clubs (designed by McKim, Mead, & White), and repurposed mansions like Cartier and Gucci.
SoHo Architecture
2-hr Walking Tour
Rediscover South of Houston (SoHo), once a high-end residential neighborhood, then commercial district, and now a destination for shopping and entertainment. Travel back in time to early 19th century and then see brand new architecture. Visit SoHo’s historical cast iron district; see a building designed by the renowned architectural firm, McKim, Mead, and White; and admire the Beaux Arts beauty of the former 1909 NYPD police headquarters.
The Gems of Bryant Park
2-hr Walking Tour
Take a stroll around this 9.6-acre park while viewing vintage photographs and listening to the stories of the history, sculptures, library, and neighboring buildings of Bryant Park, including the landmarked American Radiator Building. Named after newspaperman and abolitionist, William Cullen Bryant, the park shares the block with the New York Public Library and has become Manhattan’s midtown’s square with year-around events and free public activities.
Riverside Drive:
the Other Millionaires Row
Two, 2-hr Walking Tours
Split into two unique walking tours, your choice of Riverside south from 72nd to 90th Streets, or Riverside north from Grant's Tomb to 103rd Street. Both tours cover the gilded age mansions, turn-of-the-century luxury apartment buildings, and the statutory of Riverside Drive Park.
Gems of Madison Square Park & the Flatiron District
2-hr Walking Tour
Today, Madison Square Park serves as a meeting place for New Yorkers and tourists with green space, playground, and annual site-specific art installations. Come explore the history of the park and its surrounding historical buildings like Metropolitan Life North Building, the NY Life Building, and the perennial favorite, the Flatiron Building. Using vintage photographs, see the district then and in person, while listening to many stories of these sights.
Gilded Age Mansions
of Murray Hill
2-hr Walking Tour
Imagine life as it was in the 19th Century Murray Hill. We’ll look at the Morgan Library, designed by renowned architect Charles McKim of McKim, Mead, & White — using no mortar between its marble blocks — as well as the remaining homes, stables, and private clubs in this historical district. Using vintage photographs, you'll get a then-and-now look of what remains, as well as talk about how the very first railroad in the world impacted the area.
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Webinars
Not in New York City? Prefer an on-site lecture?
How about a virtual tour or webinar?
Choose from the offerings for your private group or fundraising event.
Email ginnypoleman@gmail.com for more webinar subjects.
One-hour online Webinar (your platform or mine)
$100 for up to 10 people
$5 for each additional attendee, no max
(Recorded replay available)
One-hour Custom online Webinar (your platform or mine)
$200 for up to 10 people
$5 for each additional attendee, no max
(Recorded replay available)
Grand Central Terminal
4-Part Series
$400+
History of
Grand Central Terminal
1-hr Highlights
Grand Central's "Terminal City"
History of the
New York Public Library
History of Central Park
3-Part Series
$300+
History of Central Park
1-hr Highlights
Gilded Age Mansions of Museum Mile
Gilded Age Department Stores of Ladies Mile
History of the
Original Penn Station
History of the
Empire State Building
Poems, Oreos, & Cowboys
History of Chelsea
Color: Culture, Science, & History
3-part Series
$300+
Red, Yellow, & Blue
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A Love Affair with
New York City
A Native New Yorker
From the time I was a little kid from Whitestone, Queens, I loved going on excursions into “the city.” I’ve been in love with NYC ever since—the architecture, the history, the stories, and probably most of all, the energy. After living in other places in the States and raising my family in Westchester county, I am now a full-time Manhattan resident. I have immersed myself in learning more about this great city— the fun, the quirky, and the fascinating— and now dedicated to passing it on to YOU.
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Testimonials
"Ginny is always a delightfully knowledgeable
and engaging tour guide. The subject matter is always intriguing and often surprising! I'd never thought about the buildings in NYC having such a fun history."
"For this webinar,
Ginny did her research.
I could picture the
Empire State Building right in front of me."
"Great & varied info in a relaxed setting - Ginny's voice & style were very calming!"
"I really enjoyed this webinar and I definitely learned a lot."
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