Shopping on Ladies' Mile in the Gilded Age

I will show you historical photos and lead you around the neighborhood now known as Chelsea and the Flatiron District to see where wealthy women could shop without male companions, as the “carriage trade” developed in the mid-19th century. Residents of this neighborhood, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner, Edith Wharton, Samuel Morse, and members of the Roosevelt family, would have strolled the streets and shopped in the grand department stores, where every floor was filled with exquisite wares.

The buildings of the Ladies’ Mile district include some of the most important examples of lavish cast-iron architecture in New York City. Great dry goods emporia such as B. Altman’s, Siegel-Cooper, Hugh O’Neill, and Lord & Taylor, were shopping meccas designed to attract customers from all walks of life. These buildings still stand, and while the goods displayed are more prosaic, the grand architecture still elevates our experience today.

This tour will also discuss the development of the department store and shopping as a feminist act - an activity where women were the focus of attention and the drivers of change.

Private group tours may be booked upon request! Contact me directly: emma [at] mynyctours [dot] com