Image:  Esther Crain/Ephemeral New York

Join the Atlas Obscura for a historic walking tour of Midtown Manhattan’s great real estate holdouts and the stories behind the various tenants who stood their ground, refusing to budge.

Hidden within plain sight, the odd anomaly in a sea of skyscrapers: holdouts have had a real and lasting impact on the structure of our city’s streets, and the architecture of each has its own unique story to tell. From the little old lady unwilling to leave her home at any price to the gambling man who stayed too long in hopes of financial gain and overplayed his hand, the history of New York City’s holdouts ranges from the outrageous to the touching and is often rife with reversals of fortune.

In this in-depth walking tour Robert Amell will be sharing 16+ examples of historic holdouts found in the landscape of East Midtown Manhattan. Manifested within an unusual building shape, odd skyscraper entrance, or the inexplicable look to a facade, each of these architectural artifacts have had a significant impact on the development of the surrounding area. Join the Atlas Obscura for an afternoon of discovery within the very heart of Manhattan.

Many of the accounts on this tour are based on the book Holdouts! by Andrew Alpern and Seymour Durst.

ADVANCE TICKETS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Meetup will be inside the lower atrium of 875 Third Avenue, located at the SE corner of 53rd and 3rd. Once inside, take the escalator down to the basement level.

Please be on time; we will be beginning promptly at 11 am.