Carol Lombardini

Review of Classic Harbor Line

This is a very informative tour of the architectur...

This is a very informative tour of the architecture of Manhattan (and a little of NJ as well). The guide, a certified architect with AIA, has some interesting stories to tell about some of the buildings along the way and some interesting facts to share about others. Two things, however, make this tour less enjoyable than it should be: First and foremost, it is three hours long when it should be two hours. We passed many of the same buildings more than once (which might be a peculiarity because of the particular route that we are required to follow because of a bridge closure) and the guide remarked on some of the same buildings two or three times. It would have been much better to consolidate the commentary so the guide would discuss a particular building only once. Secondly, there isn't a lot of cohesiveness to the narrative. While there are many interesting facts related, the tour doesn't have an organizing principle: for example, it's not chronologically organized (understandable), but it seems that it should have some organization surrounding architectural style and its development. Improving the "story" would go a long way to making this a first class tour like the one in Chicago.