aarch walking tour

Your browser is not supported for this experience. We recommend using Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari.

African American Sites Walking Tour

This tour provides glimpses of centuries of African American heritage in the City of Frederick and presents a new opportunity to experience the past.

In 1860, free African Americans made up more than 1/5 of Frederick City's population of 8,000 people. Many of these city residents found employment as skilled laborers at the industrial businesses - tanneries, foundries, and brickyards along Carroll Creek. They established homes just south of the creek along All Saints Street, which became the hub of Black life in Downtown Frederick. On this street, it is easy to imagine the daily bustle of what were once segregated business in the 19th and early 20th century centuries. You can still hear the strains of smooth jazz tunes and harmonies of gospel hymns rising from nearby churches and social halls. Find inspiration from the amazing faith and fortitude of our African American forbears. 

Frederick's AARCH Society leads guided walking tours of Downtown Frederick. The walking tours highlight the community's rich history and culture in the late 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on the men and women who made change and strove for equality. Explore the wider African American story in Frederick County as well at sites like Museum of the Ironworker , Monocacy National Battlefield , and on a self-guided driving tour . 

• Skip to secondary menu
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Adirondack Architectural Tours Still Have Openings

June 14, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The organization’s in-depth outings explore unique, historic, and often private, places across Northern New York, including camps, homes, roadside attractions, industrial communities, and many more.

Day-long and half-day tours slated for June, July, and August that still have some openings are detailed below:

This tour is led by AARCH board member Richard Frost, co-author of The Plattsburgh Military Reservation. The fee is $40 for AARCH members and $50 for non-members. Tour will include samples at local breweries.

Preserving Camp Santanoni , Monday, June 24 AND Monday, September 16 (Newcomb): Camp Santanoni and Santanoni Preserve is an extensive estate covering nearly 13,000 acres. Construction started in 1892 and at its heyday, the property included nearly four-dozen buildings, a 200-acre working farm and a Japanese-inspired log villa. In 1972, Camp Santanoni was acquired by the State of New York and became part of the Forest Preserve. For over 25 years, AARCH has led the effort to protect, interpret, and share this regional treasure. Join us and journey back in time on an in-depth tour of this National Historic Landmark. Enjoy a leisurely draft-horse wagon-ride or hike along the 9.8 mile round-trip excursion. Stop at the Gate Lodge and farm before arriving at the main camp, masterfully perched on Newcomb Lake. Eat your picnic lunch under the same eaves that sheltered Theodore Roosevelt. On a private tour, walk into the camp’s buildings to appreciate past and present workmanship, hear about the families and celebrity guests who summered here, and see first-hand efforts to conserve this Park jewel.

This tour is led by Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) Executive Director Steven Engelhart. There is a suggested donation of $25. A limited number of seats are available on a horse-drawn wagon for an additional $30 fee.

*This tour involves a 9.8 hike on dirt road or wagon-ride.

This tour is led by AARCH’s Steven Engelhart and our knowledgeable local guides and property-owners. The tour begins at 10 am and ends around 4 pm. The fee is $45 for AARCH members and $55 for non-members.

A Public Architect: Alvin Inman , Monday, July 29 (Upper Jay/Clintonville/Peru/Plattsburgh): Plattsburgh native Alvin Walter Inman (1895-1950) is one the most important North Country architects that no one has ever heard of. See the work of this uniquely public architect who weathered the Great Depression to produce some fantastic Colonial Revival and Period style schools, churches, libraries, civic buildings, and private homes across the North Country over his career of nearly 30 years. Begin the day visiting two 1930s, rural grade schools in Upper Jay and Clintonville, followed by a visit to a luxuriously designed, Medieval-inspired Tudor structure, The Stone House at Valcour Bay. Lastly, head into Plattsburgh and embark on a short walking tour exploring the architect’s local business facades, churches, and a few private homes, including his own 1938 English Tudor residence.

This tour will be led by AARCH Executive Director Steven Engelhart and AARCH Educational Programs Director Nolan Cool, and begins at 10 am and ends at 4 pm. The tour fee is $50 for AARCH members and $60 for non-members.

Isaac Johnson: Stone Mason & Freedom Seeker , Monday, July 29 (Ontario, CA/Waddington, NY): Isaac Johnson’s arrival in the North Country during the late 19th century came after an eventful and tumultuous life. Born enslaved to his father, a Kentucky farmer, Johnson lived a relatively free life until his father sold him, his mother, and his three siblings into slavery for $1,100. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, Johnson eventually sought freedom again during the Civil War, and escaped to Union Army lines in 1863. Soon after, he joined a black regiment and fought for the Union Army’s 102nd Colored Troops in South Carolina. After the war, he made his way to the U.S.–Ontario borderland near the Ogdensburg-Waddington area and worked as a stone mason and master builder. His story sheds light on the African American experience in the North Country and explores the depth of Johnson’s personal history, his work, and the architecture his career produced. This tour will include a talk by Professor Emeritus Cornel “Corky” Reinhart on his time unearthing the Isaac Johnson story. Tour the historic 1884 Waddington Town Hall, and travel to Ontario to explore two of Johnson’s finest buildings – the St. James Anglican Church in Morrisburg, Ontario and the Winchester United Pastoral Charge in Winchester, Ontario.

This tour is led by AARCH Staff and St. Lawrence University Professor Emeritus and Isaac Johnson scholar, Cornel “Corky” Reinhart. The tour begins at 10 am and ends at 4 pm. The tour fee is $50 for AARCH members and $60 for non-members.

*Note that all participants must have a valid passport or enhanced driver’s license to travel across the Canadian border.

Exploring Chazy , Tuesday, August 6 (Chazy): Philanthropist and businessman William Miner grew up in Chazy and made his fortune by inventing, patenting, and manufacturing specialized railroad equipment. In 1903, he and his wife, Alice, returned to the family’s Chazy farm and began more than three decades of innovative philanthropic work in the region. In this outing, we’ll explore two of the Miners’ most significant and lasting achievements: the Alice T. Miner Museum and Heart’s Delight Farm, now the Miner Institute . They established the museum in 1924 in a three-story stone mansion that was modified to house Alice’s collection of art and decorative objects. Heart’s Delight was an organizational and technological marvel in its day with 300 buildings on 15,000 acres, and 800 employees. In the twentieth century, the farm evolved into the Miner Institute which now focuses on pioneering agricultural research and livestock breeding, as well as providing educational programs in farm management and environmental science.

This tour will be led by Alice T. Miner Museum Director Ellen Adams and a team from the Miner Institute. The tour begins at 10 am and ends around 4 pm. The fee is $40 for AARCH members $50 for non-members.

Saranac Lake Pioneer Health Resort , Saturday, August 10 (Saranac Lake): The history and architecture of Saranac Lake is interwoven with the American health industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One method of tuberculosis rehabilitation involved long exposure to the fresh, pure mountain air of the Adirondacks. As a result, Saranac Lake was fitted with cure cottages and sleeping porches built to accommodate this new style of treatment. In addition to caring for patients, state-of-the-art facilities were constructed for research, such as the first laboratory to study tuberculosis in the nation by Dr. Edward L. Trudeau. Explore this 1894 laboratory-now-museum, learn about celebrity patients, visit the grounds of the Trudeau Institute as well as the former Trudeau Sanatorium, and see several cure cottages including the simple cabin where Hungarian composer Bela Bartok poignantly spent his final summer. This tour is co-sponsored with Historic Saranac Lake (HSL), and will be led by HSL Executive Director Amy Catania. Admission is $45 and meet-up location and details will be given upon reservation confirmation.

*Walking long distances and steep hills is involved.

Jeremiah Oosterbaan , Architect, Tuesday, August 20 (Plattsburgh): A third generation Dutch-American, Jeremiah Oosterbaan (1929-2011) trained as an architect at the Illinois Institute of Technology under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pioneer of Modernist architecture. In 1956, Oosterbaan established a practice in Plattsburgh and over the next forty years designed some of the city’s most prominent and distinctive late 20th century buildings. AARCH’s own Steven Engelhart explains that “In an era when there was a lot of undistinguished architecture being built in the United States, Oosterbaan brought a deftness with form, textures, materials, massing, and design to his buildings and Plattsburgh is a much more beautiful city for his work.” This outing explores the best of his work, including the Temple Beth Israel, Newman Center, the Press-Republican building, Clinton County Government Center, St. Alexander’s Catholic Church, and his former personal residence.

This tour will be led by AARCH Executive Director Steven Engelhart, and will begin at 10 AM and will end at 3:30 PM. The fee is $45 for members and $55 for non-members.

200 Years of Farming , Thursday, August 29 (Peru/Keeseville): For more than 200 years, apples, cheese and butter, grain and corn, vegetables, oxen and dairy cows have been grown, managed, cultivated, and raised in the Champlain Valley. Embark on an agricultural adventure through southern Clinton County to explore a range of homesteads, Century Farms and barns dating from the early 19th century up through today. Get a farming introduction at the Babbie Rural and Farm Learning Museum before touring historic and active farms, such as the Keese Homestead, Remillard Farm, Forrence Orchards, and North Country Creamery . See animals, walk an orchard, sample products and savor the flavors of our Lake Champlain bounty. Round out the day with a visit to the Ausable Brewing Company for a frosty local beverage and sample locally-made tacos from the Mace Chasm Farm food truck (optional).

This outing will be led by AARCH Executive Director Steven Engelhart, and begins at 10 am and ends at 4 pm. The fee is $45 for AARCH members and $55 for non-members.

For further details or to register for any of these tours, call the AARCH office at (518) 834-9328, or email Educational Programs Director Nolan Cool at [email protected].

Photos, from above: A tour of Echo Camp on Raquette Lake; AARCH tour attendees visiting Ausable Brewing Company; and Big Moose Community Chapel, provided.

Please Support The New York Almanack

About Editorial Staff

Stories written under the Editorial Staff byline are drawn from press releases and other notices. Submit your news to New York Almanack here .

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Downtown Frederick’s Top 5 August 26-28

If you’re planning a wedding or other large event, you definitely do not want to miss the Frederick Wedding Show happening this Sunday downtown. With over 45 vendors and 4 fantastic downtown venues, Downtown Frederick is ready to impress!

Looking to be entertained? FAC’s Sky Stage is ready to impress with a comedy show and live jazz. And be sure to catch with Mountain City Elks Lodge Annual Organization Day Parade. Featuring the Bowie State Marching Band, along with bands from Frederick, Thomas Johnson, and Catoctin High schools, you’ll be tempted to march along!

On Saturday, you can learn about African American heritage in downtown with the AARCH walking tour. This unique tour is not only informative, but takes you along Carroll Creek and onto All Saints St to show you the cultural and historical importance of the neighborhood that was the center of the Frederick African American community up until the early 1960s.

Frederick Wedding Show @ Attaboy Barrel House

Sunday, August 28, 11am-3pm, Free Admission

24 S Wisner St, Ste 110

Join the folks at Attaboy Barrel House and their friends at Citizens Ballroom, Tenth Ward Distilling Company and Union Mills Public House for THE FREDERICK WEDDING SHOW . Sponsored by On The Town Limousines, Inc.

There will be 45+ local vendors showing off their wedding offerings, advice, & inspiration at four locations with a free shuttle in between: Attaboy Barrel House (24 S Wisner St, Ste 110), Citizens Ballroom (2 E Patrick St) [11am-3pm}, Tenth Ward Distilling Company (55 East Patrick St), Union Mills Public House (340 E Patrick St, Unit A). Whether you are planning a wedding or large scale event, we’ve assembled a rad bunch of talented local vendors, florists, caterers, planners, and more who are ready to partner on your next event. FREE TO ALL! Plus free entry to raffle. AND AND! Free parking at Attaboy & at County Parking Lot between Attaboy & Union Mills Public House with free shuttle to and from Tenth Ward. More details & vendor info here:  https://www.attaboybarrelhouse.com/wedding-bells

Comedy Night @ FAC’s Sky Stage

Friday, August 26 , 7:30pm-9:30pm, $10

59 S Carroll St

A night of stand-up and/or improv comedy under the stars featuring Dee Ahmed, Stacey Axler, Sandy Bernstein, Andy Basto, Joey Coon, Davine Ker, Erin Patrick and Lauren Smith. Plus  Key City Improv  and Headliner Rahmein Mostafavi.

All-ages welcome*, beer/wine w/ID, other concessions available for purchase to benefit Sky Stage/FAC.

Tickets through  Eventbrite  with some tickets available at the door, cash or cards accepted. Doors open 30 minutes before start time.

*Parents please note there maybe PG-13 + content.

AARCH Society African American History Walking Tours

Saturday, August 27, 11am-12:30pm, $10

125 E All Saints St

Frederick Jazz Festival Presents Summer Nights Series @ FAC’s Sky Stage

Saturday, August 27, 7pm-9:30pm , $20

Live jazz is brought to you in partnership with the great folks at  Frederick Jazz Festival .

August features US Jazz Ambassadors featured saxophone soloist, band arranger, and award-winning composer  Darryl Brenzel  and Billboard topping trumpeter,  Alex Parchment .

Rain location at 5 E. 2nd St. in downtown Frederick.

*Doors approximately half-hour before start time. Please double-check this entry with  Facebook events  pages for possible rain updates.

All-ages venue, $20 per show. Beer/wine may be available for 21+ with I.D.

Mt. City Elks Parade ft. Bowie State University Marching Band

Sunday, August 28, 3pm

Downtown Frederick

Bowie State University Showtime Marching Band is coming to Frederick!

Organization Week for the Mountain City Elks Lodge closes with a bang with their annual parade on Sunday, August 28th @ 3pm!

Performances by:

Bowie State University Marching Band ○  Frederick High School Marching Band ○ Thomas Johnson High School Marching Band ○ Catoctin High School Marching Band ○ Frederick Steppers  ○  Star Struck Superstars ○ The Marching Unit Baltimore ○  Dynasty Marching Unit ○  Color Guards ○  Fire Companies

There will also be food for sale outside and dinners for sale inside the Lodge.

Parade Route:

Groups line-up at Donald Schaffer Building. Continue down East Street and make a left on Patrick Street. Continue on Patrick Street and make a left on Market Street. Continue on Market Street and make a right on All Saints Street. Parade ends at the Elks Lodge.

About dtwnfrederick

Recent posts.

Downtown Frederick's Top 5 | May 3-5

Bringing World Culture to Downtown Frederick

Downtown Frederick's Top 5 | April 26-28

Downtown Frederick's Top 5 | April 19-21

Downtown Frederick's Top 5 | April 12-14

Subscribe to our mailing list, connect with the partnership.

• My Reading List
• Account Settings
• Newsletters & alerts
• Gift subscriptions
• Accessibility for screenreader

Uncovering the past: Exploring Black history in Frederick County

By Frederick County Tourism

In Frederick County, Maryland, historical sites reveal the complex history of slavery on the border between North and South, the road to emancipation and the Jim Crow era.

Visitors have been touring the historic village of Catoctin Furnace for decades. Just 15 minutes outside of Frederick, Maryland, the site explores the history of a pre-Revolutionary village that manufactured iron for household tools and ammunition for nearly 125 years. While much is known about the integral role the village played in the state’s industrial development, stories about the enslaved Africans who worked there are still fighting to come to light.

“People think of slavery as [producing] tobacco, cotton, rice, or sugar,” said Elizabeth Comer, president of the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society. “But [Catoctin is] a rare example of the contribution of African Americans, both enslaved and free, to the industrial development of the United States.”

The simplest version of the nation’s history with slavery and the Civil War teaches that Southern states seceded from the Union, fought for their right to own slaves and lost. Even beyond the Civil War and Emancipation, Black history is often taught as a monolithic tale of struggle. But in border states like Maryland, the truth is much more complex.

Today, historical organizations in Frederick County, such as the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, the Monocacy National Battlefield and the African American Resources, Cultural Heritage Society (AARCH) are showing visitors that the road to emancipation and freedom was longer than most people realize.

Uncovering Buried Histories

In 1979, only 10 miles from the southern border of Pennsylvania, construction of U.S. Route 15 unearthed a surprise: a previously unknown slave cemetery located near the Catoctin Furnace. Archeologists excavated 35 of the estimated 100 bodies, which were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and the construction of the highway continued.

The cemetery, as well as the generations of enslaved people buried there, had largely gone undocumented, their stories forgotten. The history of the ironworkers had not previously been included in the tours at Catoctin, but in 2015, Maryland Heritage Areas Authority granted Comer and the historical society the funds to change that.

Today’s visitors can walk the African American Cemetery Trail, stretching approximately half a mile from the ruins of the historic furnace in Cunningham Falls State Park to an overlook near the cemetery site. Along the way, wayside panels tell the story of the highly skilled blacksmiths, colliers and forge men who worked in the furnace. Guests can also see the ruins of the furnace, alongside a reconstructed casting shed and a restored log cabin that housed workers and their families.

Although the cemetery sits on privately owned land, the overlook gives guests a contemplative space from which to view it, complete with a marker listing the confirmed first names of enslaved people at Catoctin and featuring a poem by Elayne Bond Hyman. Route 15 rumbles by in the distance.

“We want people to pause here,” Comer said. “Although it’s noisy, we point out in one of the waysides that this would’ve been a noisy place even 200 years ago because the cemetery is literally right beside the ore pit. Unfortunately, this was not a quiet private space where one could visit and be with their own thoughts or with their loved ones.”

Last July, the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society opened another addition to the village: The Museum of the Ironworker. The 600-foot exhibition area incorporates artifacts such as Catoctin Furnace-made stoves and cannonballs, as well as two forensic facial reconstructions, inspired by research into the cemetery remains and created in conjunction with StudioEIS and the Smithsonian. The reconstructions show a 35-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy.

The Catoctin Furnace Historical Society continues research into the enslaved Africans that worked there, and Comer hopes that one day the list of names at the cemetery will be complete.

“I think audiences appreciate that we’re not whitewashing it anymore,” she said. “At Catoctin, we’re saying, ‘This is where , this is who was brought against their will, but this is what they accomplished, and now we want to find their descendants so that we can connect them with that legacy.’”

A Fight for Freedom

Twenty minutes south of Catoctin Furnace is the Monocacy National Battlefield, a site that played a role in both perpetuating — and eventually ending slavery.

In the early 1800s, the L’Hermitage plantation stretched across hundreds of acres along the Monocacy River near Frederick, Maryland. Ninety of the 108 plantation residents were enslaved human beings, making it the region’s largest enslaved population. The reason for the sizable population is unknown, but the site’s historians believe the owners might have rented enslaved people out to other farms, mills or industrial operations in the area.

“There’s a lot of misconception about how slavery was structured, and the fact is that there really is no structure,” says Tracy Evans, park ranger and head of education and visitor resources at Monocacy.

L’Hermitage plantation was sold by the original owners in the 1820s, its enslaved population diminishing through that decade. ts location soon played a key role in ending the systems of slavery from which the plantation profited.

In July 1864, Confederate military leaders made plans to capture Washington, DC and turn the tide of the Civil War in their favor. Fortunately, 6,000 Union soldiers assembled on the banks of the Monocacy River to stop them. On July 9, 1864, those forces held 15,000 Confederate soldiers off long enough for Union reinforcements to arrive at the nation’s capital. Because of e the outnumbered Union forces’ surprising success, the Battle of Monocacy became known as “The Battle That Saved Washington.”

Today, Monocacy National Battlefield includes several farms, buildings, mills and monuments that allow guests to debunk historical myths and explore the location’s complicated history with slavery. Covering more than 1,600 acres, there are 51 historic structures at the national park that help visitors picture farm life, including exhibits in the Tenant House that feature an original painting of what the enslaved village would’ve looked like at L’Hermitage.

Monocacy also offers six different walking trails that loop the farmland in the area, providing scenic views as well as details of the battlefield. One particular stop on the tours is the Monocacy Junction, where the United States Colored Troops recruiting station was established to encourage Black soldiers to join the fight for freedom.

People who tour Monocacy National Battlefield by car or foot are encouraged to enhance their visit with an online audio tour or battlefield maps found at the Visitors Center. Tourists will also find a museum inside the Visitors Center with exhibits that feature recovered Civil War military ID tags, period clothing, photos and archeology from L’Hermitage plantation.

As curator of the museum at Monocacy, Evans says the personal stories the artifacts tell are the most fascinating part of the work. “Our visitors really want to know about the whole story of the war, the people who were there and how they interacted with soldiers,” she said.

Tale of the Lion

When working on the Tenant House exhibits, Monocacy National Battlefield partnered with the African American Resources, Cultural Heritage Society (AARCH), asking members to weigh in on how to present the information about the slave village. AARCH, founded in 2009, is a local nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing the culture and the contributions of African Americans in Frederick County.

“It was a really fascinating project, and we had lots of interesting conversations about how people should be depicted,” Evans said. “They really wanted to show the agency of the African American people surviving and living on this land.”

AARCH is an organization that grew out of Frederick County’s efforts to produce a self-guided African American Heritage walking tour. The late William O. Lee, Jr., former teacher and alderman in the City of Frederick, always envisioned a permanent organization focused on local African American life and history. With the help of a strong community of volunteers, his dream became a reality.

Visitors looking for a deep dive into Black history should participate in AARCH’s hour-long walking tours of All Saints Street and the surrounding area. Participants learn about the cultural and historical importance of a neighborhood that was the center of the African American community up until the early 1960s.

“The tours open up more of a 360 view that school doesn’t teach you,” said Protean Gibril, who chairs the organization’s Growth and Development Committee. “There’s the Free Colored Men’s Library, the hospital; it’s almost like a little mini-Tulsa. People will see that they have been missing out on prime examples of resiliency.”

In addition to educating people about Black history, the AARCH makes a point to celebrate the community and allow Black Fredericktonians to tell their own history. In 2018, the organization filmed “The Tale of the Lion,” a documentary about the oldest African American citizens in Frederick County. Rose Chaney, a founding board member of AARCH and native of Frederick County, was integral in gathering interviewees for the film.

“My mother’s family is from Frederick and we can trace our roots back to my great-great-grandfather who was formerly a slave in Frederick County,” Chaney said. “Usually history is missing the African-Americans who lived it. [In the film,] they can tell about how it felt, and what they had to go through.”

AARCH also celebrates this elder generation at an annual Living Treasures banquet, taking the opportunity to honor and learn from their stories. The next step for the organization is building a Heritage Center, where they can host permanent exhibitions of local Black history and expand programming.

“Frederick is a prime example of anywhere in America, where our stories are buried and invisible,” said Gibril. “We need to take the time to bring them forth.”

Experience Black history firsthand. Plan your trip to Frederick County today.

Content From

More From Visit Frederick

This holiday season, vacation to Virginia

Step by step

The Scenic Route

Weekend getaway: Hands-on family fun in Frederick County, Md.

ArCH Walking/Bicycle Tours

Saturdays 9am - 11am, october thru may.

Reservations are required for walking and bicycle tours. Limited attendees per tour. Tours depart promptly at the scheduled time. Please arrive early to allow time for check-in and parking. Weather permitting. Tours will take place in moderate rain. Pets are strongly discouraged and are not allowed inside buildings on tours. $15 General Admission $10 for AIA Houston members $10 for architecture students with current ID Credit card payments accepted online with advance registration. For more information contact [email protected] or call 713.520.0155.

All Sponsors --> Become a Sponsor -->

Funding Provided By

• Upcoming Events
• Past Events

Montrose Walking Tour

May 11, 2024

Heights Bicycle Tour

May 18, 2024

Urban Art Tour

April 27, 2024

Rice University Walking Tour

Towers & Trees Downtown Walking Tour

April 20, 2024

3rd Ward Bicycle Tour

April 13, 2024

Museum District Walking Tour

April 6, 2024

Torres y Árboles

March 23, 2024

UH Art & Architecture Walking Tour

March 2, 2024

2024 Montrose Walking Tour

February 24, 2024

2024 Heights Bicycle Tour

February 17, 2024

Texas Medical Center Walking Tour

Neighborhood walking tours explore the architecture, design and history of Houston's urban landscape. Each two hour tour is led by an enthusiastic ArCH trained docent. Tours take place Saturday mornings at 9 AM, October through May. Detailed descriptions of each tour are linked through the menu at the base of the banner image on this page.  A complete listing of our tours & public programs can be viewed in our online calendar .

We also offer special group tours for corporations, community groups, students, and conferences. If you are interested in a special group tour, would like to be added to our mailing list, or have any other questions, please contact Jennifer Ward,  [email protected]  or 713-520-0155.

Please contact Jennifer Ward at 713-520-0155 or jennifer @aiahouston.org if you would like to learn more about becoming a ArCH Walking or Bicycle Tour Docent. 

All 11 self-guided tours are available for free through the Apple App Store and Android Marke t. Explore the different Houston neighborhood, its architectural highlights and history.

Interested in sponsoring an ArCH Walking/Bicycle Tour for the 2023-24 tour season?  Contact Aleks for more information.

Login using your AIA Member or AIA Houston login information.

• Email Address
• Create Account | Forgot Password?

Create an AIA Houston account to give you access to contract documents and the job board.

NOTE: This account will NOT work for Resume Board, please use your national AIA account to access resumes.

• Confirm Password
• Login | Forgot Password?

Homepage | Site Map | Contact & Location Information | E-Newsletter Sign Up | Refund Policy | Privacy Practices

Copyright © 2017 All Rights Reserved. AIA Houston Chapter

713.520.0155

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Going to TEFAF New York? Here are 4 Shows You Can Walk to.

These exhibitions are all within a 10-minute walk from the Park Avenue Armory, so you can take your time and enjoy the spring weather.

By Ted Loos

TEFAF New York, the European Fine Art Foundation fair, is not short on artworks to keep a visitor’s attention. But just outside the walls of the Park Avenue Armory , the site again of this year’s event, lie many more options for viewing and buying art at the nearby galleries on the Upper East Side.

Four current exhibitions in particular make a perfect walking tour on the way to the fair or after attending it, and they are all within a 10-minute walk of the armory, and each other. On a nice spring day, strolling these blocks is an extra source of pleasure.

E. 70TH ST.

E. 69TH ST.

David Zwirner

E. 68TH ST.

MADISON AVE.

E. 67TH ST.

E. 66TH ST.

Rosenberg & Co.

Di Donna Galleries

Lévy Gorvy Dayan

LEXINGTON AVE.

E. 65TH ST.

E. 64TH ST.

The shows spotlight artists who exemplified and investigated the complicated currents of the 20th century’s art movements, particularly Modernism.

The fact that three of the four shows take place in townhouses or mansions adds a little frisson: The domestic settings allow you to imagine being the owner of the works, casually hanging your acquisitions on the walls at home.

Françoise Gilot

Rosenberg & Co. , 19 East 66th Street

Françoise Gilot , who died last year at 101, first became renowned for her 1964 memoir “Life with Picasso,” which chronicled her decade-long affair with the older artist; a famous 1948 Robert Capa photograph of Picasso holding a beach umbrella over her as they walked on the sand added to the legend. She went on to write many other books and to marry the creator of the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk.

Gilot was a lifelong artist herself, as seen in the 36 varied works on view through July 3, the first posthumous exhibition of her work in New York. Picasso appears in the graphite and pencil drawing “Pablo with Red Background (Les yeux basilic)” (1944), and his influence comes through in the works — but he held sway over many artists.

The dealer Marianne Rosenberg, who organized the show with several collaborators, explicitly set out to show Gilot’s range. “I hate that she’s only associated with Picasso,” said Rosenberg, who knew Gilot through family ties; her grandfather was Paul Rosenberg, who helped create a market for Picasso’s work and was a powerful art dealer of the early 20th century.

The works on view include a charmingly simple ink portrait, “Paul Éluard” (1951), depicting the French poet, as well as a 1958 oil still life, “Sunflowers.” As her work evolved, Gilot increasingly began to explore abstraction, culminating in works like the painting “August Stillness” (1997), which features large areas of red, a color she frequently favored.

Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato

David Zwirner , 34 East 69th Street

The name Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato (1900-95) will not resonate with most casual art lovers, but the Brazilian painter is a favorite of the influential dealer David Zwirner, which means that attention will be paid.

The gallery first showed Lorenzato’s work in 2019 in London, and now this show features 25 works in what is only the second U.S. exhibition of his art. Notably, a work by Lorzenzato is included in the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale , perhaps the world’s premier art event, which opened last month.

Lorenzato, born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, painted recognizable scenes — largely landscapes — but pared his subjects down to geometric forms. He cited Cézanne as a major influence. In “Nuvem de Gafanhotos (Cloud of Crickets),” the titular insects become simple plus signs, and several of the works depict a sun as a red ball.

The works, on view through May 25, are modestly scaled, and they look at home on the walls of the 1910 townhouse that became a branch of the gallery in 2017. Up close, you can see Lorenzato’s technique: After brushing on paint, he would make crosshatch patterns with a comb, a stick or a fork, giving the works a texture that almost seems to vibrate.

Zwirner praised the “disarming and captivating” effect of Lorenzato’s work. “I bought a couple of his paintings myself,” he said. “We love looking at them every day.”

Lévy Gorvy Dayan , 19 East 64th Street

A male artist who creates work by having nude female models drag each other through paint on a canvas lying on the floor, all while surrounded by onlookers, might not go over well in 2024. But around 1960 it was considered peak avant-garde.

Yves Klein (1928-62) used that unconventional technique — he called it employing “human paintbrushes” — for his “Anthropométries” series. In his “Fire Paintings,” he made art with a huge flamethrower, torching a canvas that, moments before, had a water-soaked nude model on top of it, so that the resulting scorching would retain a bodily outline in the wet areas. Examples of both series are on view in “Yves Klein and the Tangible World,” a show of around 30 works on view in the gallery’s sprawling mansion through May 25.

“This show was 10 years in the making,” said the dealer Dominique Lévy, who has long represented the Klein estate. “Usually, shows of his work focus on his ethereality, like the ‘Monochromes’” — Klein’s single-color canvases — “but his show is anchored in the materiality and the tangible.” She added, “Right now, we need a show with beauty, harmony and aliveness.”

Klein got a patent in France for the process used to create the color he called International Klein Blue, and he was associated with it during his short, acclaimed career.

So there is plenty of blue on display in this show, both in the works on the walls — including “Untitled Anthropometry (ANT 77)” circa 1961 — and in a “pool” of color on the floor, a reinstallation of a 1957 work called “Pure Pigment,” at the bottom of the mansion’s grand staircase.

Paul Klee and Alexander Calder

Di Donna Galleries , 744 Madison Avenue

The Swiss-born German artist Paul Klee (1879-40) drew and painted compositionally sophisticated scenes, sometimes with a childlike whimsical quality, while the American artist Alexander Calder (1898-1976) pioneered three-dimensional work, particularly the kinetic sculptures he called “mobiles” and his large, standing “stabiles.”

The combination of two beloved artists is a surefire crowd-pleaser, but “Enchanted Reverie: Klee and Calder” is also noteworthy for its installation, with dark gray walls and elaborate lighting that enliven the art and cast dramatic shadows. Featuring more than 40 works, it is on view through June 8.

The dealer Emmanuel Di Donna wanted to draw out the connections between the two artists, who both had a talent for concision as well as a playful side. “They had a shared sensitivity,” Di Donna said. “They’re both looking for something beyond nature — all the way to the cosmos.” He added, “They rhyme.”

The show features loans from both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. Originally it was going to have an explicit underwater garden theme, but then Di Donna expanded it to include other works. Traces of that idea remain, with both artists depicting fish as only they could.

In one of Klee’s aquatic-themed works, the watercolor “Fische in der Tiefe (Fish in the Deep)” (1921), multiple fish eyes look out at the viewer. Calder returned to the fish form again and again throughout his career, including in the red mobile “Le Poisson de huit heures” (1965), made of sheet metal and wire.

As he prepared for the show to open in April, Di Donna gently blew on “Poisson” and it performed on cue, doing a delicately turning dance in response — a perfect bit of inspiration for art lovers who want to get in the swim of things this spring.

Art and Museums in New York City

A guide to the shows, exhibitions and artists shaping the city’s cultural landscape..

At the Shed, this year’s edition of Frieze New York welcomes an international survey of painting, textiles and collage to its galleries. Here are our critic’s 23 favorite booths .

The Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj  began drawing as a child in the Balkans during a violent decade. His world of childhood innocence and adult experience comes to the r oof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art .

As his bullet-riddled panels go up at Gagosian, Maurizio Cattelan, in a rare in-person interview, tells why he turned his sardonic gaze on a violence-filled world .

In his biggest exhibit since a 2013 retrospective at the Guggenheim, Christopher Wool has created his own show in an uninhabited office in Manhattan’s Financial District .

Looking for more art in the city? Here are the gallery shows not to miss in May .

Dude Ranches of Lake Luzerne

Thursday, September 26, 2024

At its height in the 1950s, Lake Luzerne’s storied dude ranches drew tourists in droves. In the 1920s, developer Earl Woodward began amassing properties on 1,400 acres of forest, fields, and streams between the villages of Lake George and Lake Luzerne for a recreational haven he called Northwoods Dude Ranch. The first of its kind in the region, Northwoods started a trend that thrived for nearly 40 years. Woodward’s tourism vision, with its associated architecture and landscape features, not only transformed the area into the Dude Ranch Trail, but his later involvement in greater regional tourism changed the built environment from Lake Luzerne to Warrensburg. On this outing, we will visit the dude ranches originally known as Hidden Valley, now Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch, co-founded by Charles Wood and Paul Newman. Next, Painted Pony was founded as a dude ranch in 1947 and took on a new life as a rodeo in 1953 that remains in operation. We’ll stop at Northwoods to see some private homes and then end the day at The Hitching Post, which was built in 1939 as a dining hall for the surrounding dude ranches. The Hitching Post now houses Nettle Meadow Farm’s cheese-making operation alongside a restaurant and market and recently received an AARCH Preservation Award winner for the building’s rehabilitation.

This tour is led by Lake Luzerne Town Historian Pam Morin and AARCH Executive Director Erin Tobin will lead the Northwoods portion. The tour begins at 10 AM and ends around 3 PM.

The fee is $55 for AARCH members and $70 for non-members.

TOUR REGISTRATION INFORMATION