The Museum of the City of New York, in collaboration with the inaugurating the Museum's Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery, has launched a mobile application that allows users to discover the art culture in the city during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The "Gilded New York" is a walk-through guide that takes users on a tour of the city where the rich people have been, and where the most popular sites were during its heydays.
The tour includes J.P. Morgan's private home, Delmonico's restaurant where Mark Twain celebrated his 70th birthday, and other notable buildings like the Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In an interview with The Lonely Planet, app creator Jessica Lautin said, "By taking this tour, users are walking not just in the footsteps of the period's wealthy, but in the steps of Gilded-age tourists. So in that sense, this tour is a 21st century, digital version of a 19th-century physical tour guide."
Downloaders can view photos of buildings and places during the era and compare it to what they look like today. People can also get to see jewelry and accessories, clothing, and furniture from Tiffany & Co.
The app is guided by NY actress Grace Gummer as a continuation from the ongoing exhibition at the museum also called as Gilded New York. According to the MCNY, it was during this period when there was a sudden boom of industrial and corporate wealth.
Notably, it was covered by the likes of business magnates and philanthropists Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould who uphold the era with extravagant fashion, architecture, and interior design in Fifth Avenue hotels.
The museum noted that this period is when the nation's corporate headquarters are in New York. Luxurious establishments and cultural institutions also shaped the branding of the city.
One can find over 100 collections inside the exhibition where visitors can see portraits, and decorative items, during the mid-1870s and early 20th century. Meanwhile, the app can be downloaded from both iPhone and Android devices.
