Greenwich Village and SoHo Self-Guided Audio Walk: Stonewall, Washington Square Arch and Cast-Iron SoHo
1 hour and 30 minutes
About this experience
Greenwich Village and SoHo are full of buildings that outlived the jobs they were built for, and their fronts still show it: a courthouse with a fire lookout for a tower, horse stables with bricked-up doors, a cheap hotel where every room had a window, and warehouses dressed as palaces in painted iron. Start at Jefferson Market Library and its clock tower, then stand outside the Stonewall Inn, where a 1969 police raid set off days of protest. Peer into Washington Mews, walk past Washington Square Arch, and walk the old folk blocks of MacDougal and Bleecker Streets. Cross into SoHo, where artists saved empty lofts, and finish among the cast-iron landmarks: the King of Greene Street, the Haughwout Building and the glass-fronted Little Singer Building. Ten stops, about 2.9 km and 90 minutes, in English and at your own pace. Start whenever you like; everything is seen from public streets.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour and 30 minutes
- Guide
- English
- Audio guide
- English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English: 10 stops, 2.9 km, 1.5 hours Stops at Jefferson Market Library, Stonewall Inn, Washington Square Arch GPS map and walking directions in your phone browser, no app needed Lifetime access: start any day, at any hour, and replay it
What's not included
A live guide: you set the pace and the pauses A fixed start time: begin whenever you arrive Museum and monument tickets, all optional extras Tip or gratuity Food and drinks Entry or admission fee
Please note
To start the tour, enter the ticket code from your confirmation on the Roamer redemption page linked there. Do this before you set off, while you still have signal. The tour then opens in your phone browser, with no app to download. Bring a charged phone and earphones. Mobile data helps; if you have none, open the tour on wifi before you set off. Best time: A weekday morning or early afternoon is calmest, and Tuesday to Sunday lets you step into the Stonewall visitor center, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed Mondays (checked 30 September 2026). Washington Mews is open by day only. SoHo's sidewalks are at their most crowded on weekend afternoons, and MacDougal and Bleecker come alive after dark. Jefferson Market Library is a working New York Public Library branch and free to enter; check opening hours on nypl.org before you go (not confirmed for this walk, 30 September 2026). The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center at 51 Christopher Street is free, Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Mondays (National Park Service, checked 30 September 2026). Detour to the Queen of Greene Street: from the King, carry on down Greene Street past Broome and Grand. The Queen is at 28 to 30 Greene, between Grand and Canal, on the same side as the King, six storeys with a mansard roof. Then come back up to Broome Street to rejoin the walk at Broadway. In Washington Square Park, James Jackson's 1799 headstone is on show in a window of the Park House, near the Sullivan Street side of the park. The walk ends a short way from the Prince Street subway station on Broadway. As of the Washington Square Park Conservancy's update of 14 August 2026, the Washington Square fountain was fully turned off for plumbing repairs; expect a dry basin. Washington Mews is a private New York University street, open by day only. The stop works from the public sidewalk on the west side of Fifth Avenue, opposite the gate; do not go in after hours. Houston Street is wide and busy. Cross it only at a marked crossing and with the signal. In 2026 building permits were active at 561 Broadway (the Little Singer Building) and at 25 Washington Square North, so expect possible scaffolding or sidewalk sheds. The Stonewall Inn is a working bar and the visitor center sits beside it; take photos from the sidewalk and keep the doorway clear. SoHo sidewalks get very crowded, especially at weekends; step aside to listen rather than stopping in the flow. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Jefferson Market Library: The Courthouse with a Fire Tower
425 6th Avenue (Jefferson Market Library), at West 9th Street, New York
A Victorian courthouse whose tower was built as a fire lookout. Neighbours saved it, starting with its four stopped clocks, and it has been a library since 1967.
- 2Day 0
Stonewall Inn: Stables, a Raid and a Monument
West Village, New York
Two 1840s stables became the Stonewall Inn, where a 1969 police raid sparked days of protest. The little park opposite is now a national monument.
- 3Day 0
Washington Mews: Stables Behind the Row
0 1/2 5th Avenue, New York
A cobbled lane of old stables now lived in as houses. They served the grand 1830s brick houses of the Row, whose fronts hide a 1939 building.
- 4Day 0
Washington Square Arch: A Party Prop in Marble
Greenwich Village, New York
A temporary plaster arch rebuilt in marble by popular demand. The lawn around it began as a burial ground for the poor.
- 5Day 0
MacDougal Street: Stables, Garages and Folk Clubs
124 MacDougal Street, New York
A 1907 stable became the club where young Bob Dylan played. Opposite stands a matched row of old tenements, the Gaslight among them.
- 6Day 0
Bleecker Street: A Hotel Where Every Room Had a Window
155 Bleecker Street, New York
Ernest Flagg's 1897 hotel for working men gave every room a window. Down the block a club fills a town house with its front steps removed.
- 7Day 0
Prince Street: Into Cast-Iron SoHo
138 Prince Street, New York
Artists turned SoHo's empty warehouses into lofts in the 1960s. Margot Gayle's campaign helped win the district its protection in 1973.
- 8Day 0
Greene Street: The King of Greene
69 Greene Street, New York
An 1873 warehouse dressed as a Paris palace in painted iron. Its permit called for seven storeys, but the records list five.
- 9Day 0
Haughwout Building: A Venetian Palace in Iron
487 Broadway, New York
This 1857 iron store had New York's first passenger elevator for shoppers. A planned expressway nearly took the whole street.
- 10Day 0
Little Singer Building: Flagg's Front of Glass
Broadway, New York
Ernest Flagg's twelve-storey front of glass and iron tracery from 1904. Nearly fifty years after the Haughwout, the iron stops pretending to be stone.
Meeting point
Jefferson Market Library, New York 425 6th Avenue (Jefferson Market Library), at West 9th Street, New York, New York, US
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Greenwich Village and SoHo Self-Guided Audio Walk: Stonewall, Washington Square Arch and Cast-Iron SoHo
Standard Viator policy
- Cancellation 0–24 hours before departure: 100% cancellation fee.
- Cancellation 24–24000 hours before departure: 0% cancellation fee.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.