On a particularly sweltering day in New York last September I found my way to 29 East Fourth Street to the Merchant’s House Museum. I had heard that a visit to this town house would offer a of what it was like to live in New York in the mid to late nineteenth century.

Last September before going to NYC I was looking into weird and wonderful tours of the Big Apple and I discovered The Municipal Art Society, this is really a group of New Yorkers who – so I looked up their line-up and found The Vanderbilts of 5th Ave were on their schedule amongst other amazing tours like Downtown Deco or Brooklyn’s Brown Stones.