In March of 1888, New York City experienced a storm so powerful that it permanently transformed the way the city was built. Known as the Great Blizzard of 1888, this catastrophic event reshaped infrastructure, transportation, and public safety across Manhattan and Brooklyn — and its impact is still visible today. If you’ve ever wondered why New York doesn’t have tangled electrical wires overhead...

Part I — Origins & Early Ambition 1. American Surety Building (1896) Designed by Bruce Price, the American Surety Building is widely regarded as one of New York City’s first true skyscrapers. Built for the American Surety Company, it employed a steel-frame structure that allowed it to rise far higher than masonry construction would have permitted. At the time,...

The outlook for the ultra-luxury residential real estate market in 2026 is cautiously optimistic. Fueled by inherited wealth, ultra-high-net-worth international buyers, and renewed confidence at the very top of the market, demand for trophy properties remains resilient—even as pricing expectations stretch further into nine-figure territory. Today, a $100-million-plus asking price is no longer an...

New York City’s Fifth Avenue has been shorthand for glamour and wealth since the 1800s, but the boulevard began with far less fanfare. When it was first cut through upper Manhattan, it carried the plain name “Middle Road,” running across a broad, largely undeveloped tract. That land—sold in 1785 to help raise municipal funds for the young nation—would later become the center of New York’s most...

Michael Stoler, host of The Stoler Report, welcomed Stephen Wald, Founder and Principal Broker of Stephen Wald Real Estate Associates, to his show on Sunday, September 29th, at 8 AM. The episode, now available on-demand at www.catsroundtable.com, features their discussion on the real estate markets in New York and The Hamptons, as well as current interest rates. Tune in to listen...

Stephen Wald took a home DNA test in 2018, hoping to explore his family ancestry with his two young children. Instead, he learned a family secret: The man who raised him was not his biological father. Several days of intense online sleuthing for more details yielded another surprise, the identity and phone number of an apparent half-sister, Julie Gale. Mr. Wald, then 60 years old and a New York...