The Municipal Art Society of New York

From The New York Times, published Friday, November 25, 2005, B3.

By David Dunlap

These were the final steps.

After hundreds of workers made a terrifying floor-by-floor descent from their offices in the sky on 9/11, as the twin towers shuddered and rained ruin, they found a gangway to safety from the elevated plaza down the Vesey Street stairs. Continue Reading>>

Citing the importance of street life and design in New York City, the Municipal Art Society has called on Mayor Bloomberg to give the public an opportunity to see what the city’s new street furniture will look like. The 3,650 newsstands, bus shelters and public toilets, to be constructed and maintained under a $1 billion contract being negotiated with the Spanish firm Cemusa, will sit on the city’s streets for the next 20 years or longer. In a letter dated September 28, the MAS congratulated the mayor and his administration for naming a franchisee for the coordinated street furniture contract — a long-standing MAS concern — and offered to help in the final negotiations by providing a venue at the Urban Center for exhibiting the proposed designs. Continue Reading>>

Lisa Kersavage, the Municipal Art Society’s Kress/RFR fellow for historic preservation, has departed on a volunteer mission to New Orleans to assist the local Historic District Landmarks Commission in surveying hurricane and flooding damage to the city’s individual landmarks and historic districts. During her 12-day stay, Lisa will help staff the overburdened commission and coordinate with FEMA and the State Historic Preservation Office on Section 106 reviews of National Register-eligible buildings. FEMA and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are already working hard on preservation issues in New Orleans. Continue Reading>>

What does it mean for a place to “matter”? What kinds of places can matter? What makes a place matter?

The Municipal Art Society and Place Matters, a joint project of the MAS and City Lore, have identified two very different examples of places that have great historic and cultural importance. Both CBGBs and the Plaza Hotel are places that are deeply rooted in the identity of our city and hold memories and anchor traditions for individuals and communities. We invite you to learn what others say about these storied institutions and to contribute your own memories for display on our website.

Mayor Bloomberg deserves congratulations for investing his personal influence and the prestige of City Hall in brokering a deal to preserve the Plaza Hotel. As of mid-April, the owners of the Plaza say they have agreed to preserve some of its famed interior public rooms.

The nearly century-old hotel’s exterior is an official city landmark, and now some of these treasured rooms — the two lobbies, Oak Room and Bar, Palm Court, Edwardian Room, and Grand Ballroom and Terrace — seem set for designation too. They all should be, and, just as importantly, they should be preserved in their historic form, not as shops. Continue Reading>>

Staten Island’s deteriorating Farm Colony-Seaview Hospital Historic District received much-needed attention from City officials this year. On November 14, historic preservation expert Page Cowley presented the results of her intensive study of Farm Colony. Commissioned by the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and funded by Councilmember James Oddo, the study includes building assessments, stabilization plans, and conceptual reuse guidelines aimed at preserving eleven of Farm Colony’s most significant buildings and its grounds. Councilmember Oddo pledged to make reuse of the historic buildings a top priority of his term. Continue Reading>>

For more than a decade, the Municipal Art Society and our Streetscapes Committee have advocated for the regulation of newsracks which often clutter the sidewalks of New York. Now we have good news to report: On April 25, the city’s Department of Transportation will start to enforce new regulations that Mayor Bloomberg signed into law. Civic-minded residents can play an important role by reporting newsrack violations in their neighborhoods — in fact, without you the program won’t work. Download our brochure about the Newsrack brochure to help make newsrack chaos old news in your neighborhood. Please note that the new 311 information hotline should be used instead of the number listed in the newsrack brochure.

The artwork known as “The Wall” is located on the north facade of a 12-story loft structure at 599 Broadway in SoHo. The building sits at the southwest corner of the intersection of Broadway and West Houston Street, and is located within the boundaries of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The artwork, created by artist Forrest “Frosty” Myers, consists of seven evenly spaced rows of aluminum L-shaped fixtures projecting perpendicularly from a painted blue background. The Wall was installed in the fall of 1973 as part of the non-profit group City Walls’ project to place works of art in public spaces and other outdoor locations throughout New York City. Continue Reading>>

The Municipal Art Society has represented coalitions of preservation organizations in legal challenges to the New York City Landmarks Law on many significant occasions, ranging from the demolition of Grand Central Terminal to St. Bart’s Church. Our latest action — together with other New York State preservation organizations — is a opposing a court challenge demanding that the State Environmental Quality Review Act apply to the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s decision-making. Continue Reading>>

Despite having more shoreline than practically any other metropolis in the United States, most New Yorkers are strangers to their waterfront. The development of industry and the advent of highways along the water’s edge have combined to block us from our city’s best asset.

Vibrant, diverse communities need affordable housing, public open space and distinctive urban design. A delicate balancing act is required to turn these simple ideals into realities. The place to renew this equilibrium is along the East River in north Brooklyn. Continue Reading>>

Imagine New York was founded on the notion that all people affected by September 11 should have a place where they can voice their opinions and comments about the city’s rebuilding process. “The 2003 APA awards jury was impressed by the unique way the Imagine New York project brought together people who would not normally think of themselves as planners in a collective effort to rebuild their community,” said APA Executive Director Paul Farmer. “So impressed, that they created the ‘American Vision Award’ to recognize how professional and citizen planners can work together to envision their future.” Visit www.imaginenewyork.org for details.

With a broad reaching redevelopment plan underway, Downtown Brooklyn and its surrounding neighborhoods are at a crossroads. The Municipal Art Society’s planning and preservation committees have been monitoring the Department of City Planning’s proposals and recently at a hearing held by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Click here for the testimony presented to the Borough President.

For more than a century, the people of New York have been estranged from much of their waterfront. Industrial development and shipping took priority over sunny strolls along the water’s edge. Currently, a rezoning proposal is pending for almost one-fifth of the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods. Within sight is the historic opportunity to rezone vacant and decaying waterfront lots to create much needed housing and a waterfront esplanade that would stretch for 1.6 miles — a distance equivalent to that between Canal Street and 34th Street in Manhattan. Continue Reading>>

One glance at a photo or map of Brooklyn’s East River waterfront makes the point: so much potential and so much to gain. The rezoning that’s presently working its way through city government could lead to more public access to the river, more parkland, better housing and a brighter future for everyone in Brooklyn. Instead, the plan that’s pending is hugely disappointing.

For the past several months, the MAS has been helping community groups in Brooklyn respond to the city’s plan to rezone 350 acres of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The City Planning Commission passed its plan on March 14, but it’s not too late for the City Council to make a number of badly-needed improvements. Continue Reading>>

The Department of Buildings today issued nine violations for the illegal advertising banner recently placed on the apex of the historic Flatiron Building at Madison Square. The MAS took the matter to the department just after the garish and oversized signage was put in place last week.

The Flatiron (175 Fifth Ave.), an icon of New York built in 1902, was one of the first buildings given city landmark protection status in 1966. If you feel as strongly about this issue as we do, make your views known to the mayor and the Department of Buildings. Call 311 today. Continue Reading>>