The Municipal Art Society of New York

The hundreds of ideas for the future of Coney Island that have been submitted so far to ImagineConey are some of the most creative, thoughtful ideas ever submitted in a process of this kind — from a proposal to build a Sushi Skate Park to rebuilding the Elephant Hotel.  You can view them by clicking on the Gallery button on the ImagineConey website. If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to submit an idea, the deadline for submissions is now January 15, and an exhibit featuring all the ideas and the charrette results will open at the MAS on January 27 2009.

Now, it is critical that we demonstrate to the decision-makers that New Yorkers passionately believe that Coney Island should become a great amusement and entertainment destination once again.  So please join us on January 14 at 6.30PM, where the MAS will be participating in a public meeting in Coney Island at Our Lady of Solace Church. Continue Reading>>

This is the third in a series of posts describing the latest submissions to ImagineConey, the MAS initiative to develop bold new ideas for Coney Island. Click to view the first and second in the series.

This week’s ImagineConey post focuses on ideas submitted that embody Coney’s tradition of being a testing ground for invention and technological advances. In addition to entertaining visitors, Coney Island was a place where entrepreneurs came to try out their zany ideas. The hotdog was invented at Feltman’s while the first baby incubators were set up in Coney Island before they were accepted by the global medical community. Luna Park’s use of one million incandescent light bulbs was also a global first. Here are some of the inventive-submissions to ImagineConey:

• Build the first ever Inverted Wooden Roller Coaster where the thrill of a shaky roller coaster can be experienced with your feet dangling below you.
• Create a Bubble as a Roof to enclose some amusements in a gigantic bubble similar to those made with soap and water, but less prone to popping. Continue Reading>>

The MAS bookstore Urban Center Books (UCB) is described in the recent article Holiday Book Report on Design Arts Daily (DART), as being “packed to the rafters with books and magazines on architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, interior design and graphic design.”, and “The selection is breathtaking.” Now, with the holiday season upon is, there is no better time to visit UCB.

“In addition to books on architecture and urbanism are many items that would make unusual gifts. Among the DVDs of design-centric films is Jacques Tati’s Play Time,… books on the subject of design for the movies, including The Wrong House, a study of Alfred Hitchcock’s oppressive interiors by Steven Jacobs, …[and] a choice selection of books on New York City history… complemented by an appealing array of guide books, and photography books that celebrate urbanism and a sense of place.”

Urban Center Books is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., and Saturday: 12:00 – 5:30 p.m. Visit the bookstore online at urbancenterbooks.org.
Read more reviews of Urban Center Books at Yelp.

The New Year’s Eve Steam Whistle Blow at Pratt Institute, located at 200 Willoughby Avenue in Brooklyn, was nominated to the Census of Places that Matter for being a literal New Year’s Eve blast!

Steam whistles, salvaged from trains, riverboats, ocean liners and factories, are kept in Pratt’s steam-powered plant, the oldest, privately-owned, continuously operating, power plant of its kind in the country. Conrad Milster, Pratt’s longtime Chief Engineer, blew the first whistle of his collection on New Year’s Eve 1965. Over the past four decades his collection has grown, as has the popularity of his annual New Year’s Eve steam whistle blast. Pratt’s website boasts, Continue Reading>>

One of New York City’s most unusual landmarks is the Carroll Street Bridge, which spans Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal. Built in 1888-89 (Robert Van Buren, chief engineer; George Ingram, engineer in charge), it is one of the oldest remaining bridges in New York City, and one of only gfour known “retractile” bridges in the United States (click here for more history). We were lucky enough to be in the neighborhood when the bridge was opening, offering a special opportunity to see how this rare bridge operates. As you can see in the photographs, the bridge rolls horizontally on a track in order to open to allow barges to pass.

As an official New York City landmark, the bridge is protected from inappropriate changes or demolition. However, MAS is concerned that plans for a major residential development, by Toll Brothers, adjacent to the bridge could bring increased auto traffic challenging the limits of the bridge’s structural capacity.

In a city where it is already increasingly difficult for low and moderate income families to afford to live, how will the current economic and financial crises further impact the cost and availability of housing in New York?

In November, an expert panel, introduced by Joan Shigekawa, associate director of The Rockefeller Foundation, and moderated by Vicki Been, director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, including: Jerilyn Perine, director, Citizens Housing and Planning Council; Holly Leicht, deputy commissioner for development, New York City Housing, Preservation, and Development; Michelle de la Uz, executive director, Fifth Avenue Committee, Brooklyn; and Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, founding partner, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects LLP, sought to answer these and other related questions.

Architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable was born and raised in New York City. She attended good schools, but believes that “being in New York was the education.” In 1963, Ms. Huxtable became the first architecture critic at The New York Times (indeed, the first architecture critic at any daily newspaper in the United States). She won the first Pulitzer Prize for criticism and was a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Above all, she is a writer who knows what she thinks and says it.

Members of the Municipal Art Society and the Architectural League of New York are invited to join Ms. Huxtable and MAS President Emeritus Kent Barwick on Wednesday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m., for what will doubtless be a fascinating conversation between two of the city’s most eloquent voices in the fields of architecture and urban planning.

Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.

This is the second in a series of posts describing the latest submissions to ImagineConey, the MAS initiative to develop bold new ideas for Coney Island. Click here for the first in the series.

This week’s ImagineConey post focuses on ideas submitted that have an animal theme. Animals have always been in the center ring of Coney Island’s history: from Topsy the domesticated elephant (who was sadly electrocuted in 1903) to Dr. Carver’s Diving Horses of Luna Park to the arrival of the Aquarium in the 1950s. Here are some of the animal-centric submissions:

• Create Canine Coney: an amusement park for dogs and their owners where a dog can be a dog and an owner can be an owner. Attractions could include Coney Dog Emporium, Doggie Beach, and Daily Dog Shows.
• Rebuild the Elephant Hotel. Who wouldn’t want to spend a night sleeping in an elephant. A burlesque theater could also be inside. Continue Reading>>

Last week, the MAS Urbanists got a behind-the-scenes look at New York City’s state-of-the-art 311 call facility. Winner of a MAS Annual Award in 2008, 311 was launched five years ago and now receives more than 40,000 calls per day. Executive Director Joe Morrisroe and members of his staff enthusiastically presented the ins and outs of this information hub.

Even though most calls are predictable (noise complaints in the summer, heat/hot water in the winter, parking questions year round) there are always important anomalies. They offer social services, and have provided informational services for over 2,000,000 callers during peak times like during  the NYC transit strike of 2005. Continue Reading>>

City of Water, the MAS and MWA documentary about the future of the New York City waterfront, screens tonight at 6:00 p.m. at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment. You can find out more about the screening, watch the trailer for the film at MAS.org/cityofwater, and read an interview with one of the filmmakers on Gowanus Lounge here.

Last Saturday, MAS members took a vertical tour of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, climbing the equivalent of 12 stories of narrow, winding stairs with periodic stops to breathe deeply and take in memorable views and vistas. The newly-cleaned stone walls not only reveal architectural details unnoticed for decades, they are now a canvas for the play of color from the stained glass windows. High up in the cathedral, the mix of sun through colored glass bathed tour takers in golden-pink light, a highly flattering effect more often seen in movies than life.

Senior tour guide Tom Fedorek, a church volunteer for 24 years, gave an excellent commentary throughout, explaining the geometry of the church as clearly as its outreach programs for teenagers (which include overnights with sleeping bags and midnight communion at the high altar). After examining the Guastavino tile vaults of the cathedral’s ceiling at close enough range to see the weep holes which drain water, the group climbed to the space above the vaults and below the roof. Continue Reading>>

With the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation, MAS brought together a panel of experts in the field of housing for the 2008 Jane Jacobs Forum in November, in conjunction with the annual Jane Jacobs Award.

Click on the ‘play’ icon above to listen to a podcast of the program.

Jane Jacobs believed a sense of community was critical in creating and maintaining dynamic and diverse neighborhoods, but today, it is increasingly difficult for people of low and moderate income to live in New York City. How can planners, architects, city officials, and developers work with local residents to provide homes that are affordable and sustainable? What role do the dense, mixed-income neighborhoods that Jacobs favored play in creating a strong sense of community? Continue Reading>>

The Magic Table at Café Edison, in the Edison Hotel, 228 W. 47th St., Midtown, Manhattan, nominated by Tom Klem.

Since 1942, magicians and their friends have been gathering around “The Table” in Times Square to share secrets and schmooze. The site of the Society of American Magician’s Magic Table has changed occasionally over time, but for the last three decades it has lodged in the coffee shop at the Edison Hotel.

One of the initial draws for the magicians was Times Square itself. In the 1940s and ’50s, the area was dotted with shops selling paraphernalia of the trade and stages demanding their services. Another draw was the camaraderie. For decades the late Mike Bornstein (known on the vaudeville circuit as Kolma the Magical Mandarin) hosted the table, attracting fellow magicians and fans Continue Reading>>

A regular new feature, the Community-Based Plan of the Month  highlights plans included in Planning for All New Yorkers: An Atlas of Community-Based Plans in New York City, an interactive map created by the Municipal Art Society and the Community-Based Planning Task Force. As the recent economic slowdown gives us the opportunity to take a step back and reevaluate New York City’s planning processes, community-based plans can provide a framework for growth that works for all New Yorkers. The plan featured here provides an example of how inclusive planning processes work on the ground, and ideally will help inspire future community planning efforts.

Stable-izing Brooklyn
When the Fort Hamilton Parkway interchange of the Prospect Expressway was completed in 1962 under the direction of Robert Moses, a small, eight-block section of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn was severed from its neighbors.  This quirky area was once home to a number of horse stables due to its proximity to Prospect Park, but now only one remains: Kensington Stables, located at East 8th Street and Caton Avenue.  Since Claremont Riding Academy near Central Park closed last year, Kensington Stables is among New York’s few remaining urban stables. Continue Reading>>

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission today reviewed the design of St. Vincent’s new hospital building proposed for the site of the 1960s O’Toole building. You may remember that in October, the LPC, in a split vote, determined that St. Vincent’s did meet the standards of hardship and therefore could demolish the iconic O’Toole building. Moving forward, St. Vincent’s presented to the Commissioners today details of their design for the new hospital, which will replace the O’Toole building. The Commissioners’ opinions on the building were mixed, with many of them commenting that the height and bulk of the 299-ft.-high building with an elliptical tower was out-of-scale and inappropriate for the historic district.

The hospital’s design was first presented last spring, and in June, the architects presented a revised plan, which lowered the height of the building from about 330 ft. to 299 ft. Since this June presentation, significant changes to the hospital’s design have not been made, and today the architects simply presented more developed details on the June redesign. Continue Reading>>