The Municipal Art Society of New York

When I assumed the presidency of the Municipal Art Society earlier this year, I was proud to join an organization with an unparalleled commitment to improving New York City’s built environment. My vision — shared by our Board of Directors — is to harness that commitment to transform MAS into a thought-leader on the subject of urban livability and to broaden our reach to new communities, so that we truly become the voice for the future of our city. Over the past year, we have made many significant strides toward these goals and I am pleased to share news of our progress with you.

In 2009, we developed and implemented a new strategic plan that better focuses our work in three major areas, which, in large measure, embrace the work MAS has always excelled in and is best known for — preservation and sustainability, planning for all New Yorkers, and place-making and visioning. MAS had begun to take on projects and commitments that, while worthy, were not consistent with our mission, and drained limited staff resources. Over the year, we committed to taking on fewer projects, and also to deepen our work on those areas of focus. This website provides a record of information on those initiatives and accomplishments. Continue Reading>>

After nearly 30 years at the Villard Houses, MAS is moving its headquarters to the Steinway Hall Building, at 111 W.57th Street in mid-January. As we prepare to vacate our erstwhile home, we took the opportunity to consider the history of this notable palazzo-style brownstone building that was originally built as six townhouses. And who better to do this with than MAS Richard Morris Hunt Patron, Clarence Fahnestock Michalis, who was born in the Villard Houses at 455 Madison Avenue more than 80 years ago?

MAS Director of Annual Giving, Robin Lynn, traces the early days of these buildings with Mr. Michalis, whose great-grandfather was the first occupant of 457 Madison Avenue, and reflects on their changing identity and ownership over the intervening 124 years.

Click the ‘play’ icon on the player above to listen to this podcast or click here to launch iTunes and download the file to your mp3 player.

To learn more about MAS Richard Morris Hunt Patrons program or other levels of MAS membership, visit MAS.org/membership.

Head outside for an invigorating walking tour this holiday season. Take in the last of John Kriskiewicz’s “Architecture of Aspiration” walking tours on Christmas Eve, and consider Tony Robins’ Christmas morning tour of Rockefeller Center — repeated on Sunday, December 27. Take (or send) your holiday guests on MAS Tuesday Downtown and Wednesday Grand Central Terminal tours — we’ll have two tour leaders at Grand Central Terminal between Christmas and the New Year.

Also, don’t forget to welcome in the New Year with Jack Eichenbaum’s tour of Flushing’s Koreatown on New Year’s Day. Happy Holidays! Continue Reading>>

Just two months after the 1929 stock market crash, the doors of the lavish St. George Theatre opened at 35 Hyatt Street in Staten Island. Commissioned by Solomon Brill, the palatial theatre was intended to bring leading vaudeville acts, such as Al Jolson, Kate Smith and Guy Lombardo, to the island borough. It was also meant to rival to the great movie houses of the era.

Eugene DeRosa, the architect for over 35 cinema houses in the New York City area, worked with Staten Island architect James Whitford to design the distinguished, though austere, exterior of the St. George Theatre. Any restraint on the exterior’s design is more than compensated for by the interior opulence. The extravagant Spanish and Italian Baroque interior was conjured up by Nestor Castro, who was responsible for designing many of Time Square’s finest theatre interiors as the art director for Libman-Spanjer. Outfitted with stately gilded balconies, luxurious velvet seats, sparkling chandeliers, epic murals, sculpted fountains and grand marble staircases, going to a show at the St. George Theatre was an experience in and of itself. Continue Reading>>

Although now known for its dance nights and rock concerts, Webster Hall is in fact an incredibly culturally significant site. Designed as a “hall for hire” in 1886 by Charles Rentz, Webster Hall was available for rental by diverse groups from its inception. For more than 120 years, the Queen Anne-style assembly hall, located at 119-125 East 11th Street, has hosted a wide array of events, including debutante balls, society dinners, wrestling matches, political rallies, union meetings, bohemian costume parties and musical performances.

Political parties, movements and figures were an important part of Webster Hall’s activities. In 1892, two different groups met at Webster Hall to endorse presidential candidate Grover Cleveland, and Emma Goldman was a frequent orator there in the early 20th century. In 1912, activist Margaret Sanger fed 119 children at the hall because their millworker parents had been on strike for weeks in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Webster Hall was also where the founding convention of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) took place in December 1914; where the defense committee for Sacco and Vanzetti met in the 1920s; where anti-Fascists adopted a resolution condemning Mussolini in 1930; and where sixty German-American organizations congregated to pledge their loyalty to the U.S. in 1942. Continue Reading>>

MAS has much to celebrate and share with our members, friends and colleagues this holiday season. After more than 25 years in the Villard Houses, we are moving our headquarters to the Steinway Hall Building at 111 West 57th Street as of mid-January 2010.

So, join us on Thursday, December 10, from 6:00 p.m. for wine, beer, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, music, and good cheer throughout the evening. President Vin Cipolla and Chairman David Childs will toast MAS and its future, and bid farewell Villard Houses and hello Steinway. Architectural historian and MAS tour leader Francis Morrone will give a brief talk about the history of the Villard Houses and of the Steinway Hall Building.

Then, from 8:00 -10:00 p.m., DJ’s will play, dancing will begin and party-goers can enjoy special discounts of 20% off all books in stock at the MAS bookstore, Urban Center Books, where staff will be on hand to offer personalized recommendations for holiday gift books and a complimentary copy of The Villard Houses: Life Story of a Landmark is available with each purchase. Intermittent tours of the building will also be given by Tamara Coombs, MAS director of tours and programs.

MAS Holiday Party
Thursday, December 10, 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
At The Villard Houses, 457 Madison Avenue at E. 51st Street, MAP.
Tickets: Members $25 in advance, $35 at door; Non-members $40 in advance, $50 at door. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.

Growing out of the popular exhibit Unpacking My Library that looks at the book collections of some of the most influential architects working today is the new accompanying book Unpacking My Library: Architects and Their Books. Join moderator Barry Bergdoll, the Philip Johnson chief curator of design at MoMA, next Tuesday, December 8, at MAS, for the launch of this book and a fascinating discussion among renowned architects Stan Allen, Billie Tsien, Bernard Tschumi, and Tod Williams about their personal book collections and the importance of them to their careers.

Unpacking My Library is a publication of Urban Center Books, the MAS bookstore, and is published by Yale University Library. It is on sale now in the bookstore and copies are also available online at www.urbancenterbooks.org.

The exhibit Unpacking My Library is on display at MAS now through mid-January. For more information and gallery hours, click here.

Unpacking My Library: Architects and Their Books
Tuesday, December 8, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., at MAS
$15, $10 MAS members. Reservations and pre-payment recommended. Purchase tickets online or call 212 935 2075. MAP.

Artist and editor of the new book The New York City Museum of Complaint Matthew Bakkom and Tamara Coombs of MAS take us on a nostalgic, yet grumpy, journey through New York City’s archives looking at letters of complaint to the Mayor from 1751 to 1969.

Ranging in subject from the removal of dead animals to lost baseballs to accusations of corruption, the book’s 132 letters not only chronicle issues affecting New Yorkers through the ages but also the development of their voice as citizens.

Join us on Tuesday, December 1, at 7:00 p.m. when Bakkom will be joined by director of the NYC Municipal Archives Kenneth Cobb and celebrated writer, poet and native New Yorker Philip Lopate who will read from selected letters from the book. Reservations and prepayment are recommended. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075. A reception will follow the program during which signed copies of the book will be available from the MAS bookstore, Urban Center Books. Continue Reading>>

Last Thursday, MAS proudly presented the 22nd Brendan Gill Prize to artists Mike and Doug Starn for See it split, see it change, their site-specific permanent art installation at the South Ferry subway terminal in Lower Manhattan. Commissioned by the MTA Arts for Transit Program, See it split, see it change was completed in December 2008 to wide praise.

The Brendan Gill Prize is named for the long-time MAS trustee, renowned New Yorker theater critic, author, and architectural preservationist. The cash prize, funded by a permanent endowment, is awarded annually to the creator of a work of art, book, sculpture, film, musical composition, or architectural design, accomplished the previous year, that best captures the spirit and energy of New York City. It was established in 1986 by MAS board members Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Helen S. Tucker and Margot Wellington. Continue Reading>>

Urban Center Books, the bookstore of the Muncipal Art Society, will close in January 2010, when we vacate the Villard Houses. MAS headquarters is relocating to the Steinway Building, at 111 West 57th Street, and a search for a new location for Urban Center Books (UCB) is underway.

Urban Center Books will be open in its present location throughout the holiday season, offering shoppers a diverse collection of books on architecture, design, New York, landscape design and urbanism.

We expect to reopen Urban Center Books in a new location by the fall. Urban Center Books will continue to have an online presence, at www.urbancenterbooks.org, and we hope our patrons visit us online until the store reopens. Check the UCB web site for updates on the move.

Frank Sanchis, MAS senior vice-president, will be joined by Nina Rappaport of DOCOMOMO/New York-Tristate and editor of Constructs, Belmont Freeman of Belmont Freeman Architects, Theo Prudeon of DOCOMOMO/US, and moderator Andrew Dolkart for Preserving 20th Century Modernism, a panel discussion at the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) on Wednesday, December 2 at 6:00 p.m.

The panel will explore the preservation of the 20th century architecture represented by New York-area Eero Saarinen buildings such as the TWA terminal at JFK Airport, which MAS famously fought to preserve in 2003. The discussion is presented in conjunction with Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, currently on view at MCNY. Continue Reading>>

November started with a bang here at MAS. The 2nd Jane Jacobs Forum on November 3 was heavily attended, with people coming out in droves to hear panelists Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University, Nevin Cohen of the New School, Jennifer Nelkin of Gotham Greens, and architect Colin Cathcart of Kiss+Cathcart, discuss urban farming. Neal Peirce, of The Washington Post, moderated. If you missed the event, check out the podcast or video.

We were very excited to have Denise Scott Brown with us on November 12, to discuss her new book, Having Word, followed by a discussion with fellow architects Sarah Whiting and Hilary Sample, moderated by Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design at MoMA.

This evening was followed by yet another great author’s talk. On November 17, Roger Kennedy visited MAS to give an illustrated lecture on his new book When Art Worked, focusing on what artists and their work did for the United States during the Great Depression. MAS friend David Rockefeller, Jr., introduced Kennedy.

On November 19, MAS was proud to award the 22^nd Brendan Gill Prize to artists Mike and Doug Starn for See it split, see it change, a permanent installation at the South Ferry subway terminal. For more information on the prize click here.

The end of November will see the publication of Unpacking My Library: Architect’s and Their Books, a co-publication of MAS and Yale University Press, edited by MAS’ own Jo Steffens, director of Urban Center Books. For more information on the book visit Urban Center Books. Be sure to join us next month, on December 8, for the book launch, featuring a panel discussion led by Barry Bergdoll, chief curator of design at MoMA, with architects Stan Allen, Bernard Tschumi, Tod Williams, and Billie Tsien, all of whom are featured in the book. An invitation to the event is accessible here.

Finally, some November tour highlights included: the Urbanists, MAS’ young members group, pub tour of Williamsburg (November 8), Powerhouse Arts District in Jersey City (November 8), Beyond Bauhaus, a tour of Midtown Manhattan and its role in modern architecture (November 14), Downtown’s Lost Neighborhood, a tour of Liberty Street down to the Battery (November 21), and Woodside Avenue, Queens (November 22). Check out our upcoming events, including a tour of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn on November 29, here.

With about a month and a half left at the Villard Houses, before our move to Steinway Hall, stop by to see MAS’ old haunts! Our exhibit, “Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil,” is on view in our gallery through December 4, 2009. Click here for more information, including gallery hours. Also, MAS invites you to our Villard House holiday party farewell on December 10. Purchase tickets here.

Click here to sign up for the biweekly MAS e-newsletter, MAS Update, or our new, weekly events listing e-mail This Week at MAS.

Greetings from the Bronx — the birthplace of hip hop, the breathtaking site of the New York Botanical Garden and home base for the 2009 World Series Champions, the Yankees. Now the Bronx has even more to celebrate, as six of the borough’s notable locations will be recognized on December 3rd by Place Matters.

The six honorees are:
52 Park in Longwood is a popular urban oasis run by the NYC Parks Department with the help of 52 People for Progress (52PFP). When the South Bronx experienced its bleakest period in the 1970s, the open space at 52 Park became a danger zone. Since 1980, 52PFP, a volunteer group formed by local residents Al Quiñones, Fred Demera, Eduardo Rivera and Victoria Medina, has committed itself to maintaining a safe and welcoming public park. Continue Reading>>

In a cramped meeting room in Washington Heights, a high school student scurries to set up a laptop and projector. Searching for a free surface in an already packed room, she makes her best effort to connect cords and load her presentation quickly before the committee chairperson calls to order the community board meeting, the student’s very first. The student, Nicole Lugo, is one of over thirty students who have been selected to work at their community board as part of the MAS Planning Center’s CITI Youth program. Across the city, students like Nicole are attending their local community board meetings—projecting maps and creating presentations that correspond to the items being discussed. Continue Reading>>

Wade F. B. Thompson, MAS’ dedicated colleague and irreplaceable board member, passed away peacefully last week, after a long battle with cancer.

Wade joined the board of MAS in 1991 and immediately became active on a committee to save the Seventh Regiment Armory, now the Park Avenue Armory.

“Wade was a visionary who cared deeply about his adopted city and contributed enormously to its well-being,” said MAS President Vin Cipolla. “MAS is indebted to him for his dedication to our work and his personal commitment to the Park Avenue Armory restoration. We were privileged to have Wade serve as an active Board Member for the past 16 years and will miss him greatly. Our thoughts go out to his wife Angela and his family.” Continue Reading>>