Last week, MAS President Vin Cipolla joined a host of committed New York City preservationists, including Paul Goldberger, Anthony C. Wood, and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel in the landmark interior of the Four Seasons Restaurant to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the New York Landmarks Preservation Law. Enacted in 1965, with support from MAS, the law ensured that the historic character of New York City’s built environment would be protected with the creation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The New Yorker architectural critic and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Paul Goldberger reflected on the immense beneficial impact the Landmarks Preservation Law has had on the built environment of New York City, comparing the respective ages of the landmark Four Seasons Hotel (52 years) to that of the original Penn Station (also 52), when it was torn down immediately prior to the creation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Mr. Goldberger said, “Preservation assures us that the city will have the resonance, the layers of time always being visible, that we need it to to be a civilized place.” But, he said, New York should not become “some grotesque version of Williamsburg on the Hudson.” Continue Reading>>

We apologize for the short notice, but Francis Morrone’s lecture How the Architectural Walking Tour Built the Preservation Movement scheduled for tonight (Friday, 4/23) at 7:00 p.m. has had to be postponed because Mr. Morrone has severe laryngitis and has lost his voice.

The lecture will be rescheduled and ticket holders will be contacted soon via email or phone and advised of the adjusted timing.

If you missed Tuesday night’s panel, Light Fight: What’s Effective, Sustainable & Affordable, you can now listen to a summary of the fascinating discussion about the future of New York City’s street lighting that took place between some of America’s most prominent lighting designers and engineers and City officials in this podcast.

Moderator Randolph Sabedra of RS Lighting Design, and chair of the NYC public outreach committee, Illuminating Engineering Society New York City introduced the panel comprised of: Howard Brandston of Brandston Partnership, Inc.; Margaret Newman AIA, LEED AP, chief of staff, New York City Department of Transportartion; Peter Morante, director of energy programs, Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Denise Fong IALD, LC, LEED AP, Candela, Seattle.

The discussion ranged from research into the human eye’s ability to perceive different kinds of light to the ways in which urban livability is influenced for good and bad by different types of street lighting illustrated with examples from as far afield as Shanghai, Copenhagen and Chicago. [To listen to the full, uncut footage of the panel discussion, click on the audio mp3 icon.]

The next event in our April panel series, New York’s Changing Streetscapes, is The Complete Street: Sustainable, Healthy & Pleasurable will take place on Thursday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m., at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave., and addresses attempts to create an urban street that considers the needs of all its users — pedestrians, bicyclists, bus passengers, motorists, and truck drivers — and seeks an equitable allocation of resources. Tickets are $15, $10 MAS members and reservations are required. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075. To become a member of The Municipal Art Society, visit MAS.org/membership.

For more MAS podcasts, visit MAS.org/audio or visit our iTunes page.

Next Sunday, join tour leader and architectural historian Francis Morrone as he leads what is becoming an annual visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Alice Austen House in Rosebank, Staten Island.

Recently, we asked Francis what it was that appealed to him so much about a quiet corner of a little-known borough. He replied:

“Both the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Austen house are among the lesser-known gems of New York. The former is a great folk-art shrine, a stunning example of how old-world folkways and spiritual traditions have been translated to the big modern city. The Austen house has it all: a colonial house transformed into the city’s finest surviving Downingesque cottage; the story of Alice herself, whose life exemplifies the progressive woman of the early 20th century and who was also a great pioneering photographer; and a unique, beautiful waterfront setting. What the two have in common is that they show layers of time, and tell complicated, compelling stories. Rosebank, as a whole, symbolizes a whole Italian-American way of life, the semiotic transposition of contadini values to the New World. This resonates powerfully with me, for it is bound up with my own family history and intense interest in Italian-American history.”

Sunday, March 21, 12:45–approximately 4:30 p.m.
A Stroll through Rosebank, Staten Island
Bring a MetroCard. $15, $10 MAS members. Includes admission fee for Alice Austen House and refreshments. Reservations required. Meet at the top of the escalators in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, next to Battery Park. (Transit: #1 train to South Ferry; R train to Whitehall). MAP. Call 212 935 2075 for tickets — we only have a few places left.

For more upcoming MAS tours and events, visit MAS.org/calendar.

If you’re a young person living or working in New York, you play a vital role in this city. More than one-third of all New Yorkers are under the age of forty and the collective influence of young New Yorkers on this city’s future will be substantial.

Whether you’re a new or a native New Yorker, your voice and passion for urban living is something we at MAS recognize and share. For over ten years, MAS has offered hundreds of individuals, early in their careers, broad exposure to the critical issues of urban planning, design and public space through our Urbanist program.

We invite you to join us! Continue Reading>>

The Urbanists — the MAS membership group of young New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s —  joined advocacy staff on Wednesday night for an informal, insider’s presentation of the advocacy campaigns MAS is championing this year.

Over drinks, Urbanist members learned about the critical role that historic preservation plays in the future of a sustainable city (“the greenest building is the one that is already built”); saving the irreplaceable 19th century buildings of Admiral’s Row, adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and adapting them to new uses; and, the new vision and plan for Coney Island, one of America’s most iconic neighborhoods. 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>>

The Urbanists held their annual Summer Party at the soon-to-be-opened Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO on Tuesday, July 15. The venue was originally built in 1905 and has recently been skillfully converted into a LEED certified building. MAS Urbanists and their friends joined MAS staff to celebrate our current preservation efforts, especially those focused on conversion and reuse of historic buildings, with music and dancing.

Dear Chairman Tierney:

We write to express the Municipal Art Society’s concern about the application to demolish historic buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District for the redevelopment of St. Vincent’s Hospital. The overall redevelopment project was presented to the MAS preservation committee; in its analysis, the committee focused on the critical initial question – the validity of the proposed demolition.

As far as we know, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, in its 43 years of watching over our city’s heritage, has not permitted the demolition of a building that contributes to the historic district under a Certificate of Appropriateness and we see no reason for the Commission to do so now. We believe that, if the Commission were to approve such demolition, it would undoubtedly establish a dangerous precedent. Such an action would make it significantly more difficult for the Commission to deny future proposals to demolish designated buildings.

There is a two-step process by which the Commission ought to review St. Vincent’s application. The first step is to determine whether it is appropriate to the historic district to demolish each individual building. Only if the proposed demolition were found to be appropriate would the Commission then determine whether the design of the proposed replacement building is appropriate to the Greenwich Village Historic District. Continue Reading>>

Brooklyn’s Industrial Waterfront is the focus of a major designation day at the Landmarks Preservation Commission next week. On Tuesday, October 30, the Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed DUMBO Historic District and vote on the designation of the Eberhard Pencil Factory Historic District. Both sites were highlighted in the MAS’s successful nomination of the Brooklyn industrial waterfront heritage to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered Places for 2007. The Commission’s action on DUMBO and Eberhard Faber follows the designation of the Domino Sugar Factory in September.

DUMBO is significant for its association with the rise of the city of Brooklyn as a major American industrial center and is unique to New York City for its nineteenth and early twentieth century industrial buildings, Belgian block streets, and its location on the East River by the imposing anchorage of the Manhattan Bridge. Continue Reading>>