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. Purchase tickets online or call 212 935 2075 — we only have a few places left.

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

Urbanists get a private tour of the Lincoln Center’s new primary entryway along Columbus Avenue.

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! MAS seeks to engage an even larger group of young New Yorkers in our work, by adding a new level of membership in 2010. Consider joining at the basic-Urbanist level, $65 annually, or at the Leadership level, $250 annually.

Urbanist members are invited to join MAS President, Vin Cipolla twice a year for a policy briefing and private reception. Our next meeting will take place at MAS on the evening of Wednesday, January 13, 2010. E-mail Alexis Meisels for more information.

Click here to read more about the MAS Urbanists, additional member benefits and upcoming events.

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>>

MAS and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation recently submitted a survey of the historic architecture of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, to the Landmarks Preservation Commission because we believe it is threatened by development pressures from the adjacent Atlantic Yards site. The survey, and an accompanying request for the area to be studied for designation as a historic district, is only the first step. Read on to find out how you can help us save Prospect Heights’ historic resources.

Prospect Heights is an area rich with the historic architecture that helps shape Brooklyn’s special identity. The neighborhood contains blocks lined with beautiful Italianate and neo-Grec rowhouses, interspersed with churches, small commercial buildings and multi-family structures. Originally a quiet farm area crossed by the historic Flatbush Turnpike Road, Prospect Heights became a residential neighborhood in the second half of the nineteenth century after the completion of nearby Prospect Park. The area is widely recognized as an important historic neighborhood, and indeed, part of the neighborhood is listed on the National Register.

With the Atlantic Yards proposal moving ahead, it is crucial that Prospect Heights gain protection through historic district designation before development pressures resulting from the project permanently alter the its intact historic character. Continue Reading>>

Majora Carter, the founder of Sustainable South Bronx and a 2005 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, has been awarded the 2006 Evangeline Blashfield Award. The award was presented on August 1 at the Evangeline Blashfield Fountain in the Bridgemarket Plaza at 59th Street and First Avenue.

All of Majora’s accomplishments — and they are legion — have grown from her notion that one’s self-image is influenced by one’s surroundings, and therefore those surroundings must be beautiful,” MAS President Kent Barwick said. “This insight is remarkably in keeping with Evangeline Blashfield’s own convictions — making it all the more appropriate that the MAS honor her with the Blashfield Award. Continue Reading>>

In honor of their outstanding contributions to New York City’s natural and built environment, the board of directors of the MAS has presented the 2006 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal to philanthropists and civic leaders Janet and Arthur Ross. The award ceremony took place at the MAS Annual Dinner on Tuesday, October 24 in the magnificent Art Deco lobby of Eleven Madison Avenue.

Janet and Arthur Ross have invested their energy, spirit and resources in an extraordinary number of projects in New York, and each one has made the city more beautiful, more livable and more admired. From Central Park’s Pinetum to neighborhood parks in all five boroughs to their support for architects, scholars and artists who sustain the classical tradition, the Rosses have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the city.

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal is presented annually to an individual or organization whose work and deeds have made an outstanding contribution to the city of New York. The medal was named for Mrs. Onassis, an MAS board member, in 1994 in honor of her tireless efforts to preserve and protect New York’s great architecture.