We thought you might enjoy this bit of history from the MAS Archives, and we plan to share more with you over the next few weeks.

We found this letter from Robert Moses, addressed to MAS President Electus D. Litchfield, dated December 24, 1936, while sifting through the archives. Moses was appointed as the Commissioner of the Department of Parks in 1936 by then-Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia. Moses also served as head of the State Parks Council, head of the State Power Commission, and chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. Electus D. Litchfield was the president of MAS in the 1930s. The following is Moses’ somewhat testy response to a letter from Litchfield regarding the construction of East River Drive (known today as FDR Drive), which started in 1934 and was completed in 1966:

(Click-through for larger images.)

                                                             

December 24, 1936

Miss Irene V. Walsh,
The Municipal Art Society,
119 East 19th Street,
New York City

Dear Miss Walsh:

Mr. Litchfield’s letter of November 11th was answered by sending him printed reports which clearly indicated the answers to his questions.

I am happy, however, to answer them again in this letter. Continue Reading>>

The 19th Annual MAS Summer Boat Tour
Toward a Sustainable Upper Bay
Wednesday, July 28, 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Come along as the sun goes down for a boat tour of the Harbor Islands, the Buttermilk Channel and Gowanus Bay—the scenic and the hidden parts of New York’s Upper Bay. We’ll hear about successes and challenges on the way to a sustainable future—from imaginative and dedicated individuals who are helping to lead the way.

Our Host:
Vin Cipolla, president, Municipal Art Society. Devoted to preservation, conservation and the arts, Mr. Cipolla has consistently provided civic leadership in these areas throughout his adult life. He was appointed president of the MAS in early 2009. Continue Reading>>

Toward a Sustainable Upper Bay: Islands, Bays, Channels & Canals
Wednesday, July 28, 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Join us for a scenic boat ride and lively commentary on the present and future of the Upper Bay of New York Harbor. We’ll get up-close views of Ellis, Liberty and Governors islands, take the Buttermilk Channel past Red Hook and visit assorted basins and canals. Along the way, we’ll learn about the Upper Bay’s changing environment, the preservation and conservation challenges facing its extraordinary National Parks and look to the future—including a waterfront public high school that will offer an education built upon New York City’s maritime experience. Continue Reading>>

Directly across the East River from the United Nations, Gantry Plaza State Park has stunning views of Manhattan, but it was nominated to the Census of Places that Matter for its main attraction: restored gantry cranes. Now dramatic industrial sculptures, these gantries were the nexus for providing goods and supplies to Long Island via the Long Island Rail Road tracks that used to run to the water’s edge. Built in the 1920s, the gantries hoisted rail cars from floats and barges onto land and vice versa, opening up the Long Island waterfront for industrial activity and inland for residential communities.

But the gantries are just one feature that pays homage to the Long Island City waterfront’s industrial past, which is quickly giving way to residential buildings. The Long Island City waterfront was originally a site for tanneries and other factories, including the Pepsico bottling plant in Hunters Point. The iconic ruby-red Pepsi Cola sign was dismantled late in 2008 to be re-situated further north in the newest section of Gantry Plaza State Park, which just opened July 1, 2009. Continue Reading>>

Grand Ferry Park, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was nominated to the Census of Places that Matter for providing public access to the waterfront for nearly one hundred years.

In the hopes of creating a suburb of Manhattan, real estate speculator Richard M. Woodhull purchased 13 acres of land in Brooklyn. In 1802, Woodhull launched ferry service that ran from the foot of his parcel at North 2nd Street to Grand Street, on the Lower East Side.

The new neighborhood surrounding the ferry landing was called “Williamsburgh,” after the surveyor of the site, Colonel Jonathan Williams.  A relative of Benjamin Franklin, Colonel Williams was the first superintendent of West Point, the Chief Engineer of the Army Corps of Engineers and a member of Congress representing Pennsylvania. Continue Reading>>

Ahead of the panel discussion City of Art: New York’s Hidden Treasures Revealed which MAS is hosting on Thursday, April 16, at 6:30 pm., leading environmental artist George Trakas talked to Elizabeth Werbe of MAS about his recent public art work in New York City.

Widely acclaimed for numerous projects in North America and Western Europe over the past thirty years, Trakas has recently completed a major piece of work for the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn. Commissioned by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art program, his creation makes approximately 1,000 feet of shoreline accessible to the public. Continue Reading>>

In this podcast, architectural historian John Kriskiewicz talks to Tamara Coombs of MAS about his April 2 lecture, The 100th Birthday of Two Great Bridges: The Queensborough & The Manhattan, celebrating the centennial of the Manhattan and Queensboro Bridges, and explains why their construction marks New York’s metamorphosis from an island city to a modern metropolis.

Join MAS as we celebrate the centennial of two of the eras great bridges with a lecture and two walks across the neighborhoods they transformed. $15, $10 MAS members. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075.

The LPC today approved the design of Pier 15, which is to be reconstructed in the South Street Seaport Historic District. The project’s architect, Greg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects, has designed a two-level pier that provides passive recreational space as well as places for boats to dock.

MAS supported the project and the LPC’s approval; we believe that the project balances well the different viewpoints of what the East River waterfront should be and that its design, height, and materials are appropriate to the historic district. The Pier 15 project is part of the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s larger East River Esplanade plan which will run from the Battery Maritime Building north to connect to the East River Park.  Pier 15 is just to the south of where General Growth Properties’ has proposed its large-scale redevelopment project. Even though that project seems to be at standstill for the moment, MAS continues to be concerned about it and the detrimental impact it will have on the South Street Seaport Historic District.

Together with tour leader Carter Craft and 12 others hearty souls, the author braved the subfreezing temperatures last Saturday to celebrate the rich waterfront history and the new cultural attractions floating to the surface in Lower Manhattan. Sites along the way included the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, the Battery Maritime Building (the gateway to Governor’s Island), Pier 11/Wall St. Ferry Terminal, South Street Seaport, and Peck Slip.

What defines a neighborhood? What underlying characteristics flavor that definition even as the decades pass?

The current structures on the Southern Coast of Manhattan represent the “front porch” of the island today, as they have done for centuries. These buildings serve little function for most Manhattanites, who visit as infrequently now as they might have for centuries. Even the East River is transitory in its own way; flowing north and south alternately with the tides. Continue Reading>>

MAS is researching the history of the Fulton Fish /New Market Building at the South Street Seaport and collecting images (both historic and modern) to include in a report arguing for the building’s preservation.

But, as you can see, our photograph doesn’t do the building justice, so we need your help. Please add your best shots to our Flickr pool or e-mail them to Melissa Baldock mbaldock [at] mas.org.

All pictures may be used by us in the report, but the best shot will receive your choice of an elegant auto-open umbrella, featuring a detail of Grand Central Terminal’s world-famous zodiac ceiling or a copy of Robert A.M. Stern’s famous New York 1960.