Wade with daughter Amanda at the 2007 MAS gala when he received the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal for his work to save the Park Avenue Armory.

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>>

For 58 years now, the Municipal Art Society has honored a New Yorker who has made an outstanding contribution to the city of New York. Starting in 1950, this great honor has been bestowed upon an impressive list of personalities including legendary architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable (1982), Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., (1991), William (father of Wallace and New Yorker writer) Shawn, Philip Johnson (1983), Senator Moynihan in 1992, and for the revival of Tribeca, Robert DeNiro and Margot Gayle in 1997 and (dare we say it?) Robert Moses in 1959.

But the magic of the evening comes in our steadfast and stubborn refusal to hold the event in a hotel ballroom. We pick, every year, a place in New York that is architecturally or historically fascinating. We’ve held the event on an empty floor of the Raymond Hood’s 1931 Art Deco masterpiece, the McGraw Hill building, with candlelight and stunning views. Or, how about our 2001 dinner at Gordon Bunschaft’s late Modernist skyscraper Lever House? Or, in 2006 at the-then partially restored, but still magnificently decorated, Park Avenue Armory.

This year is no exception. This Tuesday evening, MAS supporters will enjoy cocktails at the Four Seasons, then dine under a clear tent on the plaza of the extraordinary Seagram Building which celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year. Continue Reading>>

On December 10, 2007, the Municipal Art Society awarded its highest honor – the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal – to Wade F.B. Thompson and Elihu Rose in recognition of their outstanding efforts in saving and restoring the historic Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue.

Today, the organization they formed in 1993, the Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy, is restoring and revitalizing the armory to allow full public access to one of the most important collections of 19th century interiors in the city.

To watch a slideshow of the event, click here.

With the lease in hand, the conservancy can now begin planning for a long-delayed restoration program and an expansion of public programming. The armory, on Park Avenue at East 66th Street, received a major boost in 2005 when the state announced a $30 million grant for the effort. The restoration campaign began 12 years ago as a special project of the MAS. The conservancy was formed shortly afterward under the tireless and dedicated leadership of Elihu Rose and Wade F. B. Thompson.

For more information about the 7th Regiment Armory, visit www.armoryonpark.org.