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.

This book includes all of the original images, plus 13 new creations. The resulting collection is delightful in its simplicity and moving in its ability to capture the spirit of life in New York in so few strokes.

Published on March 1, 2010, by Abrams Image, and priced at $14.95, I LEGO N.Y. is available now for purchase online at www.urbancenterbooks.org, the MAS bookstore for architecture and design. MAS members receive 10% off all purchases at Urban Center Books. (Note: discount is deducted from total cost post-sale. You will see the reduced price on your credit card bill, not at check-out.) To become a member of MAS, visit MAS.org/membership.

Founded in 1898 by Arthur Kennedy (hence the name, Kentile), the company had factories in both Queens and Long Island before building a new plant on 2^nd Avenue along the Gowanus Canal in 1949.  The iconic “Kentile Floors” sign was likely erected at this time. Kentile specialized in vinyl and asphalt floor covering that featured bold colors and patterns.

In the post war period, Kentile’s business boomed as Americans expanded into newly-constructed suburban homes. Ads from the 1950s in national magazines such as Popular Science and Life marketed Kentile flooring to the American suburban housewife and encouraged them to save money by installing their own flooring.  In these ads, typical housewives, like “Mrs. Richard Lansing” and “Mrs. William A. Loock, Jr.,” demonstrate how they easily installed Kentile flooring with the help of only the instruction booklet.

The Kentile factory in Gowanus employed over 400 people at its peak in the 1960s.  However, many of the company’s floor tiles included asbestos, and this led to the company’s eventual demise. Kentile originally celebrated its vinyl asbestos tiles, bragging that they “won’t scuff” and were “greaseproof” and “a dream to clean.” Growing research on the carcinogenic dangers of asbestos resulted in Kentile phasing out the use of the material by 1986, but this did not stop asbestos lawsuits from financially ruining the company. Kentile filed for bankruptcy in 1992 and ceased all business operations a few years later.  Today, the Kentile building is occupied by several different manufacturing businesses, and the sign remains a beloved part of Brooklyn’s industrial heritage.

The Kentile Sign was nominated to the Census of Places that Matter through the History Happened Here conference held in 1996.  The enthusiasm generated at this event led City Lore and MAS to jointly establish the Place Matters project in 1998 to explore a variety of ways to promote and advocate for culturally important places.

To read more about the Kentile Sign, log on to Place Matters. Please tell your friends about these places of history, memory, and culture and invite them to join the Place Matters e-mail list.  To read MAS’ statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund designation of the Gowanus Canal, click here.

The city has pledged to support the EPA’s clean up efforts. MAS looks forward to working with the city on developing a plan for the Gowanus area that nurtures and safeguards existing businesses and creates space for new industries and sorely needed job growth.

The library originally opened in 1969 in a former Woolworth’s store on Northern Boulevard. According to its Place Matters nomination, the original location provided the library with a storefront presence and also served “as a reminder of an earlier moment in history [when] this Woolworth’s was the site of a local civil rights struggle to break the color barrier for hiring in Queens.” Opening just two years after Langston Hughes’ death, the library was the first public institution named for the poet. The library’s Black Heritage Reference Center has grown over the years to more than 40,000 volumes of materials “written by, about, for, with and related to Black Culture.” In addition, the library has a special collection of works by and about its namesake, including Hughes’ own published works, analyses of his work, and even musical settings composed by Hughes.

From the beginning, the intent was for the Corona community to have input in the library’s collections and programming. Until 1987, the library was staffed and run by the Library Action Committee of Corona-East Elmhurst, the same organization that advocated for the library’s establishment. Although the library is now part of the Queens Library system, the Library Action Committee remains involved in promoting and fundraising for the library.

In 1999, the library moved into a new, purpose-built, 24,000 square feet facility down the street on Northern Boulevard and 100th Street. The facility, designed by the architectural firm of Davis Brody Bond, has allowed the library to greatly expand with a 175-seat auditorium, a gallery, climate-controlled spaces for the archives, and dedicated rooms for children, black heritage research, and the library’s Homework Assistance Program. Each February, the library celebrates Black History Month with special programming for both children and adults. However, the focus on African American culture and history is not confined to February at the library, as readings, performances, lectures, and events celebrating black history and culture are held here year round.

To read the full nomination for the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, visit to Place Matters. Please tell your friends about these places of history, memory, and culture and invite them to join the Place Matters e-mail list.

One of MAS’ most urgent priorities for New York — the transformation of the James A. Farley Post Office to Moynihan Station – took a significant step forward today, when US Senator Charles Schumer announced that the federal government will award $83 million in stimulus funds to begin the first phase of the project.

MAS President Vin Cipolla welcomed the news. “With today’s announcement, the federal government is recognizing what the Municipal Art Society has long known, that the construction of a new train station is critical to the future economies of New York City and State. The new station will create construction jobs in the near term; improve the capacity of Penn Station and the whole Northeast Corridor; and, once complete, will be a catalyst for development on Manhattan’s far West Side,” he said.

“It was more than a decade ago that the Municipal Art Society began working with Senator Moynihan to conceive of a new station that would reclaim Penn Station’s lost grandeur and create a great new gateway into New York City,” he continued. “By awarding Moynihan Station this grant, the federal government is not only achieving its goals of creating jobs and improving the nation’s rail infrastructure, but also helping to create a station that will make all New York proud.”

Plans for Moynihan Station include the construction of a new train hall for Amtrak in the Farley Post Office, just across the street from Penn Station and over the same tracks.Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit will continue to operate in Penn Station, but will have greater capacity once the train hall is complete.

With the announcement of the grant, Phase 1 of the project is fully funded at $270 million. Work in Phase 1 includes expanding the passageway below 33^rd Street between Penn Station and Farley’s west end concourse, which will double their width, increasing capacity and providing access to subways and the new New Jersey Transit station. Two additional entrances into the Farley building on Eighth Avenue will be created.  Other work includes improving safety by adding six new ventilation fan rooms as well as expanding egress. Phase 1 is expected to begin this year and last until 2015.

The current plan for Moynihan Station places the highest priority on improving the station’s infrastructure and developing the civic spaces. With Amtrak agreeing the be the station’s primary tenant, the station will serve intercity rail passengers and alleviate crowding at Penn Station, which is operating at 100 percent over capacity.  Penn Station is the nation’s most heavily trafficked gateway, with more than 640,000 people a day moving through its corridors.

For more information on Moynihan Station, please visit our website, www.newpennstation.org.

The goal of the Department of Transportation (DOT) pilot program was to reduce travel times around Times Square and Herald Square by eliminating the congestion where Broadway meets Sixth and Seventh avenues. This goal was achieved in part, but other direct consequences of reclaiming these streets for pedestrians, including a 35 percent reduction in pedestrian injuries, and the creation of 2.5 acres of new public space in one of the city’s densest neighborhoods, are the most exciting outcomes.

MAS welcomed the experiment when it was first announced last March as a great step towards creating improved, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, and we congratulate Mayor Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today on having taken this bold step.

MAS President Vin Cipolla said, “Making these two new public plazas permanent fixtures of our streets is a fantastic achievement that promotes what Jane Jacobs called the ballet of the sidewalk — the unrehearsed choreography of people moving through the city. It will be of enormous lasting benefit to New Yorkers and the vitality of our city’s street life.”

Originally, the City had discussed extending the closures of Broadway further to the south, but there seem to be no plans at the moment to do so.

To read more about MAS’ advocacy on New York City streetscape issues click here.

During the Coney Island rezoning process, MAS recommended to the City that the area’s historic resources, like the Shore Theater, be protected, as they are key to a revitalized Coney Island.  The Shore Theater has long been one of Coney Island’s most striking buildings.  Opened in 1925 as the Coney Island Theatre and designed by noted theater architects, Reilly & Hall, the Shore Theater sat nearly 2,400 people in its auditorium and featured both live vaudeville shows and moving pictures.  Although it has long been vacant, if reinvigorated, the Shore Theater could present a unique opportunity for theater and other performance space in the amusement area.

The LPC’s action initiated the protection of the entire Shore Theater exterior, including the unadorned rear portion of the building, where the theater is located. MAS has long maintained that any designation of the site should include the entire building, not just the impressive palazzo-style front. Even though it has not been used in decades, the 2,400-seat theater remains intact and could serve as a much-needed new performance venue in Coney Island.

The next step in the landmarking process will be a public hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.  We encourage the public to voice their support for the designation of the entire Shore Theater building at this hearing or through sending letters and emails.  The final designation steps will be the Commission’s vote, followed by a City Council vote.

MAS is hopeful that in 2010, the Shore Theater will join the Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel, the Parachute Jump, and the Child’s Restaurant on the Boardwalk, as an official Coney Island landmark.  For more information on the Shore Theater’s history see “The Shore Theater: A Sure Part of Coney Island’s Future?”.

2009 Jane Jacobs Medal Recipients Richard Kahan (left) and Damaris Reyes (center) with Judith Rodin, Mary Schmidt Campbell, and George Campbell.

The Rockefeller Foundation announced today that it is opening the public nominating process for the 2010 Jane Jacobs Medal — awarded to two living individuals whose creative vision for the urban environment has significantly contributed to the vibrancy and variety of New York City. Nominations can be submitted by anyone, but must be made by Monday, March 1, 2010. Nominations should be made online here.

The Municipal Art Society is honored to again administer the Jane Jacobs Medal nomination process on behalf of the Rockefeller Foundation, as we have done since 2007 when the Foundation first established the award to honor the activist, author and urbanist who died in April 2006 at the age of 89. MAS will also sponsor a series of walking tours and the annual Jane Jacobs Forum this fall to coincide with the medal presentations.

The Jane Jacobs Medals are presented in two categories — one for Lifetime Leadership, and one for New Ideas and Activism — and are accompanied by prizes totaling $200,000. The selection of the Jane Jacobs Medal winners and allocation of the prize money will be determined by the members of the Jane Jacobs Medal Selection Jury. The Jury is co-chaired by Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin and trustee David Rockefeller, Jr. and includes Mary Schmidt Campbell, Dean of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts; and Bruce Nussbaum, assistant managing editor in charge of BusinessWeek magazine’s innovation and design coverage.

“This is a time of great opportunity for the development of our city,” said Darren Walker, Vice President of Foundation Initiatives for the Rockefeller Foundation. “Fifty years ago, Jane Jacobs’ activism helped build a neighborhood based on the combined principles of community, diversity, and environment. As communities throughout New York continue to weather the difficult economic storm, there is a new generation of activists who are creating dynamic change in their neighborhoods from the inside out, and once again working to make New York City stronger and more unified. The Rockefeller Foundation is pleased to continue to award the new generation of influencers with The Jane Jacobs Medals as a means of celebrating and encouraging a continued dialogue and civic action within our great city today.”

The 2010 Rockefeller Foundation Jane Jacobs Medal winners will be announced in July of this year. The Medals will be awarded to the recipients at a reception in September 2010.

Thus far, six New Yorkers have received the medal: Richard Kahan of the Urban Assembly and Damaris Reyes of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) in 2009; Peggy Sheppard of West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. and Alexie Torres-Fleming of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in 2008; and Barry Benepe, founder of the New York Greenmarkets program and Omar Freilla of Greenworker Cooperatives in 2007. Videos featuring all past recipients are available here.

The Rockefeller Foundation’s relationship with Jane Jacobs dates back to the 1950s, when it launched an Urban Design Studies program that helped foster the emergence of the new discipline of urban design and theory. As part of this initiative, one of the Foundation’s first grants was to the then-obscure writer from Greenwich Village, for the research and writing of Jacobs’ seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

The restaurant that became Gage & Tollner was originally opened by Charles M. Gage in 1879.  When Gage partnered with Eugene Tollner a few years later, the restaurant was renamed for the two of them.  In 1892, Gage & Tollner moved from its original location near present-day Cadman Plaza to the 1870s Italianate row house at 372 Fulton Street. The building’s wooden Neo-Grec storefront, which is still intact, was likely added at this time. Gage & Tollner’s clientele were among Brooklyn and Manhattan’s elite, and throughout the next century, the restaurant was renowned for its food quality and excellent service.  The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 1974 designation report for the building’s exterior refers to Gage & Tollner as “one of Brooklyn’s best known restaurants.”

In a city where restaurants seem to come and go constantly, Gage & Tollner’s elegant interior and exterior appearance, superior service, and excellent food remained constant for over a century. The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 1975 designation report for the restaurant’s interior quotes then-Brooklyn Borough Historian, Joseph Palisi, as praising Gage & Tollner’s reputation. He stated that the restaurant embodied “exquisite food, excellent service and a sense of timelessness through which something of a carefully preserved past is made to contribute to the fullest enjoyment of the present.”

Gage & Tollner is one of only two New York City interior landmark spaces that were built exclusively as restaurants (the other is the Four Seasons restaurant, designed by Philip Johnson). Although landmark designation cannot control which establishments occupy landmarks or how these spaces are used, it does regulate what changes can be made to the protected architectural features.  Therefore, when Gage & Tollner closed in 2004 due to dwindling business, its 1890s appearance was not destroyed by either the TGI Friday’s, which occupied the space until 2007, or the newly-opened Arby’s (pictured to the left).

To read the full nomination for Gage and Tollner, log on to Place Matters. Please tell your friends about these places of history, memory, and culture and invite them to join the Place Matters e-mail list.