Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil an exhibition co-sponsored by PennDesign opens at The Municipal Art Society of New York with a reception on Thursday, October 1, at 6:30 p.m. It stretches thinking about both sustainability and livability even further by boldly considering strategies from around the world. We New Yorkers can be provincial at times — this exhibition gives us an opportunity to glimpse what the rest of the world is doing in response to climate change and the complex movement toward increased urbanization.
Join us for the opening reception, including a glass of local wine and sampling of canapés made from local foods. Limited space is now open to non-MAS members. Entry is free, but reservations are required. RSVP online or call Katie Skelly on 212-935-2075. MAP.
The exhibition will be on display at MAS from Friday, October 2, through Friday, December 4. Click here for more information about MAS exhibits, including gallery hours.
Last Monday evening, MAS welcomed Anthony Flint, author of the new book Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City, who gave an engaging lecture on the clash between these two influential figures.
Flint portrays their battle as the ultimate David-and-Goliath story: Jacobs was the quirky “girl from Scranton” who shunned academics and would later turn down an honorary degree from Harvard. Moses was the “master builder” who graduated from Yale, continued his studies at Oxford, and returned from England with an affected English accent. He wielded his power through appointed positions, while she used savvy activism to mobilize the community and to court both the media and up-and-coming politicians like Ed Koch. Continue Reading>>
This was a question tour leader Matt Postal asked about half-way through last Saturday’s Sustainable Design in Midtown walking tour. We were standing at the S.E. corner of 42nd St. and Sixth Ave., looking at skyscrapers in three directions, but the green roof was behind us — Bryant Park. In the early 1990s, 86 miles of underground book stacks were constructed behind the New York Public Library and underneath the park which was itself being redesigned and reconstructed.
The rest of the stops on the tour were more expected. We began at The New York Times Building, which has a number of sustainable features, but didn’t try for LEED certification. (LEED is a green building certification process, which is time-consuming and can be costly.) The owners of The Times contend that they didn’t want to pay $100,000 for the honor. For other buildings, LEED status can be advantageous as proof of their commitment to sustainability. Continue Reading>>
In September 1654, twenty-three Jews from Recife, Brazil, held Rosh Hashanah services in New Amsterdam, thereby founding the Congregation Shearith Israel. It remained the only Jewish congregation in New York City until 1825.
The early Sephardic settlement (along with those of the Quakers, the French and the English) helped to foster cultural diversity and religious tolerance in New Netherland. Civil and religious liberties won by this small Jewish community were important not only for the development of New York City, but for the United States as a whole.
One such liberty earned was the permission to buy a parcel of land for burial purposes, granted by order of the Director General and Council in February 1656. The First Shearith Israel Graveyard at St. James Place in Manhattan is the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in the country. Many of those who had fought arduously for full political equality and the right to hold public office are buried there. (Until 1788, New York was the only colony to offer these rights to its Jewish citizens). Continue Reading>>
Last Friday, on the eighth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, MAS contributing level members and higher joined MAS staff and directors to view the illumination of the Tribute in Light® from the downtown rooftop that houses the great battery of lights, accompanied by a brief lecture from architectural historian Francis Morrone on the tradition of using light as commemoration. Though the lights were partially obscured by low cloud and inclement weather, many of the images in the slideshow were taken during this year’s illumination.
The Tribute in Light honors those who were lost on September 11, as well as those who worked so hard to get our city through its greatest trial. The idea for the lights was independently conceived by several artists and designers, who were brought together under the auspices of the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time. The Tribute in Light is now produced annually by the MAS on the September 11th anniversary. It was designed by John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Richard Nash Gould, Julian Laverdiere, Paul Myoda and lighting designer Paul Marantz. Tribute in Light is made possible by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and with the generous assistance of Con Edison.
“After a decade of starts and stops, the future looks brighter for Moynihan Station. The agreement reached by Amtrak, Governor Paterson and Senator Schumer is a critical step towards expanding and improving the nation’s busiest train station.
The plans include moving many of Amtrak’s services into a new train hall that will be built in the James A. Farley Post Office, just across the street from Penn Station. While design details have not been released, the agreement furthers Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s vision for a grand work of civic architecture that stands as an inspiring gateway to New York City. With Amtrak as the primary tenant of the new hall, the station can be designed to support the needs of its intercity rail travelers. According to Amtrak, roughly 25% of the nation’s Amtrak passengers pass through Penn Station at some point on their journey.Continue Reading>>
Lynden Miller was a painter with a passion for plants when Betsy Rogers, as administrator of Central Park and head of the Central Park Conservatory, handed her an assignment: restore the Conservatory Garden at 105th St. and Fifth Ave. That was 1982, when that end of the park was often considered dangerous. In addition to restoring the garden, Lynden was also charged with raising the money to do it and finding a way to bring people back to it. The Conservatory Garden was the beginning of her career as a public garden designer. Gardens all over town followed, including those at Bryant, Wagner, and Madison Square parks.
Now Lynden Miller has written a book, Parks, Plants and People, which tells others how public gardens can be created, including a resource directory on everything from the art of garden design to park advocacy and funding sources, plus a plant list of those she has found to be hardy, reliable and relatively low-maintenance. She dedicates the book to William H. Whyte, from whom she learned the elements of a successful public space. In addition to practical advice, Lynden Miller provides telling anecdotes. When a taxi driver dropping her at the Conservatory Garden in the early 1980s expressed concern for her safety, she invited him to accompany her into the partially restored garden, where the crab apples were in bloom. One down.
This Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m., join us at the Municipal Art Society for an engaging and inspirational talk with Ms. Miller, buy an autographed book at a 25% discount, and talk with fellow urban garden lovers over a glass of something refreshing. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations recommended. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-3960. MAP.
This morning, MAS President Vin Cipolla moderated a panel discussion considering how to diversify New York City’s traditionally finance-heavy economy in light of the ongoing global financial crisis.
One of four major topics to be addressed at the conference Thinking Big, New York and London: Heading Back to the Top beginning today, the panel focused on issues germane to the economies of both these cities, including: what urban governments can do to encourage start-up ventures and emerging industries; what the implications are of slowing real estate development; how to sustain cutting-edge arts-based creative economies and niche manufacturing in a future of increasingly high costs; and what the role of landmarks and historic preservation is in that future.
Other topics for examination at the conference, which kicked-off today with a conversation between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mayor of London Boris Johnson, are: the future of concentrated financial districts; housing production, affordability and global competitiveness; and, the infrastructure systems that make great cities work. Continue Reading>>
This Friday the Tribute in Light will illuminate the skies over Lower Manhattan for the eighth year to commemorate the attacks on the World Trade Center. The Tribute in Light honors those who were lost on September 11, as well as those who worked so hard to get our city through its greatest trial.
The idea for the lights was independently conceived by several artists and designers, who were brought together under the auspices of the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time. The Tribute in Light is now produced annually by the MAS on the September 11th anniversary. It was designed by John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Richard Nash Gould, Julian Laverdiere, Paul Myoda and lighting designer Paul Marantz. Tribute in Light is made possible by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and with the generous assistance of Con Edison. Continue Reading>>
Last Tuesday, our weekly Downtown walking tours kicked-off with an examination of the elegant Pentagram-designed model of Lower Manhattan (see below), then moved to the streets, where New York’s history is written in stone and metal. The dozen tour takers, including three college students studying preservation, two visitors from Vancouver, B.C. (previously unacquainted), and a recent retiree whose wife keeps their weekends too fully booked for walking tours, were joined by a visitor from out of town when she overheard tour leader Joe Svehlak’s commentary as he led participants into the Wall Street subway station to view the terra cotta artwork. She (the out of town visitor) had come Downtown to rehearse change-bell ringing at historic Trinity Church.
At the corner of Wall and Broad streets, Joe pointed out the site of Washington’s first inauguration and its commemoration in the statue and plaque at Federal Hall, then turned the group’s attention to the handsome building just across the street. In 1920, a terrorist’s bomb went off outside the-then House of Morgan. The scars of the deadly shrapnel remain in the stone façade, a silent memorial to the 30 killed and 200 injured that September day. Unlikely juxtapositions are common Downtown, where remnants of our Dutch, English, and Revolutionary past rub up against the visual history of the last turbulent century. Continue Reading>>
Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil an exhibition co-sponsored by PennDesign opens at The Municipal Art Society of New York with a reception on Thursday, October 1, at 6:30 p.m. It stretches thinking about both sustainability and livability even further by boldly considering strategies from around the world. We New Yorkers can be provincial at times — this exhibition gives us an opportunity to glimpse what the rest of the world is doing in response to climate change and the complex movement toward increased urbanization. 
Last Monday evening, MAS welcomed Anthony Flint, author of the new book Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City, who gave an engaging lecture on the clash between these two influential figures.
This was a question tour leader Matt Postal asked about half-way through last Saturday’s Sustainable Design in Midtown walking tour. We were standing at the S.E. corner of 42nd St. and Sixth Ave., looking at skyscrapers in three directions, but the green roof was behind us — Bryant Park. In the early 1990s, 86 miles of underground book stacks were constructed behind the New York Public Library and underneath the park which was itself being redesigned and reconstructed.
In September 1654, twenty-three Jews from Recife, Brazil, held Rosh Hashanah services in New Amsterdam, thereby founding the Congregation Shearith Israel. It remained the only Jewish congregation in New York City until 1825.
Today, MAS President Vin Cipolla released a statement (below) regarding yesterday’s announcement by Senator Charles E. Schumer, Governor David A. Paterson and Amtrak president Joseph H. Boardman that 
Lynden Miller was a painter with a passion for plants when Betsy Rogers, as administrator of Central Park and head of the Central Park Conservatory, handed her an assignment: restore the Conservatory Garden at 105th St. and Fifth Ave. That was 1982, when that end of the park was often considered dangerous. In addition to restoring the garden, Lynden was also charged with raising the money to do it and finding a way to bring people back to it. The Conservatory Garden was the beginning of her career as a public garden designer. Gardens all over town followed, including those at Bryant, Wagner, and Madison Square parks. 
This morning, MAS President Vin Cipolla moderated a panel discussion considering how to diversify New York City’s traditionally finance-heavy economy in light of the ongoing global financial crisis. 
Last Tuesday, our weekly Downtown walking tours kicked-off with an examination of the elegant Pentagram-designed model of Lower Manhattan (see below), then moved to the streets, where New York’s history is written in stone and metal. The dozen tour takers, including three college students studying preservation, two visitors from Vancouver, B.C. (previously unacquainted), and a recent retiree whose wife keeps their weekends too fully booked for walking tours, were joined by a visitor from out of town when she overheard tour leader Joe Svehlak’s commentary as he led participants into the Wall Street subway station to view the terra cotta artwork. She (the out of town visitor) had come Downtown to rehearse change-bell ringing at historic Trinity Church.