Upcoming MAS Tours

Sunday, September 5, 2:00 p.m.
Give My Regards to Broadway – SOLD OUT
Walk the streets of “The Great White Way,” tracing the history of New York’s Broadway theater district from Oscar Hammerstein in the 1890s to Walt Disney in the 1990s to its latest configuration. See the great Broadway theaters built between the turn of the century and the onset of the Great Depression—stunning works of art in themselves, and monuments to the lively history of American theater. Leader: Tony Robins, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Meeting place furnished after RSVP. Note: This tour is sold out. Please no walk-ups.

Saturday, September 11, 10:45 a.m.
Picnic Point, Governors Island – SOLD OUT
This year the Municipal Art Society presented its Special Recognition Award to Governors Island for its profound impact on New York in a remarkably short time. Join us for a walking tour to scenic Picnic Point to see the latest developments with Leslie Koch, president of The Trust for Governors Island. We’ll learn about the transformation of a landscape, inspect new design elements—and try out some hammocks. If you wish, bring a picnic to enjoy after the tour. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Meeting place furnished after RSVP. Note: This tour is sold out. Please no walk-ups.

Sunday, September 12, 11:00 a.m.
Williamsburg: From the Cool to the Conservative
The Williamsburg section of Brooklyn started out as a small farming community in the early 19th century, but a thriving neighborhood quickly grew around its wharves and docks. Once the Williamsburg Bridge was completed in 1903, immigrant residents could easily commute to jobs in Manhattan, and it became the most densely populated area of Brooklyn. It is now a neighborhood known for its art galleries, bars and boutiques as well as its mix of Latino, Hasidic and Italian influences. Leader: Marty Shore, urban historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet at N.W. corner of North 7th St. & Bedford Ave. (Transit: L train to Bedford Ave.) MAP.

Saturday, September 18, 11:00 a.m.
New to New York: Downtown
This walk examines new and ongoing construction in Lower Manhattan, including major projects associated with the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and Battery Park City. We’ll view a striking mixed-use 75-story tower designed by Frank Gehry, as well as the Goldman Sachs Headquarters, Teardrop Park South, and one of Manhattan’s first public library branches to achieve LEED Gold Certification. Leader: Matt Postal, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Click here or call 212 935 2075. Meet at S.W. corner of Chambers and Centre streets, opposite the Municipal Building. MAP.

Sunday, September 19, 2:00 p.m.
BoCoCa III: Cobble Hill
In the final tour of a three-part series on the overlapping neighborhoods of BoCoCa in brownstone Brooklyn, we will look at Cobble Hill, home to beautiful row houses and churches, some of the most beautiful ornamental iron railings in New York, the model housing developed by the great Alfred Tredway White, and such historic personages as Jennie Jerome and Cornelius Heeney. We will also look at the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, recently rated by America’s highway buffs as the worst stretch of interstate in the entire country. Leader: Francis Morrone, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Click here or call 212 935 2075. Meet in front of St. Paul’s Church on the corner of Court and Congress streets. (Transit: F, G to Bergen Street.). MAP.

Saturday, September 25, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
MTA Arts for Transit: Elevated in the Bronx
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of MTA’s Arts for Transit program, join us for the fourth of six tours of notable contemporary public artwork permanently sited throughout New York’s subway and rail system. Sandra Bloodworth, director of MTA Arts for Transit, will lead a tour of a spectacular collection of work, highlighting installations on the #4 line by Vito Acconci, Juan Sanchez, José Ortiz, Andrea Dezsö and more. Wear comfortable shoes and be prepared for stairs. Bring a Metro Card. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Click here or call 212 935 2075. Meet at the mezzanine level of the 161st Street/Yankee Stadium station, between the 4 line and the B/D line, near the mural. Use the 161st Street/River Avenue entrance. (Transit: 4, B, D to 161st Street/Yankee Stadium.) MAP.

Sunday, September 26, 10:00 a.m.
The Immigrant, Radical & Notorious Women of Washington Square – SOLD OUT
In few other places on earth have so many notable women lived and achieved. For the last 150 years, it has seen an unparalleled variety of women—working class, gentry, radical, literary, academic, theatrical, convict, and immigrant. View where Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, and Eleanor Roosevelt lived, where Emily Roebling studied, where Louisa May Alcott wrote, and where Lila Acheson Wallace published. Leader: Joyce Gold, Manhattan historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Meeting place furnished after RSVP. Note: This tour is sold out. Please no walk-ups.

Saturday, October 2, 2:00 p.m.
South Street
We will explore the nooks and crannies of the old South Street Seaport area, which through much of the 19th century defined the New York economy and created many of the city’s greatest fortunes. We’ll look at historic buildings (some landmarked, others not), discuss historic buildings no longer standing, talk about the lives of the legendary South Street merchants, look at the 20th-century changes, peer into the future of the district, and consider the area’s literary associations. Leader: Francis Morrone, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Click here or call 212 935 2075. Meet at S.W. corner of John and Gold streets. (Transit: 1, 2 to Fulton Street; A, C to Broadway Nassau.) MAP.

Sunday, October 3, 2:00 p.m.
Jane Jacobs Tour: Battery Park City Evolving
Love it or hate it, Battery Park City has afforded us a rare opportunity in New York to see a “new town” take shape. Designed by a very gifted group of architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and artists, Battery Park City reflects the design values of the first generation to come of age under the influence of Jane Jacobs. We will see architecture by Cooper, Robertson & Partners, Demetri Porphyrios, and Charles W. Moore, landscapes by Michael Van Valkenburgh and Susan Child, and art by Tom Otterness and Martin Puryear, among others. Please note: Unlike previous tours of BPC, this one will focus on the northern section. Leader: Francis Morrone, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet at the SW corner of Chambers and Greenwich streets, by P.S. 234. MAP.

Sunday, October 10, 11:00 a.m.
Jane Jacobs Tour: Her Village
No place is more closely associated with Jane Jacobs and her perceptive writings than Greenwich Village. Visit the sites and streets that inspired her ideas, with stops in Washington Square, at the West Village Houses, and at her Hudson Street home. Leader: Matt Postal, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet outside the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia, near Bleecker St. MAP.

Saturday, October 16, 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
MTA Arts for Transit: Downtown & Central Brooklyn
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of MTA’s Arts for Transit program, join us for the fifth tour in this six-part series of notable contemporary artwork permanently sited throughout New York’s subway and rail system. Join Amy Hausmann, assistant director of MTA Arts for Transit, as we explore Downtown Brooklyn–stopping to view artwork by Ben Snead, Allan & Ellen Wexler, George Trakas, Jane Greengold and others. Bring a Metro Card. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations required. Click here or call 212 935 2075. Meet at Jay Street-Borough Hall station at the 24-hour booth near the Willoughby and Jay streets entrance. (Transit: A, C, F to Jay Street-Borough Hall.) MAP.

October 16, 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Public Housing’s Fertile Crescent
Have attitudes about publicly and philanthropically-assisted housing changed? Many huge housing projects were designed to maximize off-street open space that is open to the public. This walk concentrates on the benign allees of vast projects that parallel the East River Bend from the Brooklyn Bridge to 14th St. in Manhattan. Commentary centers on the socio-political history and geography nurturing these projects. Leader: Jack Eichenbaum, urban geographer. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet under the arches of the Municipal Building at Center and Chambers streets. (Transit: #4, 5, 6; J trains to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall.) MAP.

Sunday, October 17, 2:00 p.m.
Jane Jacobs Tour: Forest Hills: Garden City in the City
The “fairy book suburb of Forest Hills on Long Island” is how Sinclair Lewis described it in 1920 in his novel Main Street. Forest Hills Gardens exemplifies the “garden city” planning that Jane Jacobs criticized. But are there also Jacobsean virtues to Forest Hills? And what lessons does it hold for community design in the 21st Century? Leader: Francis Morrone, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet at Austin St. and Continental Ave., near 71st Ave. subway station. (Transit: E, F, R, M trains to 71st Ave.) MAP.

Saturday, October 23, 11:00 a.m.
A New Park for Brooklyn
Stroll through some of the oldest sections of Brooklyn Heights, the city’s earliest historic district, ending in Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York’s newest park. Designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the first phase of Brooklyn Bridge Park is complete and features a granite prospect, acres of lawn, and a waterfront promenade providing unrivaled views of Manhattan and the harbor. Leader: Matt Postal, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet at N.W. corner of Clark and Henry streets. (Transit: #2, 3 trains to Clark St.) MAP.

Sunday, October 24, 10:30 a.m.
Deco Fashion: The Garment District
New York’s Garment District – stretching roughly from Penn Station to
Times Square, Sixth to Ninth avenues – is almost entirely the creation of architectural and urban forces of the 1920s and early 1930s, in particular the country’s first zoning ordinance which mandated the setbacks we associate with Art Deco skyscrapers. Styles in the district range from the typical eclecticism of the 1920s through the Art Deco and Moderne. The district is particularly rich in the works of French-trained architects George and Edward Blum and modernist master Ely Jacques Kahn, but also includes lesser-known architectural delights. Leader: Tony Robins, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet at Golda Meir Plaza, N.W corner of 39th and Broadway. MAP.

Saturday, October 30, 11:00 a.m.
Snyder Schools in Brownsville
In what was Brooklyn’s equivalent of the Lower East Side, we’ll walk the streets writer and critic Alfred Kazin walked as a boy, looking at four public schools built between 1901 and 1914 to provide enough “sittings” for the burgeoning population. A true democrat, the architect C. B. J. Snyder designed schools for this immigrant neighborhood to rival schools in more prestigious Manhattan neighborhoods. Leader: Jean Arrington, Snyder scholar. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. (Transit #3 train to Rockaway Ave.) Meet at the N.E. corner of Livonia and Rockaway avenues (near BK Express Deli). MAP.

Sunday, October 31, 11:00 a.m.
Chelsea Northwest
A waterfront neighborhood with an intriguing industrial past, this tour focuses on the High Line Park, the newest section of Hudson River Park, and the West Chelsea Historic District. We’ll address the area’s promise and potential, with stops to discuss the history of Manhattan’s last freight railway, North Chelsea Cove and Pier 64, as well as the colossal Terminal Warehouse Central Stores Building and the restored Starrett-Lehigh Building. Leader: Matt Postal, architectural historian. $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour. Meet at S.E. corner of 10th Ave. and 22nd St. MAP.