June 2011 Tours
Sunday, June 5, 2:00 p.m. Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center—New York’s urban wonderland—is full of surprising history, remarkable art and stunning architecture. Rockefeller Center is a private real estate venture that has evolved into the public square of Midtown Manhattan. Explore the past, present and future of this 1930s Art Deco monument, including its architecture, planning, art and personalities.
Tour Leader: Tony Robins, architectural historian.
Meet at: Statue of Atlas on Fifth Ave., between 50th and 51st streets. MAP
Cost of Tour:$15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour.Saturday, June 11, 11:00 a.m.
Along Park: Modern Materials, Modern Icons
Perhaps no street in Manhattan experienced greater change than Park Avenue did in the 20th century. From a gritty street of brick and mortar to one of shimmering glass office towers, this wide boulevard displays a great number of signature mid-century modern works. Such icons as Lever House, the Seagram Building and the former Pan Am Building will be examined closely, as well as some of their lesser-known contemporaries, including designs by Emery Roth & Sons and Henry Dreyfuss.
Tour Leader: Matt Postal, architectural historian.
Meet at: S.W. corner of Vanderbilt Ave. and 43rd St. MAP
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour.
Sunday, June 12, 11:00 a.m.
Historic Bedford Stuyvesant
Bedford Stuyvesant has a rich and storied history, from the Lenape peoples, through the Dutch, the English, and beyond. Anchoring that history is some of the city’s finest residential row house architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Explore the proposed Bedford Historic District, focusing on Hancock St. and surrounding blocks. We will see the works of some of Brooklyn’s finest architects: row houses, apartment buildings, mansions, schools and churches. We’ll discuss the history and culture of the largest African-American community in New York City, a history that is hundreds of years in the making.
Tour Leaders: Suzanne Spellen, architectural historian and Morgan Munsey, architect and historian.
Meet at: Provided upon registration.
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Register now or call 212 935 2075.
Wednesday, June 15, 6:00 p.m.
Crossing Newtown Creek
Meander through Greenpoint and cross the Pulaski Bridge connecting Brooklyn to Long Island City. See remnants of the intense and largely unregulated industrial development that thrived along Newtown Creek during the late 19th century. View the striking New York City Department of Environmental Protection Wastewater Improvement Plant; walk the adjacent Nature Walk and end in Gantry Park over-looking the Manhattan skyline.
Tour Leader: Jack Eichenbaum, urban geographer.
Meet at: N.E. corner of Greenpoint and Manhattan avenues. MAP
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour.
Friday, June 17, 11:00 a.m.
Turtle Bay
The area between Grand Central Terminal and the UnitedNations is an interesting mix of hotels, tenements, luxury housing, corporate headquarters and industrial and institutional buildings. E.B. White and Katharine Hepburn, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen and Alma Gluck are among the noted New Yorkers associated with this neighborhood. We’ll view quirky sidewalks and street art, the Turtle Bay Gardens Historic District, a house by William Lescaze, and the Amster Yard.
Tour Leader: Joe Svehlak, urban historian.
Meet at: Entrance to Track 29 in the main concourse, Grand Central Terminal. MAP
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour
Saturday, June 18, 9:45 a.m.-about 3:00 p.m.
Stapleton Heights, Staten Island
The community of Stapleton Heights is noted for both its remarkable architecture and its impressive vistas of Upper New York Bay. During the tour, we’ll discover an array of 19th century architecture, from Greek Revival to Queen Anne, and visit the interior of an extravagant 1888 wedding present from beer baron George Bechtel to his daughter—a house that boasts two-dozen imported stained-glass windows. We’ll end the tour in the private “New York Bohemian style” home of Belgian journalist Jacqueline Goossens.
Tour Leader: Justin Ferate, urban historian.
Meet at: Provided upon registration.
Cost of Tour: $25, $20 MAS members. Bring a MetroCard and brown bag lunch. Register now or call 212 935 2075.
Sunday, June 19, 11:00 a.m.
Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal
Explore the wide banks of the borough’s most famous canal. Cross one of the oldest retractile bridges in the United States and visit the Carroll Gardens Historic District, a singular brownstone enclave distinguished by a remarkable street plan. We’ll end with a tour of Proteus Gowanus, an interdisciplinary arts center located in a converted 19th century warehouse.
Tour Leader: Matt Postal, architectural historian.
Meet at: N.W. corner of Smith and President streets. MAP
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour.
Saturday, June 25, 11:00 a.m.
The North End of Central Park
Come along to the less-visited North end of America’s most famous park. Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux created a man-made body of water, the Meer, and made creative use of rolling hills, majestic trees and a series of pathways used by British soldiers and George Washington and his troops during the Revolutionary War. This tour takes you through the beautifully restored Conservatory Garden and along picturesque paths.
Tour Leader: Joanna Reading, urban historian.
Meet at: Provided upon registration.
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Register now or call 212 935 2075.
Sunday, June 26, 2:00 p.m.
Religion on the Land: Polytheism in Flushing
Flushing is the site of an historic proclamation of religious freedom: the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657. It also has the oldest existing house of worship in New York State: the Quaker Meeting House, built in 1694. This immigrant destination is now the site of many new churches, temples, and mosques, which raise ecological and economic issues. The tour will end at the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church, now celebrating its bicentennial.
Tour Leader: Jack Eichenbaum, urban geographer.
Meet at: Front of St George’s Episcopal Church, N.W. corner, Main St. and 39 Ave. On Sunday, June 26, the #7 train will run only between Queensboro Plaza and Flushing. Access the train at Queensboro Plaza with the N or Q or at Roosevelt Ave/74 St. with the E, F or R. MAP
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour.
Wednesday, June 29, 6:00 p.m.
Woodside
Woodside Ave., along with Newtown Rd. in Astoria, forms a sinuous link between the now defunct Astoria ferry and the center of Elmhurst. Woodside traverses a 19th century cityscape near the LIRR, spans Roosevelt Avenue’s ethnic diversity and ends in the expanding Asiatown in Elmhurst.
Tour Leader: Jack Eichenbaum, urban historian.
Meet at: South entrance to Northern Blvd. station (near Sports Authority parking lot). (Transit: R, M trains to Northern Blvd.)
Cost of Tour: $15, $10 MAS members. Pay at tour.