Prices range from $10 to $15 and are open to all members of the public. More information is available online at http://mas.org/tours. To make reservations, visit http://mas.org/calendar or call (212) 935-2075.
May 12 - Baseball Creation and Evolution
10:00 am - 1:00 pm - Tour Leader: Peter Laskowich - Baseball comes from New York City. The game began in a grassy field in Manhattan before fundamental changes were effected in Brooklyn. Midtown and Uptown took care of the rest, providing the game with its culture and eventually setting up its modern era. Baseball is an expression of New York City: in its origins, of Madison Square Park; in its traditions and present form, of Harlem; in its rules and most compelling history, of Brooklyn. Please be advised: We will be taking several rides on the subway, and those attending will need a Metrocard with four rides available. The tour will last for at least three hours. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 12 - Daylight Loft Buildings in Long Island City, Queens
10:30 am - Tour Leader: Jack Eichenbaum - The daylight loft building was to industry what the skyscraper was to offices. Long Island City's great makeover at the beginning of the 20th Century coincided with the widespread introduction of this architectural innovation that helped modernize manufacturing. Many of these buildings are now finding new uses, notably as artists' studios, while Long Island City is rezoned for a post-industrial city. Please be advised: The tour will last two hours and be at a brisk pace. This tour is part of the Long Island City Arts Open. After the tour you can visit artists' studios and other events. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 13 - East Village
2:00 pm - Tour Leader: Sylvia Laudien-Meo - The East Village is one of New York's liveliest, most diversified neighborhoods, its streets lined with stores, restaurants and galleries, its sidewalks humming with young people. The scene has changed drastically throughout the years: originally Peter Stuyvesant's farmland, this area has become home first to the wealthiest New Yorkers, then to the poorer German immigrants. Yiddish language theater developed on its streets and so did the hippie scene during the 60s. Peter Cooper built his influential school here and the Irish McSorley's, often touted as the oldest pub in the city. On this walk we'll discover the traces of the people who shaped the neighborhood, as well as the contemporary trendy additions, including exciting new architecture by Herzog & de Meuron, Gwathmy Siegel, Studio Carlos Zapata and Morphosis Architects. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 13 - Manhattanville: Revisiting a Place of Considerable Consequence
1:00 pm - Tour Leader: Eric K. Washington - Manhattanville, a historic West Harlem neighborhood established in 1806, is in continuous flux. Columbia University's controversial campus expansion in this section is well under way, and many of the area's distinctive landmarks have been demolished. Yet much remains of Manhattanville's historic fabric to still reveal the 19th-century town "of considerable consequence" it once was. Out of a struggle between institutional might and community spirit have come some compelling new features--notably the MAS award-winning West Harlem Piers Park--which make this a neighborhood well worth exploring afresh. Join Manhattanville historian and author Eric K. Washington for an overview of this area's eventful, yet under-appreciated, past. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 13 - Upper East Side Art Deco
2:00 pm - Tour Leader: Tony Robins - Join us for an Art Deco walk on Manhattan's Upper East Side. We will see some of the city's earliest Deco apartment houses, including two by Blum & Blum, and the only apartment building designed by Raymond Hood (better known for the Daily News Building and Rockefeller Center). But it's not just apartment buildings. We will also see the legendary Hotel Carlyle, and one of Manhattan's very few Art Deco town houses, designed by Harry Allen Jacobs - an architect who once presided over informal debates at the Architectural League between what he called "the three little Napoleons of modern architecture, Raymond M. Hood, Ralph Walker and Ely Kahn," and the "classicists." $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 19 - Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in Midtown
2:00 pm - Tour Leader: Matt Postal - To mark the 103rd birthday of Gordon Bunshaft, we'll visit some of the architect's most celebrated buildings, including the newly renovated and Platinum LEED certified JP Morgan Chase headquarters and 510 Fifth Avenue, where two sculptures by Harry Bertoia have recently been reinstalled as part of a hotly-debated retail conversion. En route, we'll discuss Bunshaft's evolving role as partner in charge of design at SOM and his lasting impact on mid-20th century modernism. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 19 - Trinity Church Cemetery (Uptown) Spring Walk: From May Flowers, to Mavericks to Mayors
11:00 am - Tour Leader: Erik K. Washington - Spring's resurgence inspires this overview tour of one of the most charming parcels of Manhattan's urban streetscape. Established in 1842, Trinity Church Cemetery in Washington Heights is one of New York State's most important burying grounds, steeped in Revolutionary War, Civil War, civic- and social history. Originally laid out by James Renwick Jr., and re-landscaped years later by Calvert Vaux, this nearly 24-acre memorial park chronicles much of New York City's eventful past. Waypoints of interest include Richard Sands, the renowned "ceiling walker"; Dita H. Kinney, the first official in the U.S. Army Corps of Nurses; and floral markers of heirloom flowers that form part of the Heritage Rose District. A few colorful public officials also reside here, including Cadwallader D. Colden, Mayor of New York City (1818-1821), whose long lost grave tour leader Eric K. Washington personally rediscovered last year. Explore the winsome garden paths of Manhattan's only still-admitting cemetery--listed on the National Register of Historic Places--through the eyes of Mother Nature herself. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 20 - Hildreth Meière Exhibition Tour
9:45 am - 12:30 pm - Tour Leader: Justin Ferate - Tour the remarkable jewel-like exhibition of the renowned and versatile Art Deco muralist and mosaicist Hildreth Meière (1892-1961) in the exhibition Walls Speak: The Narrative Art of Hildreth Meière. Recognizable works by the artist include mosaics of Temple Emanu-El, the interiors of St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue, and the enameled artistic roundels on the exterior of Radio City Music Hall. The exhibition showcases the liturgical designs (both synagogues and churches) created by this trendsetting artist for many of the New York metropolitan area's most iconic places of worship, not only including Temple Emanu-El and Saint Bartholomew's Church, but also St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Michael's Passionist Monastery Church in Union City, New Jersey, and other religious landmarks. The exhibition features over 90 objects, including hand-painted altarpieces and full-scale sample mosaics. Also on view are the gouache studies, cartoons, and models that were the basis for Meière's completed designs, as well as photographs of some of her most storied commissions. Click to read full description. $30 / $25 MAS members. Includes museum admission. More information...
May 20 - What's New in Long Island City, Queens?
10:30 am - Tour Leader: Jack Eichenbaum - We'll walk from Queensboro Plaza to the East River waterfront as we explore Long Island City. Rezoning and demographic change stemming from Manhattan spillover are sparking revitalization in this once stagnant industrial neighborhood. The Plaza, where transit lines intersect, has been rezoned for hotels, condos and offices. A lively arts community and restaurant scene has developed and Gantry Plaza State Park, on the East River, is the perfect place to view the midtown Manhattan skyline. Please be advised: The tour will last two hours and be at a brisk pace. This tour is part of the Long Island City Arts Open. After the tour you can visit artists' studios and other events. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 25 - Turtle Bay
11:00 am - Tour Leader: Joe Svehlak - The area between Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations is an interesting divers mix of hotels, tenements, luxury housing, corporate headquarters, and industrial and institutional buildings. Katharine Hepburn, E.B. White, Bishop Sheen, John Gotti, Isamu Noguchi, and Alma Gluck are among the many noted New Yorkers associated with this neighborhood. Some of the highlights on our walk will be the Turtle Bay Gardens Historic District, a modernist (1934) house by William Lescaze, quirky sidewalks and street art, and the former Amster Yard. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 26 - Hunts Point Village of Murals Walking Tour
2:00 pm - 4:30 pm - Tour Leader: Carey Clark - The Village of Murals is an urban design concept that builds on the spontaneous eruption of murals, public art and environmental justice actions that have occurred in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. Hunts Point's Village of Murals contributes to New York's Naturally-Occurring Cultural District working group (www.nocdny.org), an initiative seeking to strengthen organic, asset-based development in neighborhoods. The tour will highlight a fabulous array of graffiti murals by Tats Cru and others, which have the combined effect of adding art and greening to the neighborhood. After the tour, everyone is invited for a bouillabaisse at Down East Seafoods, where they can view the latest installation of photomurals by Martine Fougeron and relax at nearby Barretto Point Park. Please be advised: At tour's end, there is an MTA bus route that links to the Longwood Avenue 6 train. If you continue on to Down East Seafood, there is a longer, 10-block walk to the subway. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 26 - Millionaires Mile
11:00 am - Tour Leader: Matt Postal - Astors, Vanderbilts and even Andy Warhol have called the Upper East Side home. Explore some of the more memorable and exclusive blocks within the south section of the historic district, viewing impressive private clubs and Beaux Art style residences designed by such leading New York City architects as Delano & Aldrich, Carrere & Hastings, and Harde & Short. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 27 - Chinatown - Family Tour
11:00 am - Tour Leader: Sylvia Laudien-Meo - Chinatown is the perfect place to explore as a family a most vivacious ethnic neighborhood, with fresh fruit & vegetable and fish markets, sidewalk temples, traditional apothecaries and tea stores, Chinese ice cream, classical souvenirs, great restaurants and many interesting lessons about American immigrant history. This interactive tour is specifically geared towards families with children. It will include a scavenger hunt and other activities! $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
May 29 - Harlem Renaissance
11:00 am - Tour Leader: Marty Shore - Since the early 1900s, Harlem has been one of the most exciting, vibrant and largest African-American communities in the United States. The tour will take guests from the beautiful homes of Hamilton Heights to the row houses of Strivers Row, from the night clubs and speakeasies of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance to the famous Apollo Music Hall, Sugar Hill and The Schomberg Center. Travel the streets where Langston Hughes, Madame C.J. Walker, A'Leila Walker, Florence Mills, County Cullen, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and other luminaries once lived. $20 / $15 MAS members. More information...
The Municipal Art Society of New York, founded in 1893, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization that fights for intelligent urban planning, design and preservation through education, dialogue and advocacy.
MASNYC is also responsible for the Tribute In Light project which has taken place on the 6 month anniversary of the fateful attack of September 11, 2001 and thereafter every year on the anniversary of that day. Below are photos taken by New Yorkled during previous Tribute in Light commemorations.
Tribute in Light September 11, 2011
The twin beams will appear in the Lower Manhattan sky at dusk on Sunday, September 11, fading with the dawn on Monday, September 12.
THE FUTURE OF “TRIBUTE IN LIGHT”
As THE MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY prepares for this year’s illumination, it has launched a fundraising campaign to secure the future of “Tribute in Light” since funding is not guaranteed after 2011.
As part of this campaign, the organization has invited everyone who values “Tribute in Light” and counts on its dramatic presence every September 11 to help guarantee its future by giving small donations. Through Text2Give, an innovative fundraising tool, anyone with a cell phone can donate $10 by texting the word TRIBUTE to 20222 (message and data rates may apply).
Alternatively, donations of any denomination can be made via MAS.org, or by calling (212) 935-2075.
Past Events / Tours
Ridgewood Sunday, April 1, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm
On the Brooklyn/Queens border, Ridgewood was primarily an outgrowth of German Bushwick. Many streets of some of the finest brick working class housing stock in New York City were constructed in Ridgewood well over a hundred years ago. Today, on Palm Sunday, we’ll see the multi-ethnic change as we view some of Ridgewood’s modest and grand church architecture. We’ll stroll landmarked Stockholm Street paved in yellow brick. We’ll view old Linden Hill Cemetery, streets of award-winning Mathew’s Flats, and portions of the new landmarked districts.
Tour Leader: Joe Svehlak
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Downtown Where New York Began – Religious Diversity Friday, April 6, 11:00 am
Today being Good Friday and the beginning of Passover, our tour will focus on the religious roots of New York beginning where the Dutch first worshipped and where the Jewish people built their first synagogue. We’ll view churches of various denominations including the first Methodist Church in North America, New York’s first Roman Catholic parish, and a former Syrian Melkite Church as well as Trinity Church, St. Paul’s Chapel, and other religious sites that tell the history of where many of New York’s religions began.
Tour Leader: Joe Svehlak
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
“Too 13th Street” Saturday, April 7, 2:00 pm
In the early 20th century Uptown editors would regularly reject articles and stories as being “too Thirteenth Street” meaning too left wing or avant-guard. The location of periodicals such as the Liberator, The Masses, the Dial and the headquarters of the Communist Party in the area all contributed to this reputation. As we walk East we will discuss the development of 13th Street as a living metaphor for the iconoclastic Village of the early 20th Century.
Tour Leader: Laurence Frommer
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Where does Harlem Begin (Nieuw Haarlem)? Thursday, April 12, 2:00 pm
In what is a most striking transition from wealth to poverty, the grand apartments on the Upper East Side of Manhattan become the tenements and projects of East Harlem in just a few city blocks. The slope where this transition occurs actually stretches from the Hudson River to the East River and historically, has always marked a change in land use. The Dutch colonists in Nieuw Nederland began this process when they established the agricultural community of Nieuw Haarlem in the Harlem Valley in 1658.
Tour Leader: Jack Eichenbaum
Note: Be prepared to walk at a brisk pace for two hours. Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Churches of Cobble Hill Saturday, April 14, 10:30 am
Many houses of worship in Cobble Hill have undergone metamorphoses over the years. In this part of what was once known as “the city of churches”, some houses of worship remain functioning while others remain only in form. This tour explores churches that are or once were in the picturesque landmark district.
Tour Leader: Mary Ann DiNapoli
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Sunset Park: In the Old Neighborhood Saturday, April 14, 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Join preservationist Joe Svehlak for a walk through his old neighborhood. Learn about New York City’s largest National Register Historic District (more than 3,300 buildings) and stroll hillside streets lined with townhouses, working-class dwellings and some of New York’s first co-op apartment buildings. Hear from community activists about their efforts to retain the neighborhood’s livability. Enjoy a magnificent harbor view from a hilltop park before ending the tour in Brooklyn’s Chinatown.
Tour Leader: Joe Svehlak
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Starchitecture Saturday, April 14, 9:45 am
Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano: These and other so-called “Starchitects” are transforming Manhattan, creating memorable new museums, corporate headquarters, and high-rise apartments. Join architectural historian Matt Postal for a three-hour tour via small motor coach and on foot of some of the city’s most talked-about architecture. Many of the buildings are by Pritzker Prize-winning laureates from around the globe. We’ll view cutting edge designs that display striking shapes, unusual materials, and a number of environmentally-conscious works that have received LEED platinum ratings, such as Thom Mayne’s stunning new academic building in the East Village for the Cooper Union and Norman’s Foster’s crystalline Hearst Tower near Columbus Circle.
Learn more and register at: http://mas.org/tours/starchitecture-nyc/
Tour Leader: Matt Postal
Cost of Tour: $90, $75 MAS members.
Downtown at the Time of the Titanic Sunday, April 15, 11:00 am
It’s the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and of tour guide Joe Svehlak’s family settling on Washington St. a few blocks behind Trinity Church. We’ll take a look at what Downtown was like through the experiences of Joe’s immigrant family who crossed the North Atlantic just prior to the Titanic’s sinking on April 15, 1912. Then, as always, a lot was going on Downtown. New skyscrapers like the Woolworth Building, Bankers Trust, and AT&T were going up. The streets were being excavated for new subway lines while the elevated trains clanked overhead. Diverse immigrant groups were crowded by the docks and industry spread out along the waterfront edge of the business and financial district of Wall Street. We’ll view century old buildings, Steamship Row, the location of the White Star Line [Titanic] offices, and remnants of a lost old neighborhood as we hear about Downtown a hundred years ago when the Titanic was supposed to arrive.
Tour Leader: Joe Svehlak
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Bloomingdale Blocks Sunday, April 15, 2:00 pm
These quiet tree lined streets near the Hudson River from W. 96Th St to W. 110Th St, boast some of New York’s finest remaining turn-of-the-century row houses, apartments, institutional structures and public monuments, often designed by leading architects. The tour will focus on two aspects: the fascinating and little known history of the area and its superb stock of architecturally significant, and yet mostly unlandmarked, buildings. A significant portion of the area covered in this tour is currently being considered by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission as a new historic district.
Tour Leader: Laurence Frommer
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
From the Ferry to the Seaport Saturday, April 21, 11:00 am
Discover Water Street and East River Park, an area in transition. Transformed by commercial development in the early 1880s and 1960s, we’ll discuss an eclectic mix of old and new, including the Elevated Acre, a privately-owned public park with dramatic views of Brooklyn, redesigned sections of East River Park by SHoP, and the just reopened South Street Seaport, now part of the Museum of the City of New York.
Tour Leader: Matt Postal
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Chelsea Art Galleries Saturday, April 21, 1:00 pm
This is one of the most ‘happening’ neighborhoods of Manhattan, only since recently home to hundreds of art galleries, where you can get a sense of what’s new and exciting in the art world, before it enters the museums or gets picked by visionary art collectors. We will visit a selection of various galleries that have the most intriguing or inspiring works of the spring season!
Tour Leader: Sylvia Laudien Meo
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Boerum Hill: Inside & Outside the District Sunday, April 22, 11:00 am
Simon Boerum’s 18th century farm was developed between 1840s and 1870s with some of New York City’s finest townhouses. Several blocks of remarkably homogenous, primarily brick townhouses were designated as a New York City Landmark District in 1973. This walk will be mostly outside the landmarked district, viewing streets lined with rows of fine 19th century residential and commercial buildings. These streets may also become landmarks as the community seeks to extend the historic district. We’ll also view recent infill buildings and see how they fit into the streetscape.
Tour Leader: Joe Svehlak
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Starchitecture Thursday, April 26, 9:45 am
Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano: These and other so-called “Starchitects” are transforming Manhattan, creating memorable new museums, corporate headquarters, and high-rise apartments. Join architectural historian Matt Postal for a three-hour tour via small motor coach and on foot of some of the city’s most talked-about architecture. Many of the buildings are by Pritzker Prize-winning laureates from around the globe. We’ll view cutting edge designs that display striking shapes, unusual materials, and a number of environmentally-conscious works that have received LEED platinum ratings, such as Thom Mayne’s stunning new academic building in the East Village for the Cooper Union and Norman’s Foster’s crystalline Hearst Tower near Columbus Circle.
Learn more and register at: http://mas.org/tours/starchitecture-nyc/
Tour Leader: Matt Postal
Cost of Tour: $90, $75 MAS members.
Brooklyn Meets the Middle East Friday, April 27, 10:00 am
This tour explores Brooklyn’s earliest Arab-American neighborhood, which began in the 19th Century. This community grew up around Atlantic Avenue in what are now the landmarked districts of Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill. Learn how and why this area became a Middle Eastern center and discover its cuisine, shops and restaurants.
Tour Leader: Mary Ann DiNapoli
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, Co-sponsored by Gowanus Canal Conservancy Saturday, April 28, 1:00 am
Explore the wide banks of the borough’s most infamous canal. Visit the Carroll Gardens Historic District, a singular brownstone enclave distinguished by a remarkable street plan, cross one of the oldest retractile bridges in the United States, and see how this once-disregarded watercourse is being reshaped by small businesses, large corporations and community groups.
Tour Leader: Matt Postal
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges. Members of Gowanus Canal Conservancy should call (718) 541-4378 for member rate discount.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Lower East Side – Art and Culture Saturday, April 28, 1:00 pm
This neighborhood has redefined itself numerous times. Most famous for being the overcrowded home to thousands of newly arriving poor immigrants from Europe, it now is becoming a most fascinating, trendy area with, interesting restaurants, bars and boutiques, new buildings designed by cutting edge architects like Bernard Tschumi, Grzywinski Pons, nArchitects and others. Especially since the opening on the Bowery of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in 2007, increasingly more contemporary art galleries like Lehman Maupin and Woodward are moving into the area, including recently Sperone Westwater, who had a brand new building designed by Norman Foster. Still, all the layers of a multi-facetted past are shining through the more contemporary glitter, making a visit to this neighborhood a most inspirational experience.
Tour Leader: Sylvia Laudien Meo
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
Hudson Square Sunday, April 29, 2:00 pm
We will trace the development of the area from the onceexclusive blocks around Saint John’s Park into the city’s preeminent printing district, coming full circle to their rebirth as a chic and vibrant neighborhood today! Today the area is home to many new buildings by noted architects such as Phillip Johnson and Winka Dubbledam, leading architecture and design firms including Raphael Vinoly, noted arts and entertainment spaces including the Children’s Museum of the Arts, a well preserved district of Federal houses and a new section of Hudson River Park. The area has also transformed into a major new media hub. It already is home to Viacom and MTV, New York Magazine, the Guggenheim Foundation, Omnicom, Saatchi & Saatchi, Edelman and New York Public Radio, which comprises WNYC, WQXR. A new zoningproposal would add up to 3,500 new residents over 10 years — to help solidify the area as a 24-hour mixed use community.
Tour Leader: Laurence Frommer
Note: Reservations required. Please RSVP online or call (212) 935-2075. No refunds or exchanges.
Cost of Tour: $20, $15 MAS members.
What
would you like to find on New Yorkled Magazine's Hundreds of Pages?
From Photos, Posters, Pics, Sights and Museums to Events
and Concerts going on throughout NYC.
