Municipal Art Society
Encyclopedia
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
, design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
and preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
through education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
and advocacy
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
On January 20, 2010, MAS relocated from its longtime home in the historic Villard Houses
Villard Houses
The Villard Houses are located at 455 Madison Avenue in the Manhattan Borough of New York City between 50th and 51st Street.- History :The building was constructed in 1884, designed by the architecture firm McKim, Mead and White three years after they started their company...
on 457 Madison Avenue to the equally famed Steinway Hall
Steinway Hall
Steinway Hall is the name of buildings housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway & Sons pianos. The first Steinway Hall was opened 1866 in New York City. Today, Steinway Halls and Steinway-Häuser are located in world cities such as New York City, London, Hamburg, Berlin,...
on West 57th Street
57th Street (Manhattan)
57th Street is one of New York City's major east-west thoroughfares, which runs east-west in the Midtown section of the borough of Manhattan, from the New York City Department of Sanitation's dock on the Hudson River at the West Side Highway to a small park overlooking the East River built on a...
, diagonally across from Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. Their Urban Center Books, carrying a large collection of material on architectural and urban history and design, became an online operation, pending relocation to a new site to be determined,
History
MAS’s advocacy efforts have shaped the city a great deal since its inception in 1893. Some of their early accomplishments include passing the city's first zoning laws1916 Zoning Resolution
The New York City 1916 Zoning Resolution was a measure adopted primarily to stop massive buildings such as the Equitable Building from preventing light and air from reaching the streets below...
, contributing input to the planning of the city’s subway line
History of the IRT subway before 1918
The first regularly operated subway in New York City was built by the city and leased to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company for operation under Contracts 1 and 2. Until 1918, when the new "H" system that is still operated - with separate East Side and West Side lines - was placed in service, it...
, and commissioning public art throughout the city.
By the 1950s, scores of notable Manhattan buildings were lost to redevelopment around the city, and the mission of MAS broadened to include historical preservation. In 1956, the Society successfully lobbied for the passage of the Bard Law, which for the first time allowed cities to take aesthetics, history, and cultural associations into account for zoning laws. The law, named after longtime MAS board member and chief advocate, Albert S. Bard, provided a legal foundation for the New York City Landmarks Law, enacted in 1965.
In 1965, public outrage over the destruction of Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station is a label first applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals.-New York City:...
and the Brokaw Mansion helped fuel the Society's mission towards preservation. With like-minded groups, they finally succeeded in establish New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission, and New York's Landmarks Law.
In 2001, after the demise of Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines was an American airline that existed from 1925 until it was bought out by and merged with American Airlines in 2001. It was a major domestic airline in the United States and the main U.S.-based competitor of Pan American World Airways on intercontinental routes from 1946...
, the original Trans World Flight Center
TWA Flight Center
The TWA Flight Center or Trans World Flight Center, opened in 1962 as a standalone terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport .for Trans World Airlines...
, completed in 1962 and designed by Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
, fell into disuse. During this period, the Municipal Art Society succeeded in 2004 in nominating the facility to the National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...
’s list of the 11 Most Endangered Places.
In June 2007, MAS released with the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is a nonprofit that works to influence the development and use of the waterfront, shoreline, and connected upland areas of northern New Jersey and New York City and other areas of the New York City metropolitan region...
a new documentary about the future of the New York waterfront titled City of Water
City of Water
City of Water is a documentary about the future of the New York City waterfront by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and the Municipal Art Society.-Production:The film was two years in the making...
. In September 2007, the Society opened a major exhibition about Jane Jacobs sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
.
In May 2008, MAS released a series of renderings showing what the unfinished Atlantic Yards
Atlantic Yards
The Atlantic Yards is a mixed-use commercial and residential development project of 16 high-rise buildings, under construction in Prospect Heights, adjacent to Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene in Brooklyn, New York City...
project might look like titled "Atlantic Lots".
In October 2008, MAS launched a new initiative to develop bold new ideas for Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
titled ImagineConey.
Recent Projects
- Jane Jacobs and the Future of NY
- NewPennStation.org
- Save Industrial Brooklyn
- Community Technology Initiative
- City of Water
- the Campaign for Community-Based Planning
- A Vision for an East Side Waterfront Park
- Atlantic Lots
- ImagineConey