New York voice for the future of the city.

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MAS fights for intelligent urban planning, design and preservation through education, dialogue and advocacy.

Annual Report 2007–08

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Cover

The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Built within an existing barge, the Floating Pool made a big splash during its premier last summer at Brooklyn Bridge Park, drawing in visitors from the borough and beyond. Taking a historical cue from New York City’s former “floating baths,” the Floating Pool provides recreational opportunities in underserved communities, draws people to the waterfront, and will continue to do so at its new location each summer. (Timothy Schenck)

Our Brand Identity

The Municipal Art Society of New York proudly introduces our new logo and brand identity at our 2008 Annual Meeting and in this annual report.

Accompanied by the tagline, “Voice for the future of our city,” this identity presents a bold new face for our organization as we enter our third century.

Annual Report 2007–08

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Benika Morokuma

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Contents

Board and Committees

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MAS Annual Awards

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Letter from the Chairman

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Prizes

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Urban Planning

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Membership and Support

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Preservation

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Professional Committees

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Community Planning Assistance

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MAS Staff

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Public Policy Initiatives

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Contributors

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Education and Dialogue

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Friends

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Consolidated Statement of Activities

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A copy of the complete financial statements is available upon request.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Board and Committees Officers Philip K. Howard Chairman Kent L. Barwick President Paul Beirne Vice Chairman Diane M. Coffey Vice Chairman Hugh Hardy Vice Chairman Anthony C.M. Kiser Secretary Earl D. Weiner General Counsel

Jerry I. Speyer Stephen C. Swid Wade F.B. Thompson Helen S. Tucker William H. Wright II Gary J. Zarr

Executive Committee Anthony C.M. Kiser Chair

MAS Board of Directors Laurie Beckelman Elizabeth H. Berger Eugenie L. Birch David M. Childs Kinshasha Holman Conwill Edward N. Costikyan Lewis B. Cullman Joan K. Davidson Gordon J. Davis Michael P. Donovan Peter Duchin Heidi Ettinger Susan K. Freedman Duane Hampton Ashton Hawkins Kitty Hawks Michael Hoffman Steven L. Isenberg Arie L. Kopelman Rocco Landesman Kenneth B. Lerer Marilyn W. Levy Ronay Menschel John E. Merow Frederic S. Papert Charles A. Platt Tim Prentice Frances A. Resheske Carole Rifkind Janet Ross Robert S. Rubin Brendan Sexton Whitney North Seymour, Jr. David F. Solomon Gregg Solomon

Kent L. Barwick Paul Beirne Elizabeth H. Berger Eugenie L. Birch David M. Childs Diane M. Coffey Hugh Hardy Ashton Hawkins Kitty Hawks Philip K. Howard Ronay Menschel John E. Merow Charles A. Platt Brendan Sexton Stephen C. Swid Earl D. Weiner William H. Wright, II

Finance Committee Paul Beirne Diane M. Coffey Rocco Landesman John E. Merow William H. Wright, II

Nominating Committee Kitty Hawks Chair Elizabeth H. Berger Diane M. Coffey Peter Duchin Susan K. Freedman Ashton Hawkins Michael Hoffman Arie Kopelman Ronay Menschel

Gregg Solomon William H. Wright, II Gary J. Zarr

Executive Compensation Committee Anthony C.M. Kiser Chair Paul Beirne Elizabeth H. Berger Eugenie L. Birch David M. Childs Diane M. Coffey Hugh Hardy Ashton Hawkins Kitty Hawks Philip K. Howard Ronay Menschel John E. Merow Charles A. Platt Brendan Sexton Stephen C. Swid Earl D. Weiner William H. Wright, II

Audit Committee John E. Merow Chair Diane M. Coffey Wade F.B. Thompson

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Voice for the future of our city.

Dear Friends, This past fall, thousands of people visited the Municipal Art Society of New York to view the widely-acclaimed exhibit Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York and reflect on the life of one of New York City’s greatest citizen activists.

As we contemplate the future of our city today, we would do well to remember a critical lesson from Jacobs: that in the end, the real experts on city life— those who know what works and what doesn’t—are the people who live here.

This year’s annual report takes its theme from our new brand identity and tagline: “Voice for the future of our city.” For over 115 years, MAS has been providing opportunities for New Yorkers to have the most effective voice possible in the decisions that affect their city. From the East Side of Manhattan to Flatbush, from the Far West Side to Highbridge—MAS has engaged citizens throughout the city in the active process of shaping their neighborhoods. Through blogs, exhibitions, podcasts, short films, public programs and walking tours, MAS connected with well over 30,000 constituents over the past twelve months.

In the coming year, MAS will embark on a transition of leadership as our President Kent Barwick steps aside after four decades as our chief advocate— and voice—on countless initiatives to enhance this great city. After a year’s sabbatical, Kent will return as President Emeritus. Our new President, Vin Cipolla, is a nationally recognized leader in the preservation, conservation, arts and business communities. His accomplished background in both the private and nonprofit sectors will be critical as we move into a new phase of growth and influence in New York City.

With the involvement, action and support of our members and friends, MAS will help New York City realize its potential for intelligent urban planning, design and preservation; together with you, we will continue to be a voice for the future of our city.

Sincerely,

Philip K. Howard Chairman

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Urban Planning Intelligent urban planning is essential to the thriving character of all cities. MAS shapes and champions grand visions for New York City’s future by convening the city’s most imaginative thinkers and visionaries—from the city’s top architects and developers, to enlightened government officials to community residents who seek a role in shaping their neighborhoods.

Moynihan Station and the Far West Side Penn Station is the nation’s most heavily trafficked transportation hub, bringing misery to the 500,000 people who use it on a daily basis. For more than a decade, MAS has worked to realize the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s vision for transforming the Farley Post Office into New York City’s great new station. Today, the project has evolved into a complex public-private partnership that, coupled with other projects, would trigger a new commercial district the size of downtown Seattle to rise on Manhattan’s Far West Side. The Moynihan Station project—the construction of a new train station in the Farley Post Office and the redevelopment of Penn Station—is critical to serve as a catalyst for that development.

the public’s expenditures and interests, to ensure coordinated planning and create effective transportation systems.

Our blog, www.newpennstation.org, features the project’s latest news and planning and transportation analysis. MAS hosted a springtime series of lectures and panel discussions focused on the question: “Can New York Build Another Great Train Station?”

East Side Waterfront Park

Last summer, MAS hosted a “charrette,” an intensive design workshop, to visualize a future waterfront park on the East Side of Manhattan from 38th to 42nd Streets, the neighborhood with the least amount of open space in Manhattan. MAS convened the charrette with local Council Member Daniel R. MAS joined citywide groups in releasing principles Garodnick and six leading landscape architects— to guide the station’s development: protecting the Ken Smith, Ricardo Scofidio, Brian Jencek, Kate landmark post office; ensuring the station is not Orff, Margie Ruddock and Mathew Urbanski—who overwhelmed by retail or Madison Square Garden presented their final vision to elected officials and and giving the public a voice. On the Far West Side, MAS has argued that one agency needs to oversee the several hundred local residents. neighborhood’s disparate plans in order to safeguard

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Urban Planning Far left: Kent Barwick joined with the Friends of Moynihan Station to announce their principles for the design and construction of Moynihan Station.

(Benika Morokuma) Left: The landmark Farley Post Office has the longest Corinthian colonnade in the world. (Benika Morokuma)

The Moynihan Station project—the construction of a new train station in the Farley Post Office and the redevelopment of Penn Station—is critical to the future of the Far West Side.

Rendering: Empire State Development Corporation

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08 Left: There is currently no waterfront access to the East River from 38th Street to 63rd Street. Below left: A coalition of Brooklyn elected officials and civic groups, including MAS, launced an initiative to pass new legislation that would reform the governance of the Atlantic Yards project. Below right: Neighborhood activism at work. (All photos this page: MAS)

This spring, MAS and its partners achieved a major step forward: during its approval process for the former Con Ed Site on the East Side, the City Council reconfigured the design to facilitate the creation of the waterfront park. The developer of the project, East River Realty, also agreed to make a $10 million contribution toward the cost of building the park.

During the coming year, MAS will be working to ensure that the Midtown section of the FDR highway is rebuilt to accommodate a waterfront park, to identify funding sources to pay for its planning and construction and to explore the creation of a new civic group that will push for the creation of the park in the long-term. To find out more, visit www.eastsidewaterfrontpark.org.

Campaign for Community-Based Planning In the belief that the best planning balances citywide needs with neighborhood needs, the CommunityBased Planning Task Force—an MAS-coordinated coalition of community-based organizations, community boards, academics, and planners—aims to build an effective planning partnership between

the city and its neighborhoods, diversify representation in community planning initiatives, and provide more resources for the creation and implementation of community-based plans.

In 2010, New York City will have a new mayor, four new borough presidents, an almost entirely new City Council, and a new commission that will make recommendations for revisions in the City Charter.

These political changes provide opportunities for the Task Force to reform the way planning is done.

Building awareness of community-based plans goes hand-in-hand with advocating a stronger role for their adoption as official public policy. In April 2008, the Campaign’s Task Force released Planning for All New Yorkers: An Atlas of Community-Based Plans in New York City, an interactive, online tool that compiles, locates, and documents community-based plans in New York City. The Atlas encourages other communities to create a plan, and informs local politicians about the creative planning work being done by communities and the need to implement their recommendations. The Campaign also launched a new

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Urban Planning

Below: MAS released a set of renderings depicting the potential impact of interim parking lots and empty land on the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn.

(Jonathan Barkey/MAS) Below right: The landmark rollercoaster, the Cyclone, was built in 1927 and still draws thousands of visitors to Coney Island each summer. (Wally Gobetz) Following pages: The result of the East Side Waterfront Park charette. (MAS)

website, www.communitybasedplanningnyc.org, to support the reforms promoted by the Task Force and focus attention on the grassroots planning activities taking place throughout the city.

Atlantic Yards and Brooklyn Speaks In September 2006, MAS formed BrooklynSpeaks. net, a coalition of twelve national, citywide, and local civic and community groups, to push for major changes to the Atlantic Yards project: improving the transportation and housing policy of the project; ensuring that the scale and design fit with the surrounding historic neighborhoods; and, most importantly, that the public is involved in the project’s decision-making. Atlantic Yards is currently the only state project with no dedicated oversight entity or vehicle for community input.

Last August, the BrooklynSpeaks.net coalition and its partners issued a white paper (available at www.brooklynspeaks.net/reformgovernance) that proposed reforming the project by establishing a new trust to oversee the project as well as a stakeholder council that would advise the trust and

provide a vehicle for community input. Nearly all the elected officials representing the project area endorsed the proposal and will introduce legislation implementing it in the New York State Assembly this summer.

More recently, after substantial delays to elements of the project were reported in the news media, BrooklynSpeaks.net organized a high-profile rally at the site to call a “time-out” on demolition of existing buildings on the site until the revised planning and timeline of the project were understood. MAS also released a set of dramatic renderings that illustrate the developer’s plans to create “temporary” parking lots for more than 1,600 cars that will blight the surrounding neighborhoods (www.atlanticlots.com).

Coney Island Last November, the city announced its intention to redevelop Coney Island into a year-round, vibrant entertainment district, allowing for the construction of a new amusement area, hotels and entertainment retail. MAS testified at the scoping hearing for the environmental review of the project, calling for the

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Rendering: MAS

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Urban Planning

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Below left: The rezoning initiative held the promise to revitalize 125th Street as Harlem’s vibrant mixed-use corridor, maintaining a specific emphasis on the arts and entertainment industry.

(Carlos Martinez) Below right: Called the “Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn” the Parachute Jump is another landmark structure at Coney Island, along with the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel. (Jason Ryan)

city to ensure that Coney Island remains a genuinely regional destination, to broaden its plan beyond the current 19 blocks surrounding the boardwalk to include the Coney Island Railyards and Coney Island Creek, and to develop an interim plan for the period before and during redevelopment to ensure Coney Island remains active in that period. For more information, visit www.mas.org/coneyisland.

institutions, to preserve local retailers, to create affordable housing that meets the community’s needs and to plan for waterfront access, especially on the East River. The city’s final plan proposed a loan fund to aid small businesses that will be displaced. MAS will continue to study how we might protect small retail establishments to ensure New York City’s urban retail diversity is not eroded.

125th Street Rezoning

The famous Apollo Theater will anchor the new entertainment and arts district on 125th Street.

125th Street is Harlem’s “Main Street” and one of the city’s most famed and vibrant boulevards. MAS took an active role in the review of the city’s rezoning initiative, which held the promise to revitalize 125th Street as Harlem’s vibrant mixed-use corridor.

While the city’s goals were laudable, MAS raised concerns about key aspects of the plan at a number of public hearings.

MAS urged the City Planning Commission to respect Harlem’s heritage and character by preserving its landmark quality buildings, to ensure that new development is compatible with the street’s existing character, to foster Harlem-based arts and culture

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Urban Planning

Angela Radelescu

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Preservation A city’s individual landmarks, historic buildings and neighborhoods contribute to its character and quality of life, and should be protected and integrated into future development. MAS preserves the vibrant character of New York City by safeguarding historic buildings and neighborhoods.

Save Brooklyn’s Industrial Heritage Responding to the destruction of some of Brooklyn’s most important historic buildings and sites, and the threats others face, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the industrial heritage of the Brooklyn waterfront to its annual list of the nation’s 11 Most Endangered Places last June. The listing was based on a nomination submitted by MAS. Since the highly publicized announcement, during which MAS kicked off its campaign to Save Brooklyn’s Industrial Heritage, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has acted to protect some of the most significant places for which the MAS had been advocating designation: specifically, three buildings at the Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg, the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory buildings, and the DUMBO Industrial Historic District.

While some sites have been saved, others remain at risk, like the Kent Avenue Power Station in Williamsburg. MAS continues to be the watchdog for the protection of historic buildings as Brooklyn’s

manufacturing and industrial neighborhoods like the Gowanus Canal are rezoned. Furthermore, MAS continues to identify significant buildings and advocate for their protection. These issues are the focus of a website, www.saveindustrialbrooklyn. org, which includes an interactive map that uses contemporary and historic photographs and engaging histories to document more than 100 important buildings and structures on the waterfront.

Prospect Heights MAS has continued to advocate for the designation of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, as a historic district.

The neighborhood, which sits in the shadows of the Atlantic Yards project, contains blocks lined with beautiful, late nineteenth-century Italianate and neoGrec rowhouses, interspersed with historic churches and commercial buildings.

Following an 1,100-building survey of the historic architecture of Prospect Heights that MAS and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation submitted to the LPC in April 2007, MAS completed a report this spring on historic

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Preservation Left: Preservationists surveyed brownstone blocks in Prospect Heights. (Patti Veconi) Below left: People gathered on the steps of City Hall for the 2nd Annual rally to fund the Landmarks Preservation Commission. (Patti Veconi) Below right: DUMBO should be designated a historic district. (MAS)

census data of the neighborhood, which revealed its unique social history.

MAS advocacy is paying off; the LPC held a community forum this spring on Prospect Heights and shared their proposed boundaries for a 700-building district. The LPC may calendar the district as soon as this year, the first step in the designation process. Designation will ensure this beautiful neighborhood’s special character remains intact.

Funding the Landmarks Preservation Commission For the second year, MAS joined preservation groups across the city to lobby the City Council to raise the budget for the LPC. Last year, in an effort led by Council Member Jessica Lappin, the City Council renewed and increased funding to $300,000, thereby enabling the LPC to retain five survey and research staff members and continue the level of designation work necessary in the current building boom. During the past two years, a remarkable difference in the LPC’s designation activity has been visible as a result of this increased funding and staffing. MAS began the campaign to increase LPC funding three years

ago after releasing a study that analyzed the LPC’s staffing, spending and work load since the 1960s, and found the agency was sorely underfunded.

TWA Terminal After years of fighting to ensure the preservation and adaptive reuse of Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, its redevelopment as the new JetBlue terminal has begun. When the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey first began considering an addition to the terminal, MAS, along with DOCOMOMO and the Preservation League of New York State, succeeded in urging them to retain an airport-related use and ensure the terminal’s views of planes taking off and arriving at JFK. MAS also prepared an alternate plan for the terminal that met these requirements and saved the terminal’s flight wings, under threat of demolition. Though our proposal was not incorporated, JetBlue’s building will be secondary to Saarinen’s terminal, where passengers will check in before walking through the original two tubes that used to lead to the flight wings, and now terminate at

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Pete Jeliffe

The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

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Preservation

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Below left: Men play bocce at William F. Moore Park in Corona, Queens, one of hundreds of locations recorded in the Place Matters Census.

(Martha Cooper) Below right: The James Gordon Bennett Monument, The Bellringers, was restored through the Adopt-A-Monument Program in November. (Wilson Conservation, LLC)

the new building. MAS will continue to monitor the project to ensure the building’s preservation.

Adopt-a-Monument

In response to the deterioration of many of New York City’s outdoor statues and limited resources to Place Matters 10-Year Anniversary preserve them, MAS initiated the Adopt-A-MonuTen years ago, growing from the concern that many ment Program in 1987 in collaboration with the Art people shared that places of cultural and historical Commission of the City of New York and the Parks value were disappearing, City Lore and MAS founded Department. The program was born as a plea to corPlace Matters. Place Matters has accomplished a porate and private donors to support the conservatremendous amount of work since then, most sigtion of 20 of the city’s most neglected public statues. nificantly, the Census of Places that Matter, which Following the success of this project, the Adopt-Acontains more than 650 places that the public has Mural Program was created in 1991. More than $3 nominated as places they care about. Place Matters million has been raised to restore and maintain 50 uses this census as the basis for educational programs works of public art. and advocacy to promote and protect those places.

Last summer, George Trescher’s legacy gift to the The success of Place Matters is studied as a model Adopt-A-Monument Program made the major all over the Northeast and Great Lakes Region, in conservation of the James Gordon Bennett MonuCanada, and in New Orleans. Place Matters staff ment (The Bellringers) possible. Once again, have delivered keynote addresses at the University of passersby in Herald Square can watch as two musMissouri-St. Louis, Florida Atlantic University, and cular blacksmiths strike the historic bell, resonating the Chicago Historical Society, and have conducted hourly chimes. The monument, designed in 1894 workshops and talks in sites all over New York City. by sculptor Jean-Anton Carles (the granite pedestal was reconceived by architect Aymar Embury II in 1940), was restored in November. The bronze

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Preservation

figures were conserved by Wilson Conservation and the stone cleaned and repointed by Integrated Conservation Resources.

Tribute in Light

ers of the lights. MAS will begin to strategize about the future of the lights after the Memorial Museum is completed. If they are to continue, in line with public sympathies, a plan for their ultimate location, operation, and financing will need to be developed.

On March 11, 2002, six months after the attacks on the World Trade Center, two great beams of light rose from Lower Manhattan and filled the night sky.

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 that terrible trial. The idea for the lights was independently conceived by several artists and designers, who were brought together under the auspices of MAS and Creative Time. The Tribute in Light is now produced annually by MAS on the September 11th anniversary.

MAS will produce the Tribute in Light memorial on September 11, 2008, for the seventh and final year under our current contract with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, although we will be renegotiating an extension with them in 2009. We also expect to be negotiating a new maintenance contract with Space Cannon Italia, the manufactur-

Laurie Sexton

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Community Planning Assistance A community’s own citizens are the best champions for its future development and should have an active voice in planning their physical surroundings. The MAS Planning Center provides tools and training to strengthen the role of citizens and the capacity of communities to actively engage in the planning process.

Imagine Flatbush 2030

Livable Neighborhoods

PlaNYC 2030 is New York City’s bold attempt to address climate change. But while it lays the citywide groundwork, does PlaNYC 2030 adequately address sustainability at the neighborhood level? Our experience shows that planning can’t come strictly from the top, leaving communities wondering what they will be expected to shoulder, and at what cost.

Neighborhoods that will eventually absorb the landuse implications of this initiative must participate in the creation of the plans.

While the neighborhood experts are the people who live there, lack of training can be an obstacle to public participation. To help New Yorkers participate in shaping their neighborhoods, MAS held the second annual Livable Neighborhoods Program, Resources and Training for Community-Based Planners, at Hunter College this spring. Livable Neighborhoods addresses the needs of both community board members, whose votes on land use issues are strictly advisory but who are not given adequate resources to make critical planning decisions, and members of the public who want to engage more deeply with their communities.

Imagine Flatbush 2030 is our attempt to bridge the gap between PlaNYC 2030’s goals and consensusdriven planning. The goal of the project was to empower people with planning tools that will allow them to respond as an organized neighborhood to PlaNYC 2030. During the past year, MAS has worked with residents, business owners, youth, community leaders, social service providers, and clergy in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to assist them in creating a neighborhood sustainability and livability agenda, and tools to measure progress toward consensus-based goals.

100 New Yorkers participated in a one-day training program that provided materials and workshops on everything from zoning regulations, to how to create a community plan that elected officials will take seriously. Participants received a “toolkit” that includes chapters on community organizing, data collection, 197-a planning, “brownfield” planning, historic and cultural resources preservation, electronic map-

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Community Planning Assistance Far left: Imagine Flatbush 2030 participant presents neighborhood sustainability goals during a workshop at Brooklyn College. (MAS) Left: Imani Aegedoy won the children’s art competition at the Flatbush Frolic last fall to design the logo for Imagine Flatbush 2030. Below: Peejay Howard and Victoria Taylor are CITI Youth Map Technicians for Brooklyn Community Board 3. (Peter Putka)

ping, and the budget process. Membership in an online Practitioners Network enables participants to continue the dialogue and exchange information and resources after the program.

MyCITI MyCITI, an online mapping program, is another tool designed to bolster the planning resources for community boards and community-based organizations.

Coupling CITI with recommendations made by the Community-Based Planning Task Force to involve youth more directly in community boards, MAS launched CITI Youth in 2004. The CITI Youth Program trains students in both the use of the website and the organization and operation of community

boards. As “Map Technicians,” selected high-school students are given internships to attend monthly community board meetings and each meeting of the board’s Housing and Land Use Committee for the duration of the fall and spring semesters of school.

Students display maps from the MyCITI website of areas being discussed at the meeting with equipment provided through CITI. The program is currently in operation in 12 community boards, and next year, MAS plans to expand to 16 community boards and work to increase public awareness of the value of the program, especially at a time when the community boards are facing deep budget cuts.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Public Policy Initiatives The public policies and laws that regulate a city’s built environment should be vigilantly guarded and maintained. MAS seeks to strengthen and improve the policies that affect the quality of New York City’s built environment and public realm.

State and City Environmental Quality Review Acts (SEQRA and CEQR) The future of New York City will rely on urban planning that prioritizes sustainability. In announcing PlaNYC 2030, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said “you can’t formulate a land use plan… without thinking about global warming.” Now, after several years of abundant urban development, projects in the city are moving forward with little analysis of how they affect climate change. To help address this deficiency, MAS is drafting guidelines that would require developers and governmental agencies to analyze and disclose their impacts on climate change, including a project’s greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to the effects of climate change. It is our hope that this analysis and disclosure will encourage better and more sustainable development.

send its protocol to DEC with the hope of influencing their work.

Nasty Newsracks The sidewalks of New York City play unwilling hosts to many illegally placed and poorly maintained newsracks that are both eyesores and a hazard to New Yorkers. To combat the proliferation of these newsracks, MAS has taken the lead within the NYC Newsrack Committee, a coalition of civic organizations and BIDs, to change the current laws regulating newsracks. The Committee is calling for the City Council to hold an oversight hearing on the current law to determine how it could be changed to improve current conditions.

To illustrate how poorly maintained and widespread these newsracks are, MAS also held a photo comEnvironmental impacts are usually disclosed in state- petition that garnered more than 200 submissions ments required under the state and city Environmen- depicting multiple violations of the city’s ordinances regulating newsracks. The best photographs are tal Quality Review Acts (SEQRA and CEQR). With featured in a short video on the MAS website: the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) currently working on the issue, MAS will www.mas.org/streetscapes.

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Public Policy Initiatives

Google Earth

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08 Illegal advertising and unkempt newsracks pervade throughout the city. (Photos—Far left, Liberty Rees.

Middle and near left: MAS. Below: Joie Anderson)

Outdoor Advertising Last year the Department of Buildings (DOB) wrote the rules for the law on outdoor advertising signage that the City Council and the Department of City Planning enacted in 2001 and 2005. Since the city was profiting from advertising on street furniture, DOB was promptly sued by several outdoor advertising companies who complained that the city was taking unfair advantage of their right to advertise.

DOB has since stopped enforcing the new rules and advertising signage has increased. In hopes of a favorable ruling on this issue, MAS recently filed an amicus brief in support of the city’s right to regulate advertising billboards on its arterial highways.

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Education and Dialogue Broad awareness of the issues that affect a city’s built environment is critical to maintaining an engaged citizenry. MAS seeks to inform the public and build awareness around issues of planning, development, heritage and quality of life in the built environment.

Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York The highly acclaimed Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York was the centerpiece of our mission to energize a new generation of New Yorkers to observe and recognize the best of their city and become activists for positive change. Sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York initiated a citywide dialogue concerning the rapid pace and breadth of urban development and neighborhood change in New York City today.

Faced by similar circumstances in her own era, renowned New York City activist and writer Jane Jacobs articulated the magnitude of the social destruction that can be caused by ill-conceived urban planning. Through a text and multimedia exhibition, an interactive website, public programs, and tours, Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York aimed to broaden discussions of environmental sustainability, community planning and urban vitality using Jacobs’ legacy and values as a powerful model for those who want to take immediate action to ensure New York City’s livability for generations to come.

More than 11,000 people viewed the exhibition, 5,000 visited the Jane Jacobs website, and an additional 1,700 participated in the sold-out tours and public programs. In addition, MAS assisted the Rockefeller Foundation in the nomination process for the first annual Jane Jacobs Medal, which recognizes two living persons whose accomplishments represent Jacobsean principles and practices in New York City.

The 2007 winners were Barry Benepe, co-founder of Greenmarket, and Omar Freilla, founder of the Green Worker Cooperatives.

Tours Staten Island: Beyond the Boat and Bridge, a six-tour series funded by the Richmond County Savings Bank, explored the often-surprising borough, home to exceptional historic neighborhoods and sites. A reprise of the first MAS bus tour in 1958 included a memorable visit to the Vanderbilt Mausoleum, designed

by Richard Morris Hunt, the first president of MAS. Alfred Vanderbilt graciously welcomed surprised tour participants, who had not been told in advance that the visit was part of the day’s itinerary.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08 Left: Kent Barwick, President of MAS, and Darren Walker, Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, attend the opening of Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York. (All photos this page: Jefferson Siegel)

Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York initiated a citywide dialogue concerning the rapid pace and breadth of urban development and neighborhood change in New York City today.

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Education and Dialogue

Photo: Edward A. Toran

A highly-successful series of walking tours related to Jane Jacobs complemented the exhibition, Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York, and illustrated Jane Jacobs’ dictum that to understand what will work for our cities, “…you’ve got to get out there and walk.” These tours took participants to Greenwich Village, SoHo, and Midtown in Manhattan, Greenpoint in Brooklyn, and Forest Hills, Queens.

A number of walking tours this year focused on neighborhoods where MAS is involved, from Prospect Park, Flatbush, Red Hook and Coney Island to the Farley Building and the Far West Side. MAS tours and programs will continue to align with its advocacy campaigns.

Courses This year’s Urban Genealogy course, taught by Anthony Robins, former director of survey at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, drew highly enthusiastic reviews for its “…thorough, clear, comprehensive and entertaining…” presentation of complicated material on how to research historic buildings in New York City. Even a gentleman who came to the sessions “in tow” with his wife found the subject matter interesting due to its “charm, intelligence, and depth of knowledge.” At the suggestion of participants, MAS will illustrate online research tools during future seminars.

Due to the high attendance at last year’s program on small and locally-owned retail, MAS opened up one

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Patricia McHugh, Library Administrator, organizes the 1,600 volumes in the MAS Reference Library.

(Joshua McHugh)

of its Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses to the public this past fall: Mom and Pop Among the Chains: Law, Policy and Urban Retail Diversity.

This CLE course addressed legal issues relating to maintaining urban retail diversity in New York City, including the concentration of uses in major business and residential districts, the resulting loss of small stores, the economic and legal factors that promote the current conditions, case-studies and zoning initiatives taken by New York City and other municipalities to promote retail diversification, and the economic value of small-scale retail.

The MAS Reference Library The MAS Reference Library, incorporating the Greenacre Reference Resource, is becoming a muchused source of information on New York City’s built and natural environments. The heart of the library remains its immense collection of clippings which are culled primarily from 33 city dailies and neighborhood weeklies. Following the city’s spate of real estate development, clipping activity in the past year has been especially robust, with thousands of stories added about Brooklyn’s Industrial Waterfront, Manhattan’s Far West Side, and preservation battles and community activism everywhere.

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Education and Dialogue

The Urban Center Books is an exceptional resource for professionals in New York City, stocking books on a wide range of architecture and related subjects. (Paul Soulellis)

The project to catalog MAS records is now in its third year, with some 1,000 items archived—a small beginning for this long-range initiative to preserve MAS history and many achievements for posterity.

Again this year, library operations were aided greatly by funding from the Greenacre Foundation and the Reed Foundation.

Urban Center Books Urban Center Books has been a valuable resource for professionals and laypersons alike since 1980, stocking books on a wide range of architecture and related subjects. It maintains a vital role in the

discussion of architecture in the city and around the world through lectures, discussions and book launches featuring renowned architects and authors.

In the past year, it has held programs on architectural design competitions, the changing use of architectural models, urban sprawl, and the character of public space in an age of globalization, privatization and segregation.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

City of Water Last summer during East River Day, MAS and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance premiered their new documentary about the future of New York City’s waterfront, City of Water. Two years in the making, City of Water explores the aspirations of public officials, environmentalists, academics, community activists, recreational boaters and everyday New Yorkers for a diverse, vibrant waterfront at a time when the shoreline is changing faster than at any other time in New York City’s history.

Opposite: stills from the MAS film City of Water

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Education and Dialogue

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

MAS Annual Awards Each year, MAS celebrates New York City’s public art, spaces and streetscapes with public recognition, awards and honors for those who contribute to our quality of life.

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the accessibility of Long Island City through the publication of maps, street signage, and hosting cultural events.

Launched in 2003, 311 now receives more than 40,000 calls per day. Whether it is locating a wallet left in the back of a cab, getting graffiti removed, or American Ballroom Theater’s Dancing Classrooms complaining about a pothole, 311 is New York City’s Featured in the highly acclaimed documentary Mad one-stop-shop for information about government services from a live operator and for hands on results. Hot Ballroom, Dancing Classrooms’ mission is to build social awareness, confidence, and self-esteem in children through the practice of social dance.

José the Beaver (Bronx River Alliance) In early 2007, the return of a North American beaver Dancing Classrooms now encompasses 18,000 students in approximately 180 New York City schools. to the Bronx River symbolized the success of an enormous rehabilitation effort that has extended over three decades. The beaver was named José after Solar One Located in Stuyvesant Cove Park on the East River, United States Representative for the Bronx José E. Serrano, to recognize his efforts in obtaining $15 mil- Solar One is a solar-powered environmental learning center that hosts extensive cultural and educalion in federal funds to clean up the river. tional programming to raise money for the stewardship of the park. Built on a former brownfield site, Long Island City Cultural Alliance Stuyvesant Cove Park and Solar One are an excellent Joining together six premier visual and performing example of waterfront reclamation and the public/ arts destinations, including the Noguchi Museum, private management of public space.

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and Socrates Sculpture Park, The Long Island City Cultural Alliance has increased the visibility and promoted

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MAS Annual Awards

Annual Awards Committee Lewis B. Cullman Chair Larry Condon Kitty Hawks Justin Rockefeller Alison Tocci

Left: A glass-enclosed queen sized bed in Socrates Sculpture Park looks out onto the East River. Socrates Sculpture Park is one of six members of the Long Island City Cultural Alliance.

(Flickr/Saitowitz) Below: The Citibank tower in Long Island City is visible through the installation of Liquid Sky, by BallNogues Studio, which was featured at MoMA’s P.S.1—one of the six members of the Long Island City Cultural Alliance.

(Wally Gobetz)

The Long Island City Cultural Alliance has increased the visibility and promoted the accessibility of Long Island City through the publication of maps, street signage, and the hosting of cultural events.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08 Far left: Built on a former brownfield site, Stuyvesant Cove Park is an excellent example of waterfront reclamation and the public/private management of public space. (Solar One) Left: The return of a North American beaver to the Bronx River symbolized the success of an enormous rehabilitation effort that has extended over three decades. (Wally Gobetz) Below: Children race solar powered cars at Solar One, a solar-powered environmental learning center located in Stuyvesant Cove Park on the East River. (Solar One) Opposite: The Dancing Classrooms program of the American Ballroom Theater teaches children selfesteem through the practice of social dance. (American Ballroom Theater)

Located in Stuyvesant Cove Park on the East River, Solar One is a solar-powered environmental learning center that hosts extensive cultural and educational programming to raise money for the stewardship of the park.

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MAS Annual Awards

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

W. Allison and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis Award winner Andrea Williams (center) stands with New York City Department of Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe (right). (New York City Department of Parks and Recreation)

W. Allison and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis Award

Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award

Annually, the W. Allison and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis Award recognizes a New York City Department of Parks and Recreation employee who has shown extraordinary dedication to serving the users of the park system. This year, we salute Andrea Williams for her devotion to the youth of Brooklyn and New York City. As the Recreation Director at St. John’s Recreation Center, Ms. Williams consistently goes the extra mile to support and encourage youth to participate in the countless recreation, education, and arts opportunities she manages.

The Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award acknowledges the often-unsung leaders of grassroots, community-based planning. The award was created to commemorate the work of Ms. Yolanda Garcia, a community activist in the South Bronx. Under Ms. Garcia’s leadership, the residents of Melrose challenged the city, created an alternative to an urban renewal plan, and transformed a neighborhood. The organization created by Ms. Garcia, We Stay/Nos Quedamos, is bringing that community’s vision to life through planning, design, construction, and programming.

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Prizes

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal MAS proudly presented the 2007 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal to Wade F.B. Thompson and Elihu Rose for their tremendous contribution to New York City and its cultural life: the restoration of the Park Avenue Armory.

In 1993, unable to tolerate further deterioration of the historic armory—with rooms designed by Stanford White, Louis Comfort Tiffany and the Herter Brothers—Wade F. B. Thompson, a businessman, philanthropist and neighbor, urged MAS to form a committee aimed at rescuing the building and securing its future for the citizens of New York City. Soon after, his good friend Elihu Rose, a real-estate executive

The MAS Annual Benefit was held at the historic Park Avenue Armory where Wade F.B. Thompson and Elihu Rose were honored with the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal for their tremendous contribution to its restoration. (All photos this page: Steven Tucker)

and military historian, joined the campaign, and the Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy was born.

Together they enlisted a group of distinguished New Yorkers to join the Conservancy board, marshalled the resources for the building’s restoration, and recruited its talented leadership and staff. In November 2006, after more than a decade of negotiation, the Conservancy signed a 99-year lease with New York State.

The transformation is already splendidly visible. The grand 125-year-old entry doors and iron gates have been restored, the central tower has been cleaned, the historic military paintings have been lit for the

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

MASterwork Awards Committee Jerry Speyer John Belle Rick Bell Gregg Pasquarelli Judith Saltzman

Left: The 2008 MASterwork Awards were held at the IAC Building (Peter Parris). MASterwork’s Best New Buildings: the New York Times Building (below left) (Flickr/ RNicola), designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in association with FXFOWLE and the IAC Building (below right) designed by Gehry Partners, LLC (Esto Photographics). Opposite: One of MASterwork’s two Best Historic Restorations: the Museum at Eldridge Street, by Walter Sedovic Architects. (Kate Milford)

first time in decades, and the surrounding gardens on Eighth Avenue are drawn to the building by the are being tended. The restoration and rejuvenation of visible oasis of birch trees on moss, sprouting from the majestic structure is a gift Messrs Thompson and its interior atrium.

Rose have given back to New York City, and MAS is • Frank Gehry’s brilliant vision of billowing white especially proud to have helped them get started with sails along the Hudson River, manifest in the IAC the creation of Seventh Regiment Armory ConserBuilding, is a beacon for the exciting architectural vancy in 1997. renaissance of the West Chelsea waterfront area.

New feats in engineering were accomplished to MASterwork Awards integrate the technological needs of this modern Launched in 2001 to recognize the best of the city’s office building with its unique sculptural quality. new architecture and design, this year’s MASterwork • Expert craftsmen took painstaking care to reAwards were presented at the IAC Building in early store the severely deteriorated late 19th century May. We thank Helaba, an international commercial synagogue for the Museum at Eldridge Street, bank, for sponsoring the awards. The winners were: revealing the original design and function while preserving the effects of time. Every detail, from Best New Building the stained-glass windows to the undulations in • The New York Times Building sets new standards the flooring left from years of people praying, was in innovative green technology and public space for integrated into a cohesive preservation project. commercial office towers. The curtain wall of glass cloaked by a delicate veil of ceramic tubes allows Best Historic Restoration light to penetrate, while deflecting sun and heat, • Located in New York City’s up-and-coming highreducing the building’s total energy consumption. fashion quarter, the new Diane von Furstenberg People walking through the lobby and passersby (DVF) Studio Headquarters retains two late 19th

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Prizes

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Timothy Schenck

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Prizes

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Brendan Gill Prize Jury Randall Bourscheidt Chairman Jessica Chao Kinshasha Holman Conwill Tom Finkelpearl Jane Gullong

Below left: The Diane von Furstenberg Studio Headquarters, by Work Architecture Company.

(Elizabeth Felicella) Below right: MASterwork’s Best Neighborhood Catalysts, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, design by SANAA (Dean Kaufman), and The Floating Pool (previous spread), designed by Jonathan Kirschenfeld Associates (Timothy Schenck).

Paul Gunther John Haworth Suketu Mehta Helen S. Tucker

century buildings that lent the Meatpacking District its name. With the restoration of the façades and cast-iron columns of the buildings, the DVF Studio Headquarters respects the historic fabric of the neighborhood while introducing creative green technology elements like the ‘stairdelier’ which reflects sunlight from mirrors and crystals to bring light throughout the building.

Neighborhood Catalyst • Built within an existing barge, the Floating Pool made a big splash during its premiere last summer at Brooklyn Bridge Park, drawing in visitors from the borough and beyond. Taking a historical cue from New York City’s former “floating baths,” the Floating Pool provides recreational opportunities in under-served communities, draws people to the waterfront, and will continue to do so at its new location each summer.

• The New Museum is both the anchor and catalyst for the burgeoning contemporary art scene on the Lower East Side. The art of envisioning galleries is taken to a new level as the shifting floor plan gives

way to irregularly placed skylights that subtly affect how the art is viewed. Stamping a new shape on the Bowery skyline, the innovative design of the New Museum proves that great new architecture can be produced on a smaller scale and reasonable budget.

Brendan Gill Prize The 2007 Brendan Gill Prize honored playwright and poet Sarah Jones for her Tony-award winning onewoman show “Bridge & Tunnel.” The play’s sweeping celebration of New York City’s diversity with all its idiosyncrasies, conflicts and humor, was represented in fourteen different characters Ms. Jones created.

As a work of art, the play, together with the process that fueled it and the talent that abounds within it, attests to the artistic energy that is the essence of the Brendan Gill Prize. Named for late The New Yorker drama and architecture critic, keen cultural observer, and former MAS chairman, the Brendan Gill Prize, now in its 20th year, is awarded annually to encourage innovative artistic responses to urban life.

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Prizes

Brendan Gill jury member Kinshasha Holman Conwill; Brendan Gill’s daughter, Kate Gill; actor and winner of the 2007 Gill Prize, Sarah Jones; and chair of the Gill jury, Randall Bourscheidt.

(Jefferson Siegel)

The 2007 Brendan Gill Prize honored playwright and poet Sarah Jones for her Tony-award winning one-woman show “Bridge & Tunnel.” As a work of art, the play, together with the process that fueled it and the talent that abounds within it, attests to the artistic energy that is the essence of the Brendan Gill Prize.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Membership and Support MAS members are a vital part of our 115-year effort to promote visionary urban planning, historic preservation and design. Throughout the year, members get a behind-the-scenes look at the forces that are shaping the future of New York City and discover a host of fascinating exhibitions and programs that celebrate this great city.

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Promote MAS—Donor/Membership Opportunities

MAS members gather at the Annual Benefit in the historic Park Avenue Armory (opposite) (Steven Tucker) and at the Urban Center for a panel discussion on design and architecture in New York City (below). (Lisa Alpert)

Richard Morris Hunt Patrons Named for the first president of MAS, the Patron’s program is an inner circle of our most dedicated supporters whose financial assistance is critical to our efforts. Our Patrons not only make a philanthropic commitment to MAS, but also have an abiding interest in the issues and people that shape our urban landscape. We create opportunities for our Patrons to get an even closer look at the work that we do through our exclusive “Shaping the City” evenings with the city’s foremost urban planners and master architects, invitations to our annual Livable City Luncheon and Patrons-only cocktail events with board members and MAS policy directors that give an inside view on our crucial issues of architecture, urban planning and historic preservation. Richard Morris Hunt Patrons make annual contributions to MAS of $1,000 and up.

MAS Members MAS welcomes members at levels ranging from Student Members ($20) to Sponsoring Members ($500.)

Each membership program offers special benefits and features tailored to each level. All MAS members

receive discounts on walking tours and our evening program series, as well as discounts at Urban Center Books.

MAS Urbanists The MAS Urbanists are New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s who are passionate about improving the quality of the city’s built environment and preserving the best of its architectural and cultural past. Urbanists get an insider’s view of some of the biggest issues in New York City by visiting and assisting the MAS senior advocacy staff in the core campaigns of MAS. Last year, Urbanists photographed buildings and conducted interviews as part of a survey of buildings on Manhattan’s 125th Street, prepared to give tours of Moynihan Station, and had an exclusive roundtable discussion with world-renowned architect David Childs. Saturday afternoon “Pub Crawls” of historic bars in New York City with MAS tour guides, as well as the popular “Urban Hour” happy hour receptions hosted at unique venues throughout the city, offer the Urbanists a chance to get to know each. Urbanist members make annual contributions of $250.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Professional Committees Planning Committee Eugenie L. Birch Co-Chair Brendan Sexton Co-Chair Marijke Antonia Smit Richard Bass Albert K. Butzel Jocelyne Chait David M. Childs Jerome Deutsch William Donohoe Kenneth Fisher John Fontillas Adam Friedman Hugh Hardy Philip K. Howard Ellen R. Joseph Anthony C. M. Kiser Eric S. Lee Marilyn W. Levy Dorothy M. Miner Frederic S. Papert Stuart Pertz Charles A. Platt Zevilla J. Preston Stephen M. Raphael Mildred F. Schmertz Sally Smith John Shapiro Ethel Sheffer Robert Speyer Jane Stanicki Stephen C. Swid Joe Weisbord John Pettit West Barbara Wilkes

Preservation Committee Charles A. Platt Co-Chair Judith Saltzman Co-Chair Norma Barbacci Francis Booth Peg Breen Richard Wilson Cameron Darby R. Curtis Ward Dennis

Mary B. Dierickx Andrew Dolkart Franny Eberhart Renee Christine Epps Anne Fairfax Harold Fredenburgh Margot Gayle Joan Geismar Michael George Charles A. Gifford Diane Kaese John Kriskiewicz Jeffrey Kroessler Ken Lustbader Hermes Mallea Jonathan Marvel Dorothy M. Miner Edward T. Mohylowski Christopher Neville Otis Pratt Pearsall, Esq. Jean Parker Phifer Stephen M. Raphael Nina Rappaport Marci Reaven John T. Reddick Jacob Tilove Susan Tunick Kevin Wolfe

Law Committee Vicki Been Co-Chair Ross Sandler Co-Chair Earl D. Weiner General Counsel Antonia Levine Bryson Albert K. Butzel Christopher Collins Edward N. Costikyan Gordon J. Davis Robert Davis Richard Emery Stephen P. Foley Michael B. Gerrard Michael S. Gruen Philip K. Howard Brad M. Hoylman Steve Kass

Charles B. Katzenstein Holly M. Leicht Marilyn W. Levy Andrew M. Manshel Norman Marcus John E. Merow Nancy Miller Eileen D. Millet Dorothy M. Miner David Nissenbaum Dennis C. O’Donnell Otis Pratt Pearsall Stephen M. Raphael Christopher Rizzo Nicholas A. Robinson Carol Rosenthal Ross Sandler Alan Siegel Bruce H. Simon E. Gail Suchman David P. Warner Philip Weinberg

Streetscapes Committee Albert K. Butzel Co-Chair Andrew M. Manshel Co-Chair Frank Addeo Barbara Adler Mark Bunnell Michael S. Gruen Barbara Knecht Nicholas Quennell Gregg Solomon

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MAS Staff Staff

Interns

Kent L. Barwick President Nancy Allerston Lisa Alpert Ann Anielewski Melissa Baldock Eve Baron Claire Burke Al Castricone Phyllis Samitz Cohen Tamara Coombs Keenan Hughes Jasper Goldman Vanessa Gruen Sharmaine Guy-Thompson Gavin Keeney Lisa Kersavage Katie Kendall Randy Lawson James S. J. Liao Robin Lynn Patricia McHugh Alexis Meisels Oscar Moranta Maia Mordana Benika Morokuma Matthias Neumann Kathy O’Callaghan Juan Camilo Osorio Gloria Parris Linda G. Rajotte Dale Ramsey Frank E. Sanchis III Susanna Schaller Genevieve Sherman Sideya Sherman Jonathan Sills Carlos Solis Jo Steffens Jean Tatge Lacey Tauber Elizabeth Werbe

Chelsea Kubal Fran O’Shea Sara Walmsley Hans Yoo

Fellowship

Volunteers Jennifer Barrett Willemine Dassonville Robert Ingenito Naomi Iwasaki Lelis Marquez Janice McQuade Sue Nichols Norman Odlum Lydia Thomas Sharon Tillman Edward Toran Ilona Wells Sambasivan Jane Woodbridge Kate Zidar

Kress/RFR Fellow for Historic Preservation and Public Policy Melissa Baldock MAS is delighted to have been joined by Melissa Baldock this spring as the Kress/ RFR Fellow for Historic Preservation and Public Policy. Melissa has worked extensively in preservation advocacy in New York City. Most recently, she was the Director of Preservation and Research for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP). Melissa has also worked for the Historic Districts Council and Landmark West, and she serves on the Board of the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America. Melissa graduated from Columbia University’s Historic Preservation program in 2003, where she wrote her Master’s thesis on the revitalization of Coney Island. (Photo: Melissa Baldock)

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Contributors Urban Champions ($25,000+) Altman Foundation The Estate of Giorgio Cavaglieri Chanel Inc. Douglas Durst & The Durst Organization Greenacre Foundation William and Mary Greve Foundation Agnes Gund Marc Haas Foundation, Inc. Frederick J. Iseman Helaba, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Alexandra and Philip K. Howard Samuel H. Kress Foundation Thomas and Leslie Maheras John E. Merow Mizuho USA Foundation, Inc. New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York Community Trust New York State Council on the Arts RFR Realty LLC Amanda and Richard Riegel The Rockefeller Foundation Susan and Elihu Rose Joanna and Daniel Rose The Estate of Arthur Ross Janet C. Ross Robert S. Rubin Amy and Jeffrey Silverman Angela and Wade F.B. Thompson Helen S. Tucker Paul Underwood H. van Ameringen Foundation Robert W. Wilson Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation

Advocates ($10,000 - $24,999) Elizabeth H. Atwood Paul R. Beirne Eugenie and Robert Birch Bloomberg Con Edison Covington & Burling LLP Dorothy and Lewis Cullman Cheryl Cohen Effron and Blair Effron Heidi Ettinger Deborah and Kim Fennebresque

Barbara G. Fleischman Karen J. Freedman and Roger E. Weisberg Nina P. Freedman and Michael L. Rosenbaum Susan K. Freedman and Richard Jacobs Goldman, Sachs & Co. Hagedorn Fund Gurnee F. and Marjorie L. Hart Kitty Hawks and Larry Lederman Michael Hoffman Jujamcyn Theatres Melvyn Kaufman Mrs. Stephen M. Kellen Rocco Landesman James T. Lee Foundation The Liman Foundation Musa and Thomas Mayer Julie and Bruce Menin Ronay and Richard Menschel MetLife Foundation Audrey and Daniel Meyer Damon Mezzacappa Moynihan Station Venture New York City Council The New York Times Company Foundation Beverly and Peter Orthwein The Reed Foundation, Inc. The Related Companies Candice Bergen and Marshall Rose Donna and Marvin Schwartz Silverweed Foundation Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP Howard Solomon Jerry I. Speyer Allison S. Cowles and Arthur O. Sulzberger Tishman Speyer Properties, Inc. Verizon Foundation Vornado Realty Trust Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Wachovia Foundation

Chairman’s Circle ($5,000 - $9,999) Angelo Gordon and Co. Barker Welfare Foundation Howard Bayne Fund Judy and Howard Berkowitz The Bonnie Cashin Fund

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Contributors

Lisa and Dick Cashin David M. Childs Greta Weil and Richard F. Conway Sharon S. Davis Michael P. Donovan Florence D’Urso Inger and Osborn Elliott The Blanche Enders Charitable Trust Everett Foundation Debbi Gibbs Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, Inc. J.M. Kaplan Fund Frederick Klingenstein Leonard A. Lauder Lawrence Lederman Arthur L. Loeb Novak Charitable Trust Shafi and Alexander Roepers Peter Jay Sharp Foundation May and Samuel Rudin Family Fund, Inc. Sotheby’s Sulzberger Foundation Tishman Construction Corporation of New York Hope and Michael Wolkowitz

President’s Circle ($2,500 - $4,999) Acheson Doyle Partners Arquitectonica Bernstein Global Wealth Management Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners Mildred C. Brinn Cook + Fox Architects Mary Billard and Barry Cooper Gordon J. Davis Davis Polk & Wardwell Flack + Kurtz FXFOWLE Architects PC Patricia and George Grunebaum Israel Discount Bank Saul B. Hamond Duane Hampton Ashton Hawkins Priscilla and Ronald Hoffman Robin and William Hubbard Cary Koplin Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Lee Harris Pomeroy Arch., P.C. The Leon Levy Foundation Douglas J. Lister Judith and Michael Margulies Richard Meier & Partners Susan and Joel Mindel Gillian and Sylvester Miniter Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects Richard J. Moylan Newmark Knight Frank Patricia C. O’Grady Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects LLP Polshek Partnership Architects Joan and Charles Platt Jennifer J. Raab Sheila and Joseph Rosenblatt Robert D. Santos Brendan Sexton Katherine and William Schrenk S.H.o.P Architects PC Mike and Janet Slosberg David K. Specter Robert A.M. Stern / Robert A.M. Stern Architects Michael B. Stubbs Tiffany & Co. Turner Construction Company Earl D. Weiner Shelby White William H. Wright, II Gary J. Zarr

Richard Morris Hunt Patrons ($1,000 - $2,499) Mr. and Mrs. Richard Abrons Gillis M. Addison Mr. and Mrs. O. Kelley Anderson Charlotte P. Armstrong David N. Auth David L. Banker Kent Barwick Laurie Beckelman Brook and Andrew Berger Wendy McCary and Henry R. Breck William F. Caplan Diana D. Chapin Neil D. Chrisman Christie’s

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Diane M. Coffey Anne and John Coffin Henry S.F. Cooper The Cowles Charitable Trust J. Christopher Daly Dolores C. Danzig Joan K. Davidson Mary and Maxwell Davidson Elinor and Jerome Deutsch John di Domenico Ms. Sheila Mahoney and Dr. R. Gordon Douglas Lili B.L.D. Ervin Fairfax & Sammons Architects Luke Fichthorn Elinor T. Fine Lynn A. Foster Helen Frankenthaler Susan K. Freedman Andrew Friedman Kathryn Mullen and Michael K. Frith Mr. and Mrs. Clayton W. Frye Jr. Paul Gangsei Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning Worldwide Michael B. Gerrard Michele van Deventer and Charles A. Gifford Gruzen Samton Architects Planners & Interior Designers LLP Bette-Ann Gwathmey and Charles Gwathmey Walter J. Handelman Hugh Hardy Mrs. Andrew Heiskell Isabel Thigpen Hill Mark S. Hochberg Judith and Walter Hunt Amie and Tony James Robert D. Joffe Susan H. Jones and Rick Eaton Harry Kamen George S. Kaufman Francoise Bollack and Thomas Killian Kinney Memorial Foundation Costas A. Kondylis

Marilyn W. Levy Dorothy Lichtenstein Ambassador Earle I. Mack and Mrs. Carol Mack Edward A. Mainzer Isabel and Peter Malkin Lynne and Burton Manning Peter Marino & Associates Architects Jonathan Marvel Karen L. McDonald Patricia and Peter McHugh Renee McKee Joyce F. Menschel Pamela and Michael Miles Lynden and Leigh Miller Achim Moeller Henriette Montgomery Margaret Moriarty Enid and Lester Morse Jane and Jerry Mount Jim C. Nimmich David P. Nolan The Old Stones Foundation, Inc. Abby and George O’Neill Claudia and Gunnar Overstrom Rafael Pelli Peter Pennoyer Architects Raymond Pepi Lecia Harbison and Aubrey Peterson Jean Parker Phifer Helen and Robert Pilkington Platt Byard Dovell White Architects, LLP Annabelle Prager Quadrangle Group LLC Bridget Restivo Genie Rice Julie and Luis Rinaldini David Rockefeller, Sr. Peter E. Roth Linda R. Safran Frank E. Sanchis III Margot Wellington and Albert Sanders Suzanne R. Santry Gil Shiva Cathy and Robert Shyer Sandy and Alan Siegel

Juliet Singh Laurence T. Sorkin Jennifer and Edmund A. Stanley Sterling National Bank Scott M. Stuart Nan and Stephen C. Swid Marcy Syms Douglas H. Teeson Donna L. Thompson Geoffrey A. Thompson Pamela and David Thompson Barbara Tober Scotti and William Tomson Litsa D. Tsitsera Calvin Tsao Joy and Senen Ubiña Richard R. Vietor Miriam G. Wallach Christopher O. Ward Fred Wistow Geri and David Wolf Lois and Bruce Zenkel Stephen Zoukis Lloyd P. Zuckerberg and Charlotte Triefus

Sponsors ($500 - $999) Paul F. Balser Thomas Balsley Clay H. Barr John Berendt Elizabeth H. Berger Elissa and Matthew Bernstein Toni and Seth Bernstein Paul Broches Vin Cipolla Andrew Clunn Kinshasha Holman Conwill Judy Cormier Christina R. Davis George de Brigard John Howard Dobkin Robert E. Doernberg Eugenia G. Dooley Elaine M. Drew Peter Duchin Linda A. Ellis

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Contributors

Mrs. Jules Enrich Renee C. Epps Ruth and Arthur Feder Martha J. Fleischman Miriam Fond Peter Frelinghuysen Suzanne Frye Dawne M. Grannum Molly B. Hart and Michael D. Griffin Geoffrey Gund Maureen Hackett Alvin Hampel Susan T. Hermanson Terry Hermanson Valentin E. Hernandez Suzanne C. Hoyt Karl Katz Roy B. Klein Ronny and Robert A. Levine Mrs. Mortimer Levitt Judith H. Lewis Virginia S. Lyon Heidi Waleson and Andrew Manshel Patricia P. Marco Aaron Marcu Joseph F. McCrindle Sandra E. Mintz NBC Broadcast and Network Operations Coco Hoguet Neel New York Women Executives in Real Estate Guy Nordenson Peter M. Pennoyer Marie-Noelle and John Pierce Mike Plumley Frederic C. Rich Nathan Riley Alexandra Rose David Rosenberg Sally and Blair Ruble The Estate of Mr. Salvatore Saraceno Rosalie T. Sayles Joyce P. Schwartz Mr. and Mrs. Martin E. Segal The Honorable Felice K. Shea Mr. and Mrs. Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff

Salli J. Snyder Jane Ginsburg and George T. Spera Benjamin F. Stapleton William C. Sterling Lois Teich Natalie Trojan Karen E. Wagner Steadman H. Westergaard Donna and Robert Whiteford Nancy Wong

Friends ($250 - $499) Harriet Alpert Mary Anne and Frank Arisman William M. Ayres Jeannette G. Bamford Pauline Gray and Edward S. Barnard Vicki Been Lisanne Beretta and Hans-Christian Ritter R. O. Blechman Robin Lynn and Larry Blumberg Nancy B. Bowe Mary and John Brown Ben Brown Deborah and Jonathan Butler Robert L. Cahill Barney Catalanotto March and Philip Cavanaugh Nancy M. Chase Gerard B. Dages Henri M. De Fournier Paula Diperna Susan G. Doban Arthur D. Emil Gail Erickson Michael J. Ewing Patricia H. Falk Barbara E. Fischer Robert Frear and Tim Kennedy Peter Frishauf Mark Gallops Claudia L. Ganz Beatriz Garcia Stephanie Gelb Lee P. Gelber Abby P. Gilmore

Jane and Charles Goldman Elaine Graham Paul Gunther Graham Hanson George Hargreaves Marjorie Heins Steven Holl Architects Arlyn Imberman Steven L. Isenberg Bridget Thexton and Robert Iulo Pamela Jerome Mary Margaret Jones Wendy Evans Joseph Ellen and Lawrence Joseph Michele and Thomas Kahn Paula A. Moss and David I. Karabell Kennedy & Violich Architecture Margaret and Henry King Victor A. Kovner Terese and Alvin Lane Virginia S. Clark and James S.J. Liao William Lloyd Richard H. Maidman Hermes Mallea Robert E. McCue Deborah McManus Kellie Melinda Alan Melniker Friedrike Merck Jonathan Merrill Pauline C. Metcalf Robyn Mewshaw Eileen D. Millett Mary A. Mitchell Lisa and Thomas Newell Daniel A. Nickolich Jeffrey S. Nordhaus Barbara E. Champoux and Richard O’Conor Claudia Oberweger Chauncey Parker Jennifer Parsons James R. Pepper Harold S. Perlmutter Jeanette and Stuart Pertz Joseph Pierson Jay Polonsky

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Elise M. Quasebarth Grace and Nicholas Quennell Rand Engineering & Architecture, PC Elese Reid Rockwell Group Merrill Rose Georgina and John Rowley Steven Sachs Patricia E. Saigo Judith Saltzman Alice and Ross Sandler Mrs. Frederick Bakwin Selch Shirley M. Weiss Jamil Simon William M. Singer Louisa C. Spencer Susan Springer Marie-Monique Steckel Jill Pliskin and John Steinberg James J. Storrow Emily H. Susskind Jack Taylor Robert Thill Wellington S. Tichenor Suzanne Todd Stewart Upson Gilbert J. Veconi James R. Wacht Cynthia C. Wainwright Susan and Kenneth Wallach Mrs. William B. Warren James B. Wauford Mary M. Habstritt and Gerald P. Weinstein Marcy Brownson and Edwin J. Wesely Gwendolyn M. Widell Richard M. Winn Patricia S. Wise Howard S. Yaruss Brett I. Zbar Beth and Marty Zubatkin

Urbanists Steering Committee Andrew I. Bart Sarah Cornell Jennifer R. Curry

George de Brigard Jeremy S. Edmunds Sarah Eisenger Lawrence J. Fabbroni Julia Noran Sally J. Smith Nancy Wong Sapna Advani Anita Aguilar Michael Arad Christine Cachot Colleen Carney David Cunningham Timothy W. Daniels Chad W. DiStefano Will Elkins Luke Fichthorn Mark N. Foggin Jonathan Ghassemi Dawne Marie Grannum Alison Greenberg Mark S. Hochberg Jacqui Hogans Christine E. Hong William Huber S. B. Huey Rush Jenkins and Klaus Baer Gene A. Johnson Thomas A. Kalvik Robin Kemper Matthew B. Kirby Altan Kolsal Joseph Laszlo Trent Lethco Andrew G. Lewis Matthew A. Lynch Mark Mannino Timothy Martin Gregory J. Mason Justin R. Miller Terri Mills Susannah Mills Kathryn R. O’Donnell Patricia O’Kicki Katherine Palm Karen A. Philips

Daniel Popadynec Joel Ramin Donald Rider Andrew Rigie Thomas Rivkin Frank Ruchala Ellen P. Ryan Kelly Scheer Marcus T. Segui Jeffrey C. Shumaker William M. Silverman Randall I. Stempler David E. Stutzman Liza Trafton Jeffrey Treut Natalie Trojan Valerie Trujillo D’Juro Villaran-Rokovich Caleb J. Weinstein Mark N. Wigler James M. Wolin Robert B. Zapp

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Friends

Friends

1 James Sanders, Marijke Smit 2 Sandra Ripert, Christine Cachot, Gillian Miniter 3 Genie and Robert Birch, Coco and Arie Kopelman 4 Julie Lawrence, Ron Schiffman 5 Hugh Hardy, Dan Kaplan, Philip Howard 6 Giles Ashford, Erica Eudoxie 7 Julie Menin, Larry Lederman, Kitty Hawks, Marian Heiskell 8 Kent Barwick 9 Kitty Hawks, Yeohlee Teng, Agnes Gund 10 Laurie Beckelman, Paul Goldberger 11 Phyllis Cohen, Billy Wright 12 Wade Thompson, Susan Rose, Elihu Rose, Angela Thompson 13 Adam Flatto, Joe Rose, Marshall Rose, Jerry Speyer 14 Ronay Menschel, Kate Levin 15 Amale Andraos, Diane von Furstenberg, John Belle, Dan Wood (Photos: Jefferson Siegel 1, 4, 6; Patrick McMullen 2, 9; Steven Tucker 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14; Peter Paris 8, 11, 13, 15)

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The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

“The great city can teach som itself can altogether impart… a dependence on one another.”

55

Consolidated Statement of Activities

mething that no university by a vivid sense of our absolute � SETH LOW

56

The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Consolidated Statement of Activities

2008

2007

Assets Cash and money market funds

$

305,243

$ 1,033,748

11,642,255

9,635,532

782,245

745,299

59,869

69,594

Inventory

235,855

248,415

Leasehold improvements, equipment and furniture, net

280,651

291,320

Assets held for Tribute in Light project

909,600

909,600

Custodial fund investments

778,687

749,539

Investments Accounts and contributions receivable, net Prepaid expenses

Cash held for tenants’ security deposits

67,991

146,367

Deposits and other assets

121,067

121,067

$ 15,183,463

$ 13,950,481

$

$

Liabilities and Net Assets Liabilities Accounts payable and accrued expenses

664,266

490,609

Funds held as custodian for others

778,687

749,539

Assets due to Tribute in Light project

909,600

909,600

Deferred revenue

55,405

64,324

Tenants’ security deposits

67,991

146,367

2,475,949

2,360,439

Unrestricted

1,763,232

2,401,693

Temporarily restricted

3,288,991

3,533,058

Total liabilities

Net assets

Permanently restricted

7,655,291

5,655,291

Total net assets

12,707,514

11,590,042

$ 15,183,463

$ 13,350,481

57

Consolidated Statement of Activities

Year Ended March 31, 2008 (With summarized comparative totals for 2007) Temporarily Restricted

Permanently Restricted

$ 1,463,110

$ 1,407,568

$ 2,000,000

$ 4,870,678

$ 4,244,494

Memberships

127,230

–

–

127,230

117,611

Tours, courses and special events (net of special event expenses)

747,944

–

–

747,944

559,112

Gross profit on book sales

200,806

–

–

200,806

249,744

Allocated investment income

320,920

–

–

320,920

280,295

4,724

–

–

4,724

5,935

(373,664)

–

–

(373,664)

136,809

4,615

–

–

4,615

13,702

Unrestricted

2008 Total

2007 Total

Operating Support and Revenue Grants and gifts

Interest on short term deposits and other income Rental (loss) income (net of related expenses) Miscellaneous income Net assets released from restrictions

1,791,510

( 1,791,510)

–

–

–

4,287,195

2,000,000

5,903,253

5,607,702

Total operating support and revenue

( 383,942)

Operating Expenses 3,488,089

–

–

3,488,089

2,860,150

Administrative

721,569

–

–

721,569

689,799

Fundraising

599,007

–

–

599,007

503,277

Membership

191,623

–

–

191,623

114,368

Program

Total operating expenses

5,000,288

–

-

5,000,288

4,167,594

Change in net assets from operations

(713,093)

( 383,942)

2,000,000

902,965

1,440,108

74,632

139,875

–

214,507

467,713

Other Changes in Net Assets Non-operating investment income

Change in net assets

(638,461)

(244,067)

2,000,000

1,117,472

5,655,291

11,590,042

$ 7,655,291

$ 12,707,51

1,907,821

Net Assets Beginning of year End of year

2,401,693 $ 1,763,232

3,533,058 $ 3,288,991

9,682,221 $ 11,590,042

58

The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08

Design Soulellis Studio Printer Monroe Litho Monroe Litho is a Forest Stewardship Council certified printer using 100% renewable, non-poluting wind power. www.monroelitho.com Printed on Domtar Lynx Opaque.

Typography: Knockout and MercuryText by Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Brooklyn, NY. Opposite page: A bird’s-eye view of Brooklyn against the Manhattan skyline. (Jasper Goldman)

2 The Municipal Art Society of New York 2007–08 The Municipal Art Society Of New York 457 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 t 212 935 3960 MAS.org

Voice for the future of our city.