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The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city.
The organization was founded in 1893. In January 2010, MAS relocated from its longtime home in the historic Villard Houses on 457 Madison Avenue to Steinway Hall on
MAS's advocacy efforts have shaped the city a great deal since its inception in 1893. Some of their early accomplishments include passage of the city's first zoning laws, contributing input to the planning of the city's subway line, and the commissioning of 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 and the Brokaw Mansion helped fuel the Society's mission towards preservation. With like-minded groups, they finally succeeded in establishing New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission, and New York's Landmarks Law.
In 2001, after the demise of
The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city.
The organization was founded in 1893. In January 2010, MAS relocated from its longtime home in the historic Villard Houses on 457 Madison Avenue to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street
57th Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan, one of the major two-way, east-west streets in the borough's grid. As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided into its east and west sections at ...
(across the street and east of Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
). In July 2014, MAS moved into the Look Building at 488 Madison Avenue, across the street from its former Villard home.
History
MAS's advocacy efforts have shaped the city a great deal since its inception in 1893. Some of their early accomplishments include passage of the city's first zoning laws, contributing input to the planning of the city's subway line, and the commissioning of 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 and the Brokaw Mansion helped fuel the Society's mission towards preservation. With like-minded groups, they finally succeeded in establishing New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission, and New York's Landmarks Law.
In 2001, after the demise of Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...
, the original Trans World Flight Center, completed in 1962 and designed by Eero Saarinen, fell into disuse. During this period, the Municipal Art Society succeeded in 2004 in nominating the facility to the National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
’s list of the 11 Most Endangered Places.
In June 2007, MAS released with the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance
The Waterfront Alliance or Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (MWA) is a nonprofit organization that works to influence the development and use of the waterfront, shoreline, and connected upland areas of the Port of New York and New Jersey in norther ...
a new documentary about the future of the New York waterfront titled City of Water. In September 2007, the Society opened a major exhibition about Jane Jacobs sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
.
Urban Center
The Municipal Art Society operates the Urban Center, a gallery onMadison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
. The gallery, founded in 1980, serves to champion the fields of urban planning and design in New York, and is also the site of MAS' community development workshops, seminars, lectures, and other educational programs. The Urban Center also includes a book store which specializes in architecture, urban planning, urban design, and environmental studies
Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sciences, commerce/economics, the humanities, and social ...
.
The Urban Center was located in Villard Houses from 1980 to 2010 where upon it moved to West 57th Street.
See also
* New York City arts organizationsReferences
External links
* {{Authority control Urban planning organizations Arts organizations based in New York City Art societies Historic preservation organizations in the United States Organizations established in 1893 1893 establishments in New York (state) Urban planning in New York City