Events

[In-person tour] The East Side Manhattan neighborhoods of Murray Hill and Kips Bay have played a unique role in the history of New York. With a collection of unique architectural wonders such as the brutalist Kips Bay Towers or the Renaissance style Morgan Library, both neighborhoods have their gems. On this in-person walking tour with Zack Rhodes, we will discover the last unpaved street in Manhattan, the home of the most ardent students of philately, and one of the smallest historic districts in the entire city. Last but not least, we will find out why some New Yorkers affectionately call one of the neighborhoods "Curry Hill", and why the other has always been a hotbed for medical progress.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time

[Virtual tour] New York’s fountains are more than just decorative features – they are historical landmarks, cultural icons, and dynamic works of art that shape the city’s landscape. They were designed to honor men and women of accomplishment, memorialize events, and at one time, keep citizens from drinking too much alcohol. New York’s fountains are classical and ornate or modern and streamlined. They celebrate firemen, authors, social workers and enslaved Africans, while providing a peaceful oasis amid the city’s glass and stone. This exploration with Stephanie Azzarone will take a close look at the city’s most distinctive midtown fountains – new and old, famous and little known – and share the stories of why they came to be, the people behind them and what makes them special.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] Madison Square Park, once an exclusive address to old-money New Yorkers, now serves as a meeting place with green space, playground, and annual art installations. Using vintage photographs comparing then and now, on this tour, you’ll learn about the Star of Hope monument from 1912, the small but meaningful Holocaust Memorial from 1990, and who is General Worth and how his monument is maintained through the MAS Adopt-a-Monument program, and much more.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] Amidst the Upper East Side’s celebrated array of Beaux Arts, Colonial Revival and other landmarks, can be found important examples of Modern architecture designed by some of America’s most prominent and influential architects of the twentieth century. Discover Modern highlights in the East 60s and 70s, in and near the Upper East Side Historic District, including some of New York’s earliest remaining examples. This tour will visit residential and institutional buildings designed by William Lescaze, Philip Johnson, Edward Durell Stone, Paul Rudolph, Gordon Bunshaft of SOM, Marcel Breuer and others. Guide John Arbuckle is President of DOCOMOMO US/New York Tri-State, a local chapter of an international organization dedicated to preserving Modern architecture.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] New York is the art capital of the world! The best way to explore the latest trends in contemporary art, whether brand new or newly appreciated, is roaming the art galleries in NYC. On this tour of Chelsea galleries with art historian Sylvia Laudien-Meo, we will explore a selection of the most interesting works on view. Artists always find intriguing way to inspire us with thought provoking works, fascinating practices and techniques, beautiful creations, broadening perspectives on life. We will have the opportunity to discuss the works presented as a group at the end of our tour. This is an enhanced price, limited capacity tour and will be offered at 11 AM and again at 2 PM.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] New York is the art capital of the world! The best way to explore the latest trends in contemporary art, whether brand new or newly appreciated, is roaming the art galleries in NYC. On this tour of Chelsea galleries with art historian Sylvia Laudien-Meo, we will explore a selection of the most interesting works on view. Artists always find intriguing way to inspire us with thought provoking works, fascinating practices and techniques, beautiful creations, broadening perspectives on life. We will have the opportunity to discuss the works presented as a group at the end of our tour. This is an enhanced price, limited capacity tour and will be offered at 11 AM and again at 2 PM.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] Join MAS Director of Tours Ted Mineau for a Sunday morning exploration of his favorite NYC neighborhood. We’ll see sights associated with the rich heritage of art and artists, along with some architectural oddities, and classic examples of Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and tenement styles.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[Virtual tour] Diane Arbus is arguably the most important American photographer of the mid 20th century, who, with a keen eye, investigated our quest for identity in an increasingly heterogeneous world: what are our choices in fashion, appearance, our choices in creating our environment, our occupations, our identity…Most of her work was created during the turbulent 1960s and by venturing out from her protected upper middle class home and into the most diverse realms of life, she opened her audience’s mind and understanding for the complexities of humanity. At the same time she opened up the Fine Art world’s acceptance of photography into its realm - a revolutionary accomplishment! With art historian Sylvia Laudien-Meo, we will look at Diane Arbus’s oeuvre, from its beginnings in the fashion world and also compare it to the works of her contemporaries like Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and Andy Warhol.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The original 1910 McKim, Mead & White designed Penn Station is long gone, razed in 1963. But right across 8th Avenue, you can still visit the old Farley Post Office, designed by the same architectural firm to compliment the grand Beaux Art train station. Sitting above the Penn Station train tracks, the Post Office was once heralded as the world’s largest mail facility. After years of scaled-back postal operations, the two-city-block building has been transformed and repurposed as the new Moynihan Train Hall. Take this then-&-now tour with Ginny Poleman to see the old grand Post Office lobby, remnants of the old Pennsylvania Station underground, and the new, the Moynihan Train Hall, including public art installations. Most of this tour is indoor and underground – perfect for a winter day!

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] NYC’s oldest street, the Bowery, was a Native American footpath, Dutch farm road, site of the first free Black homesteads, and the city’s first entertainment district. Stretching 1.25 miles from Chatham Square to Cooper Square, it was the stomping ground for sailors, shopgirls, gangs, gays, and immigrant Irish, Italians, Chinese, Jews and Germans. It has important historical-cultural links to Washington, Lincoln, baseball, tap dance, tattoo, Yiddish theater, vaudeville, Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Harry Houdini, and Mae West. In the 1900s, it was America’s iconic skid row, but its arts scene helped foster Abstract Expressionism, Beat Literature, and free jazz and punk rock. Among NYC’s most architecturally diverse streets--including its oldest brick house - it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Join David Mulkins, author of "The Bowery", a just-released illustrated history.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (JKO) Medal is awarded annually to individuals who, through vision, leadership, and philanthropy, have made an extraordinary contribution to New York City. The award was originally presented as the President's Medal in 1952. It was renamed in honor of Mrs. Onassis in 1994 to commemorate her partnership with the Municipal Art Society to preserve great architecture in New York City.

The 2025 JKO Medal Celebration will honor Elizabeth Diller and Annabelle Selldorf, two groundbreaking architects whose vision has transformed the built environment of New York City.

[In-person] Join preservationist and historian James Russiello for a rare weekday tour. We'll explore the length of Manhatttan's West 23rd Street including the industrial West Chelea Historic District, the busy and fashionable Ladies' Mile Historic District, and everything in between.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time

Explore the Harlem Sculpture Gardens in Morningside Park with members of the West Harlem Art Fund.

[In-person tour] Stuyvesant Heights began as a suburban retreat of country villas for wealthy brewers and industrialists. Between 1880 and 1915, speculative developers bought these suburban lands and created blocks and blocks of fine townhouse rows, and elegant apartment buildings, commissioning some of Brooklyn's finest architects. The result was one of Brooklyn's most beautiful neighborhoods, rivaling a better-known Park Slope. Fine commercial blocks, large churches, civic buildings and a beautiful park completed the neighborhood. It has remained exclusive and desirable ever since. Our tour will explore the rich streetscapes and history of the neighborhood, from the beginning to the present. The tour will be led by Suzanne Spellen, writer and architectural historian, aka columnist "Montrose Morris" on Brownstoner.com, and Morgan Munsey, architect, historian, and expert on the architecture of Bedford Stuyvesant.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] El Barrio, Spanish Harlem, East Harlem, Italian Harlem. There are many names used to describe the neighborhood taking up space from 96th Street to 125th Street on Manhattan’s eastern side. This tour will ‘begin’ in the late 19th century when an influx of Sicilian, Jewish, and German immigrants moved to the area. We’ll see sites famous for their history as Manhattan’s first Little Italy and sites known for their relationship to the Genovese crime family. Then, we’ll walk south to visit and view sites significant to the Spanish-speaking community and other recent immigrant groups. Along the way we will stop to admire many of the beautiful and unique murals that dot the neighborhood.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] Learn more about one of New York City’s most celebrated boulevards, the Grand Concourse of Bronx County. Led by historian Sam Goodman, we will visit numerous buildings as we come to understand the neighborhood’s dynamic history. We’ll examine why this community was built, why it thrived and why it still remains a place where hope and aspiration sustains those who reside here today. While good weather is never a certainty, what is certain is that your perceptions of the Grand Concourse and its people will be forever changed after this neighborhood tour. [Note: this tour may last longer than two hours.]

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person Tour] In the 1800s, Five Points was a notorious slum in lower Manhattan, infamous for decades as New York City's center of violent crime, unemployment, prostitution, gambling, infectious diseases, and filth. "What place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us?" wrote Charles Dickens, upon a visit in 1842. "Debauchery has made the very houses prematurely old." Within these overcrowded wooden tenements, however, was one of America's first melting pots, where newly-emancipated African Americans lived next door to recent Irish immigrants. The rampant squalor led to efforts by various charities to try to help the poor, but eventually the slum was cleared through wholesale demolition. Today, though little remains of the neighborhood, stories and tales associated with various locations live on, most notably in the 2002 Martin Scorsese film "Gangs of New York." Join guide Lloyd Trufelman for a tour of the sites of the Old Brewery/Mission House, Bandit's Roost, Collect Pond, and other places where the voices of Five Points echo through our modern streets. [Please note this is NOT a "Halloween" tour.]

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[Virtual tour] Let's dive into the stories behind prominent city landmarks, their design and construction, their reuse and conservation, or those unlucky enough to be redeveloped. WIth preservationist and historian James Russiello, we'll uncover the often forgotten stories behind monuments, buildings, and plaques that reflect changing agendas over time. From monuments that just barely survived to prominent homes and religious properties reused as frat houses, Off Broadway theaters, and classic dives, New York has seen it all and many of the city's most beloved properties have been enriched by the past use

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] Architect Cass Gilbert has received accolades as the father of the modern skyline for skyscrapers like the Woolworth Building. However, his commercial and industrial work, much of which still exists in working order, is nearly a footnote in his portfolio. The Brooklyn Army Terminal, designed for troop and goods movement during World War I, exemplifies his incredible ability to be innovative in engineering and to highlight and embrace utilitarian features, while also still being fully aware of the significance of aesthetics. BAT has continued to be a lively work space and the 97-acre site is taking on a whole new role along the South Brooklyn waterfront. Architectural historian Melanie Macchio will share insight into the history of the building as well as the surrounding industrial and residential Sunset Park neighborhood that inspired the building's location. And you can take the ferry back to Manhattan.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] The Municipal Art Society (MAS) has been leading tours of New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal longer than any other tour operator. In fact, MAS saved Grand Central back in the 1970s with the legendary help of our board member Jacqueline Onassis. Join us for a 75-to-90 minute exploration of one of New York’s most beautiful and beloved buildings. Our licensed tour leaders will fill you in on the history and the architecture and take you to some special places that many New Yorkers don’t even know about.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[In-person tour] From sculptures to mosaics to murals on canvas, Rockefeller Center bursts with a remarkable collection of artwork, most of it in the Art Deco style. All of it is meant to support the vision of the Center’s founder and namesake, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Man’s achievements of the spirit, in science, and in industry are stressed, mainly in allegorical ways. Join Phil Desiere to learn about the Center’s famous and not-so famous artworks and how they emphasize the importance of education, wisdom, and international trade.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.

[Virtual tour] Mary Cassatt is among the most important and innovative American Impressionist painters who lived as an expat in Paris, working closely with Edgar Degas and other leading artists of the time, exploring new modern techniques in printing and the use of pastel. She also played a leading role in the creation of American art collections like that of the Havemayer family, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While her work is extremely beautiful and relatable in its depiction of women and children, her approach was quite progressive and even feminist in many ways, and she even contributed to the women’s building at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893! Join art historian Sylvia Laudien-Meo for this virtual tour.

For all tours, there are no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges unless we cancel a tour. Online registration closes one hour prior to the tour start time.