Events

[In-Person Tour] Located along the waterfront in Sunset Park, Industry City was built as part of the massive 19th century industrial complex known as Bush Terminal. The complex was developed as a combined manufacturing, storage, and distribution facility and transportation mecca for an evolving turn-of-the century city. The innovative, self-contained ""Industrial City"" as it was coined, helped put Brooklyn on the map as an international manufacturing hub. Today's Industry City has been reactivated as a multipurpose manufacturing, light industrial, and arts campus. Join urban historian Melanie Macchio and learn about the history and adaptive reuse of this complex.

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] Join tour guide Ginny Poleman for an exploration of the Upper East Side's Carnegie Hill. Nestled between 5th Avenue and 3rd Avenue in the upper 80s and lower 90s, Carnegie Hill is chock full of elegant historic architecture. Highlights include the former Andrew Carnegie mansion, now the Cooper-Hewitt Museum; the former Otto H. Kahn House, now Convent of the Sacred Heart; and the former Warburg Manison, now The Jewish Museum.

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] Tribeca East is Manhattan’s latest gallery district. Join architectural historian Matt Postal for an exploration of the historic district’s east-west blocks and alley ways, where many art dealers occupy distinguished mid-19th mercantile structures in the vicinity of Broadway. Our route considers a varied group of masonry, cast-iron, and terracotta clad gems, as well as intriguing modern and post-modern interlopers, such as Herzog & De Meuron’s so-called “Jenga Tower.”

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] Lined by International Style skyscrapers, Sixth Avenue north of Bryant Park is described in New York 1960 as ""New York's preeminent Modernist street."" Though sometimes maligned, it is arguably among the most notable sites of Modern planning and architecture in America. This tour will examine the avenue's post-war architecture including: the iconic XYZ buildings, designed by Harrison, Abramovitz & Harris, featured on the cover of Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas; Eero Saarinen's CBS Building; the Time & Life Building; several works of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and numerous towers designed by Emery Roth & Sons. It will also visit public art by Tony Smith, Josef Albers & Jim Dine. Join John Arbuckle, President of DOCOMOMO US / New York Tri-State, the local chapter of an international organization dedicated to preserving Modern architecture, to explore an often-overlooked area.

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.

Join us for a unique exploration of one block—22nd Street between 9th & 10th Avenues. Inspired by Alexandra Horowitz's book, On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes, we’ll slow down and awaken our senses to details we often overlook.

We'll observe the interplay of architecture and nature, uncover hidden patterns, and marvel at the rich textures and contrasts that make urban life so endlessly fascinating. From the artistry of building facades, to the quiet life of the trees, to the whispers of history etched into brickwork—every inch of this block holds stories waiting to be discovered.

No prior knowledge is required; just bring your curiosity and an openness to seeing the world anew. By the end of the walk, you may find yourself noticing more wherever you go, with a deeper appreciation for the extraordinary in the everyday.

[In-person tour] Join Anthony W. Robins for this walk across the tracts of the upper Upper West Side, from the mid 80s to the low 100s. We see work by such stalwart Manhattan Deco icons as Sugarman & Berger, Boak & Paris, and Harvey Wiley Corbett, as well as architects less well known for their Deco productions, including Emery Roth and Rosario Candela. Highlights include Roth’s Normandy Apartments and Corbett’s Master Apartments; the Broadway Fashion Building — four-stories of commercial space in a Moderne glass box; Boak & Paris’s Midtown (now Metro) Theater; and one of Manhattan’s last surviving Horn & Hardart automat buildings, with splendid Art Deco terra-cotta. If you’ve taken our tour of Art Deco on Central Park West, and wondered what else might be out there closer to the Hudson, this is your chance to find out. Mr. Robins is the author of “New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham’s Jazz Age 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] Our second walk celebrating New York City’s first historic district with architectural historian Matt Postal ventures south of Montague Street, including the charming residential enclave known as “Willowtown.” Though somewhat lesser known than the blocks to the north, this picturesque area is equally rich in history and has a more varied aesthetic character, with colonnaded row houses, a mews street or two, notable churches by architects Richard Upjohn and James Renwick, Jr., and A. T. White's Riverside – a model tenement complex that was one of New York's earliest attempts at affordable housing.

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] The little town of Taos in New Mexico became a beloved home for many artists for many decades. The first ‘Taos Society of Artists’ already settled here in 1915, focusing on landscape painting and the direct experience of Native American life and the American frontier men. But it was illustrious Mable Dodge, arriving just a few years later, who turned this colony into a major mecca for non conventional modern artists, attracting writers like D. H. Lawrence as well as fine artists and photographers. Key members of this group were outstanding masters like Paul Strand and Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, Marden Hartly, Maynard Dixon and Ansel Adams. [This is Part 3 of a 4-part series ""Pioneering American Art Communities.""]

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] Winding up the western coast of Manhattan, Riverside Drive has more than just sweeping views of the Hudson River and the Palisades. With tour guide Zack Rhodes we will visit numerous religious institutions, a Beaux Arts fraternity house, a resting place for a U.S. President, and a memorial to New York’s Bravest. While passing through multiple historic districts which inspired the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you will view statues honoring larger than life New Yorkers, a marble mansion whose prohibition era tunnels lead to the river, and a lost art museum.

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 Upper East Side never attracted as much Art Deco flash as its west-side counterpart, but tucked among the Beaux-Arts town houses and sedate neo-Georgian apartment buildings the neighborhood has some remarkable examples, including an apartment house by Raymond Hood; one of Manhattan's very few Art Deco town houses; the elegant Carlyle Hotel; and apartment houses by Sloan & Robertson, Horace Ginsbern, Henry S. Churchill, and George and Edward Blum - the latter being among the very first Art Deco apartment buildings anywhere in the city. Mr. Robins is the author of ""New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham's Jazz Age 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 northern blocks of Fifth Avenue are a quasi-institutional acropolis, a cluster of regal museums and medical organizations that settled on Central Park at the start of the 20th century. Join architectural historian Matt Postal for a look at a varied group of distinguished artworks and edifices, including the Academy of Medicine, the Heckscher Foundation for Children (now Museo El Barrio), and Flower-Fifth Avenue Hospital. Our route also includes a peek inside the Conservatory Gardens, which displays relics from two lost Gilded Age mansions. We conclude at the new (and acclaimed) Davis Center at the Harlem Meer in Central Park.

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] Rediscover this neighborhood south of Houston Street (SoHo), once a high-end residential neighborhood, then commercial district, and now a destination for shopping and entertainment. Travel back in time with tour guide Ginny Poleman and start at the early 19th century home of FDR’s great-grandfather; visit the SoHo Cast Iron historic district; see a building designed by the renowned architectural firm McKim, Mead & White; admire the Beaux Arts beauty of the former 1909 NYPD police headquarters; check-out a contemporary interpretation of 19th century architecture; and hear the stories along the way.

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.

Join the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) on Thursday, August 7 from 1:00 PM-4:00 PM at Brooklyn Public Library – Greenpoint Branch for an afternoon of exploring the use of civic technology in public space advocacy through the NYC Public Space app. New York City is home to a diverse array of public spaces, including city parks, street plazas, Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS), national parks, state parks, and more. With the NYC Public Space app, for the first time users can explore all of these spaces in one easy-to-use map as well as contribute photos and descriptions to help build an even more comprehensive guide to New York City’s public areas. At the meetup, app creator Chris Whong will discuss his work as a technologist and how the project came to be. Then, attendees will head outside to explore and observe public spaces in the Greenpoint and Williamsburg area using the app.

[In-person tour] From Manhattan’s first historic district, Sniffen Court, to Beekman Place, this tour with architecture historian Matt Postal considers some of New York more unusual and desirable residential enclaves. Steps from the busy streets of midtown, we’ll view picturesque residences that challenged traditional lifestyles and the ever-present urban grid, including converted stables, Tudor City, Turtle Bay Gardens, and a gravity-defying constructivist penthouse by Paul Rudolph.

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] From 1933-1957, near a lake in Asheville, NC, one of the most experimental colleges brought together pioneering teachers, students and visiting artists in the US, who share communal living, learning and creativity, very similar to an art colony. Together they changed the direction of modern art, including poetry, music, and performance. Black Mountain College bridged the spirit of the Bauhaus School and Abstract Expressionism. Some of the most famous associated artists are Josef and Anni Albers, Buckminster Fuller, Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage and Merce Cunningham, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Ruth Asawa, John Chamberlain, Aaron Siskind, Jacob Lawrence, and others. [This is Part 4 of a 4-part series ""Pioneering American Art Communities.""]

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] With the Second Avenue subway, the MTA Arts & Design public arts program had its most unique opportunity since its founding in the 1980s. This was a chance to design three subway stations from below the ground up! Part of that $4.5-billion project was commissioning four artists to create artworks that would enliven the new or renovated stations along the extended Q line. On this tour with Phil Desiere you will discover, among other things, the possible reason why traditional subway tiles are not used at these new stations, and how the artists’ mosaic designs are integrated into the walls of stations throughout the system. Beat the heat - All four stations are fully air-conditioned!

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] Serpentining up the western coast of Manhattan, Riverside Drive has more than just sweeping views of the Hudson River and the Palisades. With tour guide Zack Rhodes, we will visit numerous centers for religious education, former mansions for New York's most powerful residents, private homes that became consulates, and a memorial to a former First Lady. While passing through multiple historic districts you will view William Randolph Heart's former residence, gaze at Riverside Park, the setting for the final Seinfeld episode, a home multiple Broadway stars have owned, and discover a park named after a French heroine.

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] Residents of the Italian-American neighborhoods along Arthur Avenue in the Bronx are the guardians of what some would call New York’s “real Little Italy.” Home to Doo-Wop music and authentic Italian restaurants and shops, many of the area’s businesses has have been family owned and operated for generations. Join guide Alexandra Maruri as we explore the history of this vibrant Bronx neighborhood. Arthur Avenue was recognized as one of “America’s Great Streets” by the American Planning Association.

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] Join MAS Director of Tours Ted Mineau as we stroll a section of Manhattan’s Hudson River waterfront. Once part of the bustling harbor that made New York the international city it is today, then the victim of mid-20th century decay and dilapidated piers, now re-energized as a public park, the Hudson River waterfront is the place to be, especially on a summer Sunday morning.

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 mid-1800s, a large immigrant population from what is now Germany settled on the lower east side of Manhattan, in what was called ""Kleindeutschland,"" (""Little Germany,"") and is now known as the East Village. At one point, New York had the 3rd largest German-speaking population in the world, after Berlin and Vienna. Join historian James Russiello to learn more about this often-overlooked immigrant group, their influences on New York, and what became of them.

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 John Kilcullen of NYC Parks for a look at some of Staten Island's beautiful historic homes of different architectural styles and the stately trees that complement them. Along the way, we'll see two landmarked properties, NYC's oldest cricket club, and a home that was a stop on the Underground Railroad. John will show historic photos so you can see how much the trees have grown over the years, as well as any changes to the homes. This gentle downhill stroll is convenient to both transportation and food. Can you tell the difference between a copper beech and an Eastern hemlock? After this tour you will!

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] Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is probably the most well-known artist and designer from the creative Aesthetic Movement and Art Nouveau periods of the late 19th and early 20th century. His company’s contributions to the decorative arts through his use of his trademarked Favrile glass remain unparalleled. The Tiffany Studios in Queens produced lamps and lighting, glassware, jewelry, and of course, stained glass windows, both sacred and secular. All this beauty and craft didn’t come cheap. Homeowners, organizations and houses of worship with Tiffany glass windows paid handsomely for them. Upstate Troy NY, as one of the wealthiest cities in the country at the time, has one of the world’s largest collections of Tiffany windows. They are in churches, private homes, cemeteries and civic buildings. One of our churches not only has windows, but the entire interior, walls, windows, ceilings and floor were by Tiffany, as well. It is magnificent. Join former Brooklyn writer, now Troy citizen Suzanne Spellen for this virtual tour featuring some of the great Tiffany treasures the city has to offer and the stories behind their creation.

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] Follow tour guide Ginny Poleman as she takes you on a walking tour of the Gilded Age mansions OFF 5th Avenue, still standing and now serving as institutions, art galleries, and one as the Ralph Lauren men’s flagship store. Using vintage images, we’ll see homes built for names like Vanderbilt, Astor, and Roosevelt, as well as some designed by notable architects like CPH Gilbert, Stanford White, Ogden Codman, and the New York Public Library’s architects, Carrère & Hastings.

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.