Anthony W. Robins

Tour: Art Deco on the Upper West Upper West Side (that's not a typo)
2016-04-03 10:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by the Art Deco Society of New York (ADSNY). Reservations required – click here.
A meandering walk across the upper west tracts of the Upper West Side between Broadway and Riverside Drive, from West 85th to 103rd streets. 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; Joan of Arc Junior High School; 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

Tour: The Woolworth Building and its Lobby
2016-03-20 14:00 - 15:30 | Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York
Reservations required (click here, then scroll down to “90-Minute Tour,” click on “Book Now,” select the date “Sun. March 20,” then click (again) on “Book Now”).
Tour of the Woolworth Building , closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling. For more, see the blog post.

SOLD OUT Tour: Manhattan's Art Deco Interiors
2016-03-13 14:00
Sponsored by the Municipal Art Society. Reservations required. To register, call 212-935-3960 or register on-line.
The phrase “Art Deco New York” generally conjures romantic images of Manhattan skyscrapers. But just as remarkable as the towers are their sumptuous interiors – which are also far more comfortable to visit on a cold winter’s day. On this tour, we’ll visit the publicly accessible interiors of not quite half a dozen Deco marvels: the Daily News Building, the Chrysler Building, the Chanin Building, the General Electric Building and the Waldorf-Astoria.

Tour: The Woolworth Building and its Lobby
2016-03-06 14:00 - 15:30 | Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York
Reservations required (click here, then scroll down to “90-Minute Tour,” click on “Book Now,” select the date “Sun. March 6,” then click (again) on “Book Now”).
Tour of the Woolworth Building , closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling. For more, see the blog post.

Tour: The Woolworth Building and its Lobby
2016-02-28 14:00 - 15:30 | Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York
Reservations required (click here).
Tour of the Woolworth Building , closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling. For more, see the blog post.

SOLD OUT Tour: The Woolworth Building and its Lobby
2016-02-28 12:00 - 13:30
Reservations required (click here).
Special tour just for the Municipal Art Society. A tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling. For more on the Woolworth Building, see the blog post.

Course: Urban Genealogy - Learn how to research New York buildings - Session No. 4
2016-02-23 18:00 - 19:45 | Municipal Art Society, 488 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10022
Reservations required – click here.
Learn how to unearth detailed information about New York City buildings in four Tuesday evening lectures in February (2, 9, 16, 23) 6:00 to 7:45 p.m., plus one weekday morning field trip. The four evening sessions include: The Building: an introduction to the records of the Department of Buildings. The Client: weaving your way through deeds, directories, obituaries, Who’s Who, and local histories. The Architect: using standard texts, guidebooks, periodicals, the Avery Index, and Committee for the Preservation of Architectural Records publications. Miscellaneous Sources: using photograph collections, maps, New York City archives, libraries and historical societies, and early 19th century tax assessment records. Field Trip: Manhattan Department of Buildings, New York City Conveyance Records, the Municipal Archives and the Municipal Reference Library.
This annual seminar has been running for 30 years. Participants have included architects, engineers, building owners, preservation advocates, lawyers and landmarks commissioners and even a New York City detective.
Sponsored by the Municipal Art Society. Click here for more details, or call 1-212-935-3960.

Course: Urban Genealogy - Learn how to research New York buildings - Session No. 3
2016-02-16 18:00 - 19:45 | Municipal Art Society, 488 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10022

Tour: The Woolworth Building and its Lobby
2016-02-14 14:00 - 15:30, 2016-01-31 14:00 - 15:30, 2016-01-17 14:00 - 15:30, 2015-12-20 14:00 - 15:30 | Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York
Reservations required (click here).
Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling. For more, see the blog post.

Course: Urban Genealogy - Learn how to research New York buildings - Session No. 2
2016-02-09 18:00 - 19:45 | Municipal Art Society, 488 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10022

RESCHEDULED POST-BLIZZARD! Tour: Manhattan's Art Deco Interiors
2016-02-07 14:00 - 16:00
Sponsored by the Municipal Art Society. Reservations required. To register, call 212-935-3960 or click here.
The phrase “Art Deco New York” generally conjures romantic images of Manhattan skyscrapers. But just as remarkable as the towers are their sumptuous interiors – which are also far more comfortable to visit on a cold winter’s day. On this tour, we’ll visit the publicly accessible interiors of not quite half a dozen Deco marvels: the Daily News Building, the Chrysler Building, the Chanin Building, the General Electric Building and the Waldorf-Astoria.

Course: Urban Genealogy - Learn how to research New York buildings - Session No. 1
2016-02-02 18:00 - 19:45 | Municipal Art Society, 488 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10022

SOLD OUT Tour: The Woolworth Building and its Lobby
2015-12-27 14:00 - 15:30
Reservations required (click here).
Special tour just for the MAS. A tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling. For more on the Woolworth Building, see the blog post.

Tour: Rockefeller Center
2015-12-25 10:00
Sponsored by the Municipal Art Society. Reservations required. To register, call 212-935-3960, or click here to register on-line.
Rockefeller Center — New York’s urbane urban wonderland — is full of surprising history, remarkable art and stunning architecture. Conceived as a new home for the Metropolitan Opera, but built instead as Radio City, Rockefeller Center is a private real estate venture that has evolved into the public square of Midtown Manhattan.

Tour: The Woolworth Building and its Lobby
2015-10-25 14:00 - 15:30, 2015-09-27 14:00 - 15:30, 2015-09-20 14:00 - 15:30, 2015-08-16 14:00 - 15:30, 2015-08-02 14:00 - 15:30, 2015-07-19 14:00 - 15:30, 2015-07-12 14:00 - 15:30 | Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York
Reservations required – click here.
Tour of the Woolworth Building lobby, closed to the public for more than a decade and now open again. The tour includes a detailed look at the building’s unmatched polychromatic terra-cotta exterior, and an in-depth exploration of the lobby and its wealth of ornament, including hidden corners and staircases — plus a special visit to the mezzanine level for an up-close view of its extraordinary mosaic ceiling. For more, see the blog post. And an article by David Dunlap in the New York Times that appeared New Years Day!

Tour: Art Deco on the Upper Upper West Side (that's not a typo)
2015-10-25 10:30 - 12:30
Sponsored by the Municipal Art Society (M.A.S.) Reservations required – click here. $30 ($20 MAS members).
A meandering walk across the upper west tracts of the Upper West Side, from West 85th to 103rd streets. 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; Joan of Arc Junior High School; 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

Tour: Bus tour of Art Deco Brooklyn (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
2015-10-04 13:00 - 17:00
Sponsored by the Art Deco Society of New York. Reservations required – click here to be taken to the Art Deco Society “events” web site, and scroll down to “Bus Tour.”
Once a separate city, today New York’s most populous borough, Brooklyn flourished mightily during the 1920s and ’30s. This bus tour takes in samples of Brooklyn’s best Deco: apartment houses that can rival the Bronx; a phone company headquarters by Ralph Walker that can rival his lower Manhattan behemoths; a small but stunning skyscraper by one of the architects of Rockefeller Center; a department store; an elevated subway station, and more.
$75 ($55 members of ADSNY, $35 “Young Deco Friends”; $60 “Young Deco Friends” guests)

Tour: Art Deco 42nd Street
2015-09-20 10:30 - 12:30
Reservations required. $30 ($20 MAS members)
A walk along midtown Manhattan’s major boulevard of Art Deco skyscrapers. Star architect of the walk is crusty modernist Raymond Hood; we will visit three of his four skyscrapers: the Daily News, American Radiator, and McGraw-Hill. Star building, once the world’s tallest, is the one and only Chrysler, whose architect, William Van Alen, was once called the Ziegfeld of his profession. We will also visit the Chanin and Paramount Buildings, and a few others. For information: 212-935-3960, or click here for a direct link to sign up for the tour.

Tour: What's Up Downtown: From the Battery to Wall Street in Lower Manhattan
2015-08-02 10:30
Reservations required – click here. $20 ($15 for MAS members)
From the spectacular skyline up in the air to archaeological relics down underground, lower Manhattan remains one of the world’s great urban treasures. This tour will visit well-known highlights as well as some unexpected delights, including two sites associated with George Washington.

Tour: Art Deco in Manhattan's Financial District
2015-07-31 10:30
Reservations required – click here. $20 ($15 for MAS members)
Towering above the narrow streets of 17th-century Nieuw Amsterdam are some of the city’s finest 20th century skyscrapers. Included are the best of Ralph Walker, once voted the “architect of the century” by his peers: the delightfully decorative New York Telephone Company headquarters, the ponderously massive Western Union Building, the Gothic-modern fantasy of the Irving Trust tower at No. 1 Wall Street and the Art Deco encrusted Cities Service headquarters.

Lecture: Art Deco New York – From the Chrysler Building to the Grand Concourse
2015-07-28 14:00 - 15:15 | Oceanside Library, 30 Davison Avenue, Oceanside, NY, 11572
Art Deco today can refer to anything from saltcellars to skyscrapers, produced anywhere in the world during the early decades of the last century, using abstract, stylized floral, geometric, or streamlined design. In New York, Art Deco evolved through a series of Manhattan skyscrapers into the city’s chief architectural language. Following a massive reawakening of interest during the 1970s, New York’s Deco buildings today survive as prized remnants of a distant-yet-modern past that still helps to define the city’s visual identity.
This lecture covers the great skyscrapers of architects Raymond Hood, William Van Alen, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Ralph Walker, including the Daily News, Empire State, Irving Trust, General Electric, American Radiator, Barclay-Vesey and RCA Buildings. It then traces the adaptation of this “skyscraper style” through apartment buildings on the Bronx’s Grand Concourse, airport terminals at LaGuardia, the Central Park West residential skyline, automated midtown parking garages, diners, hotels, department stores, banks and theaters like Radio City Music Hall.
