Urban Center Draws Its Curtains Closed

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G. Sulzberger </address> <time class="dateline " datetime="2010-01-14T19:17:42+00:00" itemprop="datePublished">January 14, 2010 2:17 pm</time> <span class="visually-hidden updated">January 14, 2010 2:17 pm</span> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <div class="w190 right"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2010/01/14/nyregion/urban.190.jpg" alt="Urban Center"><span class="credit">Margot Wellington</span> <span class="caption">Urban Center Books, which is about to close, was among the draws at the center. </span></div> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">Three decades ago, the Urban Center opened with two exhibits that projected dueling visions of the brick and mortar future of the city. </p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">In one, an elaborate plastic model of Grand Central Terminal was designed to crumble to pieces repeatedly. The other celebrated six prominent planned additions to the New York City skyline, including what became the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.</p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">Conceived as a gathering place for the architecturally inclined and civic minded, the Urban Center was a place where architects, designers, planners, developers and advocates met — replacing the exclusive confines of lunch tables and cocktail parties with a public space in a building itself imbued with architectural significance — to discuss, among other things, how to keep some landmarks from falling, while encouraging others to grow. <span id="more-120501"></span> </p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">On Friday, this space will end its run as a gathering place for exhibits, lectures, design presentations and panel discussions — attracting more then 50,000 people annually — as the <a href="https://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/municipal_art_society/index.html?inline=nyt-org" class="tickerized" title="More articles about Municipal Art Society">Municipal Art Society</a>, which has run the Urban Center in the three ground-floor rooms in a wing of the historic Villard Houses since 1980, moves to a more modest home on West 57th Street.</p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">“Many of the big debates over urban design and planning in New York were talked about and advanced here at the Urban Center,” said <a href="https://mas.org/municipal-art-society-names-new-president/">Vin Cipolla</a>, president of the <a href="https://www.mas.org/">Municipal Art Society</a>. </p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">The home has been appropriately symbolic. The art society led the push to save <a href="https://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID010.htm">the 1884 Villard Houses</a> at Madison Avenue and 51st Street, which were designed by McKim, Mead & White, from being torn down to make way for the New York Palace Hotel. </p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">Margot Wellington, who was executive director of the art society at the time, said that after the hotel’s developer, Harry B. Helmsley, agreed to keep the buildings intact adjacent to his hotel, he suggested that the art society become one of the new tenants. The organization accepted — signing a favorable long-term lease — and filled the rest of the north wing of the U-shaped Renaissance Revival brownstones with like-minded groups like the <a href="https://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_institute_of_architects/index.html?inline=nyt-org" class="tickerized" title="More articles about American Institute of Architects">American Institute of Architects</a>, the Architecture League and the Parks Council. The shared space downstairs became known as the Urban Center.</p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">“It was kind of a crossroads,” Ms. Wellington said in an interview. “It made all of us so much stronger than any of us had ever been. It was all possible because of the Urban Center.” </p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">Also closing, on Jan. 23, is <a href="https://www.urbancenterbooks.org/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1">Urban Center Books</a>, perhaps the city’s best-known architecture and design bookstore, which will remain online as the art society searches for a new location. <a href="https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/kayden/index.html">Jerold S. Kayden</a>, a professor of urban planning and design at the <a href="https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/">Harvard University Graduate School of Design</a>, said the store was a dream for browsers and a good spot to run into friends and colleagues. “The substitution from brick to click is sad,” he said.</p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">Those involved with the center said it played a key role in high-profile efforts like pushing to have the theaters in Times Square declared landmarks and fighting the construction of a huge tower in Columbus Circle. “Most of the great campaigns, whether it was preserving a landmark, protecting the waterfront, saving a park or supporting affordable housing, it all happened in this building,” said Kent Barwick, a former longtime president of the art society.</p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">In recent years, however, there have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/arts/design/29municipal.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=robin%20municipal%20arts%20society&st=cse">persistent questions about the effectiveness of the organization</a>. </p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">Regardless, the loss of the gathering spot has been mourned in the architecture and design field. “That’s a good run, a 30-year run — one can only celebrate the fact that this wonderful building remained intact and was put to good use,” said Randall Bourscheidt, president of the <a href="https://www.allianceforarts.org/">Alliance for the Arts</a>. “The reality is, even in the age of the Internet, there is really no substitute for bringing people together to the same place to talk.”</p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">The art society is planning to search for a permanent meeting space, hoping to secure something by the middle of next year, Mr. Cipolla said. </p> <p class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody">In the meantime, Rick Bell, the executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which left the Villard Houses years ago, said that in recent years a number of nonprofit groups, including his own organization’s <a href="https://cfa.aiany.org/index.php?section=center-for-architecture">Center for Architecture</a>, had created other spaces where the public could meet to discuss issues of urban development. “The urban center became our model,” he said. “From the outset, it was a place where people could collaborate and strive to make a better city.” </p> </div> <footer class="entry-footer"> <div id="sharetools-post-footer" class="sharetools theme-classic" data-shares="show-all|Share" data-url="//cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/urban-center-draw-its-curtains-closed/" data-title="Urban Center Draws Its Curtains Closed" data-description="On Friday, the Municipal Art Society will move to a more modest home on West 57th Street."> </div> <div class="footer-tags"> </div> </footer> </article> <div id="respond" class="comments-closed"> <p>Comments are no longer being accepted.</p> </div> <div id="legacy-comments" class="entry-comments module"> <div class="the-comment alt" id="comment-598041"> <div class="comment-meta"> <span class="comment-author">The Municipal Art Society of New York</span> <span class="comment-link"> <a href="#comment-598041" title="Comment Permalink"> <span class="comment-date">January 14, 2010</span> <span class="comment-middot">·</span> <span class="comment-time">2:45 pm</span> </a> </span> </div> <div class="comment-content" style="display:block;"> <p>The Municipal Art Society expects to reopen its bookstore, Urban Center Books, in a new location by the fall. Urban Center Books will continue to have an online presence at <a href="https://www.urbancenterbooks.org" rel="nofollow">//www.urbancenterbooks.org</a>, and we hope our patrons visit us online until the store reopens. Check the UCB web site for updates on the move.</p> <p>Until we vacate the Villard Houses on January 23, 2010, Urban Center Books is holding a sale with 40% off all stock. We hope to see you before the move. </p> <p>Thank you for your patronage over the past decades, </p> <p>The Municipal Art Society of New York</p> </div> </div>  <div class="the-comment" id="comment-598053"> <div class="comment-meta"> <span class="comment-author">john the bicyclist</span> <span class="comment-link"> <a href="#comment-598053" title="Comment Permalink"> <span class="comment-date">January 14, 2010</span> <span class="comment-middot">·</span> <span class="comment-time">3:13 pm</span> </a> </span> </div> <div class="comment-content" style="display:block;"> <p>My dad used to work for the Archdiocese in the Villard Houses, and about twenty years later, as a young architect, I would go there too to browse books and exhibitions. Now it is off limits to me and my kind! These are sad days in New York. More and more of the city is becoming inaccessible…</p> </div> </div>  <div class="the-comment alt" id="comment-598105"> <div class="comment-meta"> <span class="comment-author">Lew Silverman</span> <span class="comment-link"> <a href="#comment-598105" title="Comment Permalink"> <span class="comment-date">January 14, 2010</span> <span class="comment-middot">·</span> <span class="comment-time">4:54 pm</span> </a> </span> </div> <div class="comment-content" style="display:block;"> <p>I worked for MAS in the mid-80’s; walking into the Villard House every morning was a treat unto itself.</p> <p>I’m sad to see that they are leaving; hopefully, MAS will stay as strong and vibrant moving forward.</p> </div> </div>  <div class="the-comment" id="comment-598391"> <div class="comment-meta"> <span class="comment-author">EM</span> <span class="comment-link"> <a href="#comment-598391" title="Comment Permalink"> <span class="comment-date">January 15, 2010</span> <span class="comment-middot">·</span> <span class="comment-time">12:10 pm</span> </a> </span> </div> <div class="comment-content" style="display:block;"> <p>While I believe the MAS has the best intention to find a new home for Urban Center Books, I urge all those who hope to see bookstore open again write to the Society to let them know what an important role this bookstore has in the professional and academic architecture community.</p> </div> </div>  <div class="the-comment alt" id="comment-598393"> <div class="comment-meta"> <span class="comment-author">Philip Briggs</span> <span class="comment-link"> <a href="#comment-598393" title="Comment Permalink"> <span class="comment-date">January 15, 2010</span> <span class="comment-middot">·</span> <span class="comment-time">12:12 pm</span> </a> </span> </div> <div class="comment-content" style="display:block;"> <p>I worked as an architectural intern in New York twenty years ago, and one of my favorite things to do on my lunch hour was to walk uptown to the Urban Center bookstore: a wonderful place to browse in a beautiful historic building. I am sad to see it go and hope they find a new brick & mortar home soon.</p> </div> </div>  </div>  <section id="whats-next" class="whats-next nocontent robots-nocontent"> <h2 class="visually-hidden">What's Next</h2> <div class="nocontent robots-nocontent"> <div class="loader-container"> <div class="loader loader-t-logo-32x32-ecedeb-ffffff"><span class="visually-hidden">Loading...</span></div> </div> </div>  </section> </div>  </div>  <div class="cColumn nocontent robots-nocontent"> <aside> <div class="postNavigation"> <ul class="opposingFloatControl wrap"> <li class="element1"> <span class="previous">Previous Post</span> <div class="arrow arrow-left"> <div class="arrow-conceal"></div> </div> <a class="postTitle" href="https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/answers-about-improv-everywhere-part-2/" title="Answers About Improv Everywhere, Part 2"> Answers About Improv Everywhere, Part 2 </a> </li> <li class="element2"> <span class="next">Next Post</span> <div class="arrow arrow-right"> <div class="arrow-conceal"></div> </div> <a class="postTitle" href="https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/the-bratwursts-and-strudels-of-yore/" title="The Bratwursts and Strudels of Yore"> The Bratwursts and Strudels of Yore </a> </li> </ul> </div> <div id="nyt_promo_widget-8" class="module nocontent widget_nyt_promo_widget"> <h4 class="moduleHeader">Looking for New York Today?</h4> <div class="entry"> <h5><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/nytoday">New York Today</a></h5> <p class="summary">New York Today is still going strong! 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Urban Center Draws Its Curtains Closed - The New York Times