Tuesday, March 10th, 6pm – A History of Queens: Rural County, Urban Borough with Laura Helm

In celebration of the late Jeffrey A. Kroessler’s book Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens, his widow Laura Heim will discuss the unique production process and engaging content of this first comprehensive history of the great borough of Queens.  A former wetland, Queens today is a crowded cityscape of dense urban neighborhoods and suburban sprawl. Rural County, Urban Borough is a history of place, charting the rapid transformation of the Queens landscape, identifying what drove the borough’s development, from public infrastructure, architecture, and transportation to technological innovation and urban planning. 

Tuesday, March 24th 6pm – Albert Bard, Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Secret Love, and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero  – a conversation with author Anthony Wood and New York Landmarks Conservancy President, Peg Breen.

In this program, Peg Breen will interview Anthony Wood about his biography, Servant Of Beauty about Albert Sprague Bard, a key figure in New York City’s historic preservation movement, focusing on his public advocacy for landmarks and his impact.  They will discuss Bard’s decades-long fight against powerful figures like Robert Moses, which led to the landmark NYC Landmarks Law of 1965, while also exploring his secret love for a younger man and involvement in a spy scandal. Servant of Beauty reveals Bard as an unsung hero who championed the city’s architectural heritage and scenic beauty, a story that intertwines civic action with private life and espionage.  Presented in Partnership with The New York Landmarks Conservancy and The New York Preservation Archive Project.

Tuesday, April 14th 6pm– Fabulous Fountains of New York with Stephanie Azzarone and Robert Rodriguez

Writer Stephanie Azzarone and photographer, Robert Rodriguez will discuss their joint collaboration, Fabulous Fountains of New York, highlighting the history and design of the city’s most wondrous waterworks and what makes them special. Publishers Weekly called it “a joyful and informative tribute to the city’s waterworks” and “an enamoring and enthusiastic ode to one small slice of the Big Apple.” The New York Post celebrated its more scandalous tales (and there are many!).

Tuesday, April 21st 6pm – Duchamp Takes New York with writer John Strausbaugh

Award-winning writer John Strausbaugh will discuss his new book Duchamp Takes New York, published to coincide with a major MoMA retrospective.  The book revisits the artist who upended modern art, and the city that made it possible. Marcel Duchamp broke with tradition and pushed the avant-garde decisively forward. When his work exploded like an art bomb in New York in the 1910s, American art was still mired in the nineteenth century. Duchamp Takes New York traces this bold, playful energy, showing how the city inspired and staged his avant-garde experiments. 

April 28th Along the Hudson: Walking Manhattan’s Western Waterfront with William Hennessey

Writer William Hennessey will discuss his engaging book, Along the Hudson, which takes readers on eight fascinating walks along Manhattan’s Hudson waterfront, with stops along the way to explore its architecture, infrastructure, and history. Author William Hennessey is an architectural historian and retired museum director. He has authored two previous guidebooks, Walking Broadway: Thirteen Miles of Architecture and History and Fifth Avenue: From Washington Square to Marcus Garvey Park. He frequently gives walking tours along the Hudson.

Wednesday, June 3, 6pm – Stone, Ancient Practice to Modern Mastery with Richard Rhodes

In this perceptive and illustrative look at the expressive and practical use of stone throughout history,  sculptor Richard Rhodes will unlocks the underlying principles of this ancient material—and will explain the closely guarded “Sacred Rules.”  The relationship between mankind and stone is elemental and deeply ingrained in us all. Stone, after all, has been the primary building material for more than five thousand years of human history, and it continues to record our triumphs and failures. In this searching history, Rhodes—a sculptor, stonemason, and scholar of stonework—explores how stone is best used today and throughout history.  Presented in Partnership with the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture (ICAA).