Ian Shapolsky and Mona Wyatt |
Christine
Cachot Williams and
James Deutch |
Coralie
Charriol and Susan Shin |
Charlotte
and Philip Howard |
MUNICIPAL
ART SOCIETY
Urbanists Party
In The Magic Room
Text
by Roger Webster
Photos by Chris London
 HE
Municipal Art Society’s Urbanists New York at Night party was
appropriately held in the aerie of one of the city's newer
architectural gems, the Magic Room of the LVMH Tower at 19 East
57th Street, designed by Pritzker-laureate Christian de
Portzamparc and erected in 1999. The 30-foot-high space
encompassing the top two floors of the tower features amazing
views of Manhattan and New Jersey.
The Urbanists is a
junior arm of the MAS, a group of young professionals who are
passionate about urban planning, contemporary architecture,
historic preservation and public art.
It was a
lighthearted evening with lofty ambitions. The hosts included Christine
Cachot Williams, James Deutch, Susan Shin, Justin
Rockefeller, Whitney Potter, Dennis Paul, Jennifer
Spiegel, Michael Arad, Jennifer Roesner, Rahul Baig,
Ruth Bradley, Thomas Ellis, Janine Clemow, John
de Neufville, Sarah Cornell, Coralie Charriol, Nicole
Fusaro, Lori Greenberg, Brian Hartmann, Katherine
Jordan, Regan Lynn, Joyce Misrahi, John Moore,
Edgar Nelms, Marc Norman and Gregg Solomon.
MAS chairman Philip
K. Howard announced a competition for the old Farley Post
Office at 32d Street. “The half facing Madison Square Garden
will be the new Moynihan Train Station, but what do with the huge
western half, itself a four-acre footprint? A new opera house? A
museum? Wal-Mart? Trump something? The MAS Urbanists will run a
competition for ideas and designs.”
Guests included Mona
Wyatt, Nicole Nehrig, Karla Farach, Baroness Sheri
de Borchgrave, Sarah Cornell, Jade Cantor, Ian
Shapolsky, film critic Neal Rosen, Jane Johnstone,
Roger Webster and Charlotte Howard, who told
Manhattan Society editor and founder Christopher London how
happy she was with her new position at The Economist.
Feng Shui designer
and fashionista Laura Lee Ross, always on the lookout for a
new trend, noted that there were several bunny fur capes or small
cut jackets.
“Funny, I don't
know if they are a fashion craze, but I do know that I haven't
seen so many since my elementary school cotillion. Nobody can
start a fad as fast as young girls,” she laughed.
Support for the
evening and items for the silent auction came from LVMH, Moet
Chandon, Marc Jacobs, Johnnie Walker Green, Circ vodka,
Tanqueray Ten, Dwell Magazine, Fresh cosmetics, Morgans Hotel New
York, Sephora and Neuhaus chocolates, American Ballet Theater,
Asia de Cuba and Tavern on the Green. The caterer was Entertaining
Ideas and event designer Kevin Calica.
It is the Municipal
Art Society that sponsors the Tribute in Light projects, which
sends the two giant beams of light shining upward from Battery
Park City every September 11 to honor those who perished on 9/11,
as well as those who worked so hard to get our city through its
greatest trial. More information at www.mas.org. |
