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. |
