The Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich (RMA) will host Francis Morrone speaking on “The Historic Buildings of Central Greenwich,” on Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 1 West Putnam Ave.
Francis Morrone, architectural historian, critic, and preservationist will discuss the historic buildings of downtown Greenwich and the works of the architects who designed them. He will also address the urbanistic qualities that make Greenwich Avenue a successful suburban “high street.”
Morrone is author of twelve books, including Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes (2013) and, with Henry Hope Reed, The New York Public Library: The Architecture and Decoration of the Stephen M. Schwarzman Building (2011), as well as several architectural guidebooks to Brooklyn and to Philadelphia. Recently, he completed the monumental study A History of the East Village and Its Architecture.
For six years, he was art and architecture critic for the New York Sun, and his writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, City Journal, American Arts Quarterly, the New Criterion, Humanities, the New York Times, and many other publications. Collectively, his work represents one of the most comprehensive bodies of research on the built history of New York City. He is the recipient of the Arthur Ross Award of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, the Landmarks Lion Award of the Historic Districts Council, and the Excellence in Teaching Award at the New York University School of Professional Studies where he taught for nineteen years. In 2011 he was named by Travel and Leisure Magazine “one of the 13 best tour guides in the world.”
Morrone is also known for his scholarship on Edith Wharton and on the musical history of New York City. He has lived for forty years in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The Greenwich Retired Men’s Association offers a free program every Wednesday that is open to the public; no reservations are required. For additional information, visit greenwichrma.org or contact info@greenwichrma.org
