Barry Lewis’ “live” tour of this website
(requires Flash 8 Player Click Here to Get Flash.)

Barry Lewis is available for lectures, conferences, seminars and other types of speaking engagements.

Possible lecture topics
Past speaking engagements

The Avant/Garde Diaries

Barry Lewis - The Jefferson Market Courthouse

Barry Lewis fell in love with architecture in 1960s France. Admittedly, one would be hard pressed not fall in love with the architecture of that famed city, in any decade or century. But when he returned to New York, Lewis found a similarly rich – if less celebrated – history in that city’s Greenwhich Village neighborhood. For The Avant/Garde Diaries, Lewis takes us on a jaunty tour of the famed Jefferson Market Courthouse, a striking building known for exposing its structure of unadorned bright red brick. “Back in the 1870s,” he says, “that was a shocker. It laid down the principle of today’s design: treat your materials with respect.”

Produced by Kitty Bolhoefer / Filmed by Fridolin Schoepper / Editing by Konterfei / Music by Carlos Bruck

Upcoming events for the public:

The City Transformed, Part One, Fall 2013 / New York from Colonial Days to the 1890s
(Series of 8 lectures / series only available)

Wednesdays 6:30pm-8:00pm Oct 2-Nov 20, 2013.    

Registration for Fall 2013 Continuing Education classes begins September 4th until September 23rd, 2013.

The Cooper Union switchboard, 1-212-353-4195, is open Mon-Fri 10:30am-5:30pm.

A live link to Cooper Union’s website will be posted when it becomes available.

The Cooper Union switchboard, 1-212-353-4195, is open Mon-Fri 10:30am-5:30pm.

New York — its buildings, planning and growth from Colonial times through 1890. Looking at the city through the lens of architectural history we’ll see both styles and the city evolve over 250 years. Taking off as a modern metropolis after the Erie Canal opened in 1825, New York sported the latest architectural styles as well as city planning ideals. Between New York and its sister city, Brooklyn, America was being given models of style, urban growth and city planning that would influence the entire nation.

For a detailed course curriculum, click on the upper left tab, Courses/Cooper Union Continuing Education.

Art Moderne: 1930s Modernism
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 5:00pm
New-York Historical Society

The 1930s saw Modernism veer away from the brilliantly decorative and intensely colorful Art Deco of the 20’s to the more stripped down, streamlined look of the 1930s. Though today often thrown together and labeled “pre-War”, the 1930s Art Moderne stressed functionalism, minimalism and a Romantic streamlined look that glorified the machine age. It was the black & white world of “Swing Time.” Join us to see how 1930s “modernisme” (as the French called) distanced itself from the giddy frippery of 1920s Jazz Age Art Deco.
Art Deco of the 1930s