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francis morrone
local knowledge

historical research, writing, editing, speaking, exhibition and preservation consulting
Francis Morrone
Welcome to the Web site of Francis Morrone, historian, journalist, author, lecturer, and teacher.

Morrone is an art and architecture critic and writes about design--from jewelry to cities--for The New York Sun, where his column, "Abroad in New York," appears every Thursday. 

He is the author of seven books, including architectural guidebooks to New York City, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. His favorite of his books is An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn, published in 2001 by Gibbs Smith, Publisher. Robert A.M. Stern said it "represents that combination of scholarship, visual analysis and judgment that is the rara avis of contemporary architectural writing."


Morrone teaches at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, where his courses include "A History of New York City," "A History of Brooklyn," "The New York of Henry James and Edith Wharton," "Trollope's England," "World Cities: London, Paris, and New York in the 19th Century," and "The Novel and the City." He is the recipient of NYU's coveted "Excellence in Teaching Award."

Morrone is a Fellow Emeritus of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America. He gave the Institute's Arthur Ross Lecture, "Rockefeller New York," at the National Academy of Design in 2000; gave the Institute's Summer Lecture, "Preserving Preservation," at Sotheby's Institute of Art in 2003; co-organized and co-moderated the Institute's 2004 conference "Of Our Time: Changing Attitudes in Historic Preservation," at the New York School of Interior Design; and delivered the Institute's Summer Lecture, "New York's Identity Crisis," at the New York School of Interior Design on July 25, 2007.  
Francis Morrone is well known as a lecturer and as a leader of architectural tours in New York City. Over the years, his walking tours and public lectures have become closely identified with the Municipal Art Society of New York. He also lectures and leads walking tours for the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment.

Morrone is a member of the Scholars' Council of the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Council of Advisers of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, the Brooklyn Working Group of the Municipal Art Society of New York, and the Advisory Board of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.
If you've been in Bryant Park, perhaps you've looked at the six historical panels set up on the park's walkways and on the terrace of the New York Public Library. He wrote those for the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation.

He has blogged at 2Blowhards.com . Go here for a compilation of his best blog postings.

Morrone is a passionate student of the city, its past and possible futures. He researches and writes reports on companies, houses and other buildings, communities, churches and synagogues, neighborhoods, and towns. His clients value his breadth of sources and ability to produce from reams of raw material compelling narratives with a literary quality. He provides historical writing, research, editing, speaking, and exhibition and preservation consulting for a wide variety of clients ranging from individual homeowners to museums to agencies of New York City government. He enjoys access to the top experts, libraries, archives, and electronic databases, and combines that with more than 20 years of experience as a professional writer. Samples of his work are available to potential clients upon request.

His writings on art, architecture, and urbanism appear in such publications as the New Criterion, the Wall Street Journal, American Arts Quarterly, the New York Times, and City Journal.

Morrone's essay "Jaunty and Decorous" serves as the coda to the 2007 book The Suburbanization of New York, edited by Jerilou and Kingsley Hammett and published by Princeton Architectural Press. Other contributors to the book include Marshall Berman, Suzanne Wasserman, Matthew Schuerman, and Eric Darton.

He appears occasionally on TV and radio. Morrone has made several appearances on NYC TV's outstanding Blueprint|NY series, and he has been on NBC's Today Show, Jane's New York (hosted by Jane Hanson) on WNYC-TV, Germany's renowned Kulturzeit, and several other shows. His radio appearances range from the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC (New York's NPR affiliate) to Radio Telefis Éireann (Irish National Radio). He is a regular resource for print and online media and is frequently quoted in such publications as The New York Times and New York Magazine. 

For links to his writings as they appear and for news of forthcoming lectures and walking tours, please visit the Francis Morrone Aggregator. For several years he produced an email newsletter ("Francis Morrone's Tours and News"), and he is thinking of reviving it. He will send it only to those who ask. If you'd like to be placed on his list, please click here to send him your email address (which he will share with no one). Those who received it in the past do not need to resend their email addresses, unless they have changed in the last two years.
An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn
 Architectural Guidebook to New York City
 Architectural Guidebook to Philadelphia




The rara avis of contemporary architectural writing.

Robert A.M. Stern



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