This fall, SAS has already scheduled eight fantastic architecture appreciation courses that delve into the history and culture surrounding magnificent buildings, structures, and noteworthy sites in New York City and beyond.

Batting first in the fall lineup, Francis Morrone shares the history of baseball and the role that the sport played in the formation of the modern American city (and two in Canada). This six-session series, Ballparks, Baseball, and the American City (Course 13629), includes rare images and discussion of stadium architecture in every city that has ever hosted an American or National League team franchise in Major League Baseball. The lectures are recorded and made available to registered students for one week of viewing on demand. Class begins Wednesday, September 10, 2025.

Later in the month, on Thursday, September 18, 2025, Ginny Poleman leads a guided tour through Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza and Park Slope (Course 13526). View the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch at the entrance to Prospect Park and appreciate the surroundings that have achieved designated scenic landmark status. Admire the Beaux Arts design of the Brooklyn Museum and take in the combination of Beaux Arts, art deco, and art moderne styles of the Brooklyn Public Library. Then tour the historic Park Slope neighborhood to see the Montauk Club and homes designed by the architect C. P. H. Gilbert.

Poleman returns on Thursday, October 16, 2025 for a walking tour of the New York Botanical Garden (Course 13527). More than just a beautiful landscape, this National Historic Landmark contains stunning Beaux Arts architecture, including the iconic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, as well as remnants from the original 1840s French Huguenot Lorillard Estate that still sit beside the picturesque Bronx River.

Learn about some of the most luxurious homes in the city by taking Poleman's online class on the Gilded Age Mansions of the Jewish Elite (Course 13617) on Thursday, October 30, 2025. See how Otto Kahn outdid his neighbor Andrew Carnegie with an Italian-inspired palazzo (now the Convent of Sacred Heart). Find out what Felix M. Warburg’s father-in-law, Jacob Schiff, really thought about Warburg’s neo-gothic mansion (now the Jewish Museum). Hear the romantic story and tragic death aboard the Titanic of Isidor and Ida Straus and where they once lived. Class will be recorded for subsequent viewing.

Poleman follows up with a post-Halloween tour of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery (Course 13528) on Thursday, November 6, 2025. Take a not-so-spooky stroll through the high Victorian gothic revival brownstone gates designed by Richard Upjohn, the historic chapel designed by Warren & Wetmore (architects of Grand Central Terminal), and the Beaux Arts mausoleums, some of which feature Tiffany glass windows. Hear about some of New York City’s prominent families that reside eternally on the grounds.

December features Poleman's evening walking tour of Midtown Manhattan Holiday Lights (Course 13529) on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. Stop at some of the most iconic holiday displays of the season. Start at the newly renovated Pulitzer Fountain outside of the Plaza Hotel, then travel down Fifth Avenue with a side jaunt to Madison Avenue. Take an underground path to Rockefeller Center, pop over to Sixth Avenue, and end at Bryant Park’s holiday market.

As winter weather whips in, switch to indoor walking tours with Poleman's exploration of Beaux Arts features at Grand Central Terminal (Course 13619) on Thursday, January 15, 2025 and then at Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House and National Museum of the American Indian (Course 13618) on Thursday, February 5, 2025.

More architecture appreciation classes will be added before long. Register now to secure your spot in these pillars of our catalog.

Week of September 7, 2025

Special Events

• Author Visit: Harry Agress, Jr., Next Years Best Years (2025) (13514)

Architecture/History and Culture

• Ballparks, Baseball, and the American City (13629)

Art Appreciation

• Artistic Rivalry: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo (13578)

Arts & Crafts

• Introduction to Watercolor Painting (13462)
• Storygami (Thursday morning: 13621)
• Painting the Landscape (13496)
• Watercolor Painting (Tuesday afternoons: 13440; Thursday mornings: 13495; Thursday afternoons: 13439)
• Express Yourself Through Collage (13459)
• Knitting for All Levels (Tuesday evenings: 13436); Wednesday mornings: 13437)
• A Tisket, a Tasket, Learn to Make a 2/2 Twill Weave Basket (13466)
• Zen Design Doodling (13450)
• Colored Pencils from A-Z (13451)
• Introduction to Graphite and Colored Pencil Drawing (13463)
• Advanced Beginner Knitting (13438)
• Vibrant Strokes of Pastel Drawing (13452)

Computers, Technology, and the Internet

• Introduction to AI and ChatGPT (Monday morning: 13542; Wednesday evening: 13548)

Current Events and Politics

• Let's Talk Current Events: Topics in the News (Tuesday morning: 13524; Wednesday morning: 13610; Thursday morning: 13606)

Financial and Retirement Planning

• Medicare Demystified (13538)

Fitness and Dance

• Fit Blast: Cardio, Strength, and Abs (13443)
• Walk 15® (Monday mornings online: 13470; Tuesday mornings in person: 13469 -- please note change in venue for first three classes)
• Mat Pilates (Friday mornings: 13616)
• Sit and Be Fit: Chair-Based Body Sculpting (Tuesday afternoons: 13447); Thursday mornings: 13448)
• Movement to Music (Tuesday mornings in person: 13497; Tuesday mornings online: 13498; Thursday mornings online: 13500; Friday mornings in person: 13499)
• Essential Yoga (13556)
• Gentle Yoga (13557)
• Postural Therapy Movement (13501)
• Body Sculpting (Thursday mornings in person: 13446; Thursday afternoons online: 13445)
• Total Body Workout with Bands (13444)

Games

• Bridge: Supervised Play (13633)
• Beginner Canasta (Monday afternoons: 13483; Thursday mornings: 13484; Thursday evenings: 13505)
• Canasta: Supervised Play (Thursday afternoons: 13487)
• Let's Play Mah Jongg: Beginner Series (Monday mornings: 13473; Wednesday mornings: 13477; Wednesday evenings: 13503; Friday mornings: 13481)
• Let's Play Mah Jongg: Supervised Play (Monday afternoons: 13478; Wednesday afternoons: 13475)

History and Culture

• Cuban Missile Crisis: How JFK Saved Our Country and the World (13612)

Hobbies and Edutainment

• Introduction to Digital Photography (Thursday evenings: 13571)
• Introduction to iPhone Photography (13467)

Languages

• Beginner Spanish (13600)
• Beginner to Advanced Beginner Spanish (13599)
• Advanced Beginner Spanish (13605)
• Intermediate Spanish (13604)
• Intermediate to Advanced Spanish (13602)
• Intermediate Conversational Spanish (13603)
• Advanced Conversational Spanish (13624)
• Conversational French (13601)
• Intermediate German (13628)

Literature, Film, Theater, and Television

• Short Stories Admired by Other Authors (13472)
• Shakespeare's Tyrants (13458)
• Book Discussion: A Marriage at Sea (2025) by Sophie Elmhirst (13533)* please note change in venue

Music Appreciation

• Beyond Beethoven: A Thousand Years of Music (13434)

Walking Tours

• Culinary Walking Tour: Arthur Avenue (13594)
• Culinary Walking Tour: Multi-Ethnic Cuisine of Astoria (13593)
• Walking Tour: Rashid Johnson and Faith Ringgold at the Guggenheim Museum (13430)

Writing

• Finding Your Voice through Memoir Writing (13608)

Week of September 14, 2025

Special Events

• Author Visit: Rumaan Alam, Entitlement (2024) (13513)

Art Appreciation

• Artistic Rivalry: Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian (13579)

Arts & Crafts

• Expressive Motion of Charcoal Drawing (13453)* NEW START DATE
• Paper Quilling (Monday morning: 13623; Thursday morning: 13622)
• Drawing and Acrylic Painting (13460)* NEW START DATE
• Painting Landscapes and Still Lifes with Soft Pastels (13449)
• Landscape Painting with Oil Pastels (13530)
• Portrait Drawing (13461)* NEW START DATE

Computers, Technology, and the Internet

• Plan Your Dream Vacation with AI (Monday morning: 13543; Wednesday evening: 13550)
• iPhone Basics (13534)

Financial and Retirement Planning

• What Really Matters During Medicare Annual Enrollment (13539)

Fitness and Dance

• Mat Pilates (Monday mornings: 13615)* NEW START DATE

Games

• Beginner Bridge (13636)
• Bridge: Supervised Play (Monday mornings: 13632; Tuesday afternoons: 13634; Friday mornings: 13635)

Hobbies and Edutainment

• Introduction to Digital Photography (Tuesday mornings: 13531)* NEW START DATE

Languages

• Conversational Spanish (13625)

Literature, Film, Theater, and Television

• Fathers and Sons in Contemporary Fiction (13511)
• BookTalk with Harriet Sobol: Nine Parts of Desire (1994) by Geraldine Brooks (13507)

Music Appreciation

• Through the Ages: A Survey of the History of Music (13570)

Performing Arts

• Adult Theory, Level 1 (13568)

Walking Tours

• Walking Tour: Mondays at the Met, Gesture in Sculptures (13422)
• Walking Tour: Ben Shahn, On Nonconformity at the Jewish Museum (13573)
• Walking Tour: The Frick Collection (13431)
• Walking Tour: Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza and Park Slope (13526)
• Walking Tour: Rashid Johnson and Faith Ringgold at the Guggenheim (13574)

All upcoming classes through end of March 2026 will be listed in the Printer-Friendly, Interactive Version of our Fall/Winter 2025-26 Catalog. New classes and changes are added in real time.

Class times are for the Eastern Time Zone. Please check regularly for additional options to keep you engaged and learning, whether from the comforts of home or through our expansive number of in-person options.