About Metropolis

Metropolis

Metropolis is an internationally recognized design and architecture magazine with a strong focus on ethics, innovation, and sustainability in the creative sector. Established in 1981 by Horace Havemeyer III of Bellerophon Publications, Inc., alongside his wife Eugenie Cowan Havemeyer, it is based in New York City. The magazine is published ten times a year with over 50,000 subscribers (circulation reported at 50,000 in 2017). The editor-in-chief is Avinash Rajagopal, and the publisher is Eugenie Cowan Havemeyer. Its ISSN is 0279-4977, and its official website is metropolismag.com.

The magazine's work is guided by its motto, "design at all scales." In 2019, Metropolis was acquired by Sandow Media — the parent company of Interior Design — for an undisclosed amount, joining a portfolio that includes Interior Design, Luxe Interiors + Design, Material ConneXion, and Material Bank.

Publication at a Glance

Metropolis is published ten times a year in English from New York City, in print and digital editions. Alongside the magazine itself, Metropolis produces four additional print supplements and a series of live events across the United States. Its website receives approximately 85,000 unique visitors every month, while its social channels amass an audience of over 100,000 followers across Instagram and Facebook combined. The company employs 11–50 people and is privately held.

Founding in 1981

Horace Havemeyer III founded Metropolis in 1981 with his wife Eugenie Cowan Havemeyer, through Bellerophon Publications, Inc. Havemeyer had worked in the family sugar-refining business after college, then spent ten years in book publishing at Doubleday; in 1979 he struck out on his own, helping out at Skyline, the journal of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies run by Peter Wolf and Peter Eisenman. After Skyline was discontinued, "all of a sudden a bunch of people said, 'Why don't we just start a magazine?'" A colleague running around the reservoir in Central Park came up with the name Metropolis — something to do with the city. Carl Lehman-Haupt and Veronique Vienne designed most of the first issue; Martin Moscow designed the cover, which read "Metropolis: The Architecture and Design Magazine of New York," with the word "Metropolis" growing larger and the subtitle shrinking over time.

Horace Havemeyer III (1942–2014)

On March 19, 2014, the architectural and design worlds lost a passionate champion when Horace Havemeyer died at 72 in his Manhattan apartment of complications from CIDP, a chronic neurological disorder. The son of Rosalind E. and Horace Havemeyer Jr., he grew up in rural Dix Hills, Long Island, surrounded by Impressionist paintings and Tiffany wares, and summered in a house in Islip designed by Grosvenor Atterbury. A graduate of the Pomfret School and Hobart and William Smith Colleges (where he majored in English and later served on the board of trustees), he struggled with learning disabilities — "a problem hard for anyone who knew this articulate, unusually well read man to imagine."

Havemeyer used crutches for decades, but his disability never kept him from exploring cities, physically as well as through books, articles, and the web. According to longtime editor Susan Szenasy, Metropolis was "the first magazine that was ever online": "He was a big techie. He wanted a website before anyone else had one." He was an opera fan, an expert sailor, an avid reader with a phenomenal memory, and the first reader of all Metropolis articles — "I looked forward to his honest, critical reaction to them. He was rarely wrong."

The Szenasy Years and "The Conscience of the Industry"

Longtime editor-in-chief Susan S. Szenasy developed, with the Havemeyers, an editorial mission that placed the magazine on the vanguard of issues such as sustainability and earned it a position as "the conscience of the industry." Metropolis was a pioneering publication in scope — encompassing everything from city planning to furniture, with early coverage of preservation and ecology — and in graphic design, which was groundbreaking. Its range of writers was famously feisty: Michael Sorkin, Philip Nobel, Blair Kamin, Alan Temko, Robert Campbell, Karrie Jacobs, Akiko Busch, Paul Goldberger, James Howard Kunstler, Luc Sante, Laurie Olin, John Hockenberry, Aaron Betsky, Marshall Berman, Ben Katchor, Eva Hagberg, Jonathan Glancey, Alex Marshall, Fred A. Bernstein, Ellen Lupton, Andrew Blum, Alexandra Lange, and Christopher Hawthorne, among many others, wrote for Metropolis, many before they were well known. Szenasy succeeded Havemeyer as publisher on February 12, 2014, shortly before his death.

Sustainability Leadership

Metropolis's sustainability credentials are deep: the magazine dedicated an issue to sustainability in September 1996, was the first to report the connection between architecture and climate change in October 2003, and addressed interior design's carbon emissions in its November/December 2020 issue. In 2021, Metropolis was instrumental in launching the Interior Design Pledge for Positive Impact and spearheaded the creation of the Climate Toolkit for Interior Design. "For more than four decades, we have been committed to a sustainable, just, and nurturing built environment," the magazine states. "We never lose sight of the biggest goals for architecture and design: making people's lives better and safeguarding life on this planet."

The Sandow Acquisition

On November 18, 2019, SANDOW — parent company of Interior Design and a leader in design media and technology — announced it had acquired the architecture and design media brand Metropolis. Led by Eugenie Havemeyer since Horace's passing in 2014, the brand was jointly owned by the Havemeyers. "I have always admired Metropolis' distinct point of view and thoughtful coverage of the A&D community," said CEO Adam Sandow. "Horace Havemeyer created an extraordinary editorial platform and we are grateful to Eugenie Havemeyer for putting her trust in SANDOW."

"I am very pleased that Metropolis will join the Sandow portfolio," Eugenie Havemeyer added. "There are synergies between both brands that will help Metropolis take its legacy forward and support the future of the architecture and design community." Metropolis was to remain an independent voice, continuing its thought-leadership role across platforms.

Avinash Rajagopal and the Events Business

Avinash Rajagopal became editor-in-chief in 2017 and continued in the role through the Sandow acquisition, serving as overall content director. He moderates Metropolis's two key sponsored event series: Think Tank, on issues of concern to industry leaders, and Metropolis: Perspective, focused on sustainability. The magazine annually hosts a range of virtual and in-person events alongside design competition schemes encouraging innovation and sustainability. The editorial team, advertising director Tamara Stout, and chief operating officer Jerry Croft maintained their positions through the transition.

The Founding Vision

Horace Havemeyer founded Metropolis (Bellerophon Publications) in 1981 "with the intent of creating smart, relevant, and game changing conversations about the designed environment, at all scales — from the smallest object to the largest urban settlement," as longtime editor Susan Szenasy remembered him. "He loved design. He respected architecture. He was an avid reader with a phenomenal memory. He was fascinated by the creative mind." That vision — design at all scales, from the smallest object to the largest urban settlement — became the magazine's motto and its editorial compass for more than four decades.

Official Website

The magazine's official website is https://metropolismag.com, featuring projects, insights, resources, and event information. Founded in 1981 by Horace Havemeyer III and Eugenie Cowan Havemeyer and now part of Sandow Media, Metropolis continues its mission of "design at all scales" — committed to a sustainable, just, and nurturing built environment.