Carolyn Cassady Kent was born in 1935 in Rochester, New York. Her father was a professor of religion at the university there and later at Crozier Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, but after his death the family moved to Michigan, where Kent’s mother was Dean of Women at Kalamazoo College. Kent earned her undergraduate degree at Sarah Lawrence before completing her masters in 17^th Century English Studies at Columbia University. Carolyn Cassady Kent died on August 22, 2009. She was 74.

Community Board 9
Founder and Chair of the Landmarks Committee

Carolyn Cassady Kent settled in Morningside Heights with her husband Edward Kent, where she became increasingly involved in architectural preservation while fighting an addition to her own 1909 building, 440 Riverside Drive.¹ In order to advance the plight of preservation in her neighborhood, she joined Community Board 9 and, in 1990, founded its committee on landmarks. As chair she actively campaigned for the preservation of numerous sites throughout Hamilton Heights, Manhattanville, and Morningside Heights through landmark designation and appropriate development. Some of the sites for which she successfully campaigned for landmark designation include the Hamilton Theater, the Croton Aqueduct, the West 119^th Street Gatehouse, Riverside Church, the Plant and Scrymser Pavilions at St Luke’s Hospital, and the Claremont Theater. Although the Audubon Ballroom was not within Community Board 9, she adamantly opposed Columbia Presbyterian Hospital’s proposed demolition of the building and their compromised retention of its façade.²

With friend and colleague Michael Henry Adams, Kent curated an exhibition of 320 photographs entitled “Heritage on the Heights” at The Surrogate’s Court Building from 1991 to 1992, for which she assisted with research and took many of the photographs.³ When the National Park Service proposed moving and restoring Hamilton Grange, Kent organized meetings to engage the community.⁴ In 1996, she was a founding member of the Morningside Heights Historic District Committee. She was also an active member of the Sugar Hill Preservation Committee, the 5 Block Protection Association, and the Hamilton Heights/West Harlem Community Preservation Organization.⁵

Not afraid to tackle difficult issues, Kent often fought against her own alma mater, Columbia University. When Columbia proposed a new dormitory on Broadway, she convinced architect Robert A. M. Stern not to demolish Sigma Chi House.⁶ Its façade and some interiors were incorporated into the new building. While she admitted by 1999 that the University had made much progress in its treatment of historic sites over the decades, she soon thereafter launched into a campaign which would occupy her until her death: mitigating the effects of Columbia’s proposed 17-acre expansion into Manhattanville. She was equally vocal against the construction of a residential tower on the grounds of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a battle she ultimately lost in 2008.

Within Community Board 9, Kent faced opposition from those backing development for greater economic prosperity. She was ultimately removed from the Landmarks Committee but continued to advocate for preservation.

In 2007, the Hamilton Heights/West Harlem Community Preservation Organization awarded Kent its first Preservation Angel Award. Ronald Melichar, its president, said of her:

"I know no one who has given such personal attention to preservation issues in our community as Carolyn has. If you walk down Broadway from 110^th to 150^th Street, which is the spine of our community, I don't think there is a block that you can look down and not see something, big or small, that Carolyn was involved in saving for future generations."⁷

• Oral Histories with Michael Henry Adams and Ronald Melichar
  New York Preservation Archive Project
  174 East 80^th Street
  New York, NY 10075
  Tel: (212) 988-8379
  Email: info@nypap.org