Resource Library

Between 1965 and 1993, journalist, author, and urbanist Roberta Brandes Gratz wrote hundreds of articles for the New York Post focused on historic preservation-related concerns. The Archive Project is privileged to preserve and offer access to this unique collection. Gratz’s articles, linked below by year with permission, cover the ebbs and flows, as well as trends and cornerstones, of the historic preservation movement in New York City from the late 1960s to the early 1990s, with a heavy emphasis on events in the mid 1970s.

Click Here To Access the Article Collection

In this episode of Wrecking Ball – a podcast series featuring tales of preservation, the law, and the places New Yorkers love – host Adrian Untermyer welcomes author-historians Christina Greer and Anthony C. Wood to tell the raucous story of how ordinary people pulled together to craft New York City’s Landmarks Law, which safeguards historic buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes to this day.

This video captures a conversation with Anthony C. Wood, founder of the New York Preservation Archive Project on what led to the passage of New York City’s Landmarks Law, how it has affected the urban environment since, and the prognosis for preservation looking forward.

This report by the NYU Furman Center, released in March 2016, shows the extent of preservation in New York City and compares the land use, housing stock, demographic characteristics, and commercial property in historic districts with those in areas that are not regulated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

This study analyzes the New York City Landmarks Law and its economic, social, and environmental impact on the City and its residents.

This article explores the drafting and wording of the Bard Act and its influence on New York City’s Landmarks Law.

This first-of-it’s-kind report by Village Preservation catalogs and analyzes 59 years of landmark designation in New York City and how it’s changed over time.

This personal account describes how dedicated, passionate, and informed citizens took the future of their neighborhood into their own hands and successfully protected Brooklyn Heights from development pressures. 

This video serves as a prelude to Martin Schneider’s “Battling for Brooklyn Heights,” which is also included in these resources. 

This research project investigates Robert C. Weinberg’s role in the development of historic preservation in New York City. 

This thesis hopes to improve the enforcement procedures of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and further the protection of the historic resources under its regulation.

This Widener Law Review volume is based on selected papers presented at the 2011 Fitch Forum held at Columbia University that examined the role of preservation law on the 45^th anniversary of the creation of New York City’s landmarks preservation legislation. 

This report, released in May 2016 and prepared for the New York Landmarks Conservancy, quantifies the contributions of historic preservation to the economy, the environment, and the life of the nation’s greatest city.

This is a transcript of panel arguing for the value of historic preservation with Eric W. Allison, Dorothy Miner, Anthony C. Wood, and Jeffrey Kroessler at the Gotham History Festival on October 6, 2001. 

This study describes and analyzes the history of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission from its beginnings through the end of the 20^th century. 

This report, prepared for the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1989, is an examination of the administration of the Landmarks Law and proposes a series of recommendations to improve the Commission’s work. 

This manuscript explores civic figure George McAneny‘s work and his profound influence on the 20^th-century built environment of New York City, with a focus on past and present conflicts over planning and preservation. Funding for this project was provided by the New York Preservation Archive Project. 

This film was the first primetime broadcast advocating for preservation efforts in New York City. Originally airing on WCBS-TV on September 21, 1961, Our Vanishing Legacy looks at threats to the City’s architectural heritage and argues the need to enact a law to protect important landmark buildings.

The Preservation Pioneers oral history collection was undertaken in the mid-1990s to document the memories of the women and men who led the nascent preservation movement for Greenwich Village.

This report is a summary of discussions hosted by the Preservation Vision: NYC project, which invited interested citizens and preservation practitioners to think about the future of historic preservation practice in relation to the future of the city, creating a temporary forum for the profession to think concretely about its long-term goals. 

This article, which originally appeared in Antiques & Fine Art XIV, no. 1 (15^th Anniversary/Spring, 2015), is a brief history of the Landmarks Law in honor of the law’s 50^th anniversary. 

This is an article from the Journal of Urban History, Vol. 25 No. 2 on City Hall Park and the African Burial Ground. 

In this video recorded talk, historian and writer Anthony W. Robins discusses the rise of New York’s enthusiasm for Art Deco architecture and its journey to acceptance within historic preservation communities. Robins speaks about notable triumphs–such as the preservation of Radio City and the interiors of the Waldorf-Astoria–as well as significant restorations and regrettable losses.

This electronic book by the Society for the Architecture of the City offers a record of the New York City Landmark Preservation Commissions’ recent past.  

This thesis, written in a journalistic, creative nonfiction style, explores how New York City treats modern architecture under the Landmarks Law, referencing such buildings as 2 Columbus Circle, the Lever House, and University Village.

Released in May 2016 by the Historic Districts Council, this report analyzes data for New York City’s historic districts using U.S. Census Bureau affordability and income indicators including rental prices, income, and rental burden, as well as building-level affordability indicators for housing in privately-owned and publicly-subsidized rental developments.

This is the story of three pivotal years during which the Brooklyn Heights Association rallied a coalition of affected communities, civic groups, politicians, and engaged individuals to prevent the private development of the waterfront near Brooklyn Heights and instead create the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

This documentary celebrated the 50^th anniversary of New York City’s Landmarks Law in 2015 by exploring the historic preservation movement and the work of the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, which together have protected thousands of culturally- and historically-significant sites in all five boroughs of the New York City for the past half century.

This radio broadcast with Archive Project founder and chair Anthony C. Wood discusses the history and current state of the historic preservation movement. 

Offers guides on research at Columbia University’s Avery Library, with resources on architecture, archaeology, urban planning, real estate, historic preservation, and more. 

The Gotham Center is a public educational organization devoted to the history of New York at The Graduate Center, City University of New York.

This 1996 Municipal Art Society report, authored primarily by Ned Kaufman, is the result of several years of outreach, discussion, and analysis.  It focuses on the process of identifying and saving sites of historical and cultural significance in an attempt to expand landmarking discussions beyond a heavy focus on architectural significance.  As Kaufman notes in his book Place, Race, and Story: Essays on the Past and Future of Historic Preservation, the words “Discussion Draft” appear on the final report because it was somewhat controversial in its time.

This guide will introduce you to the vast number of resources relating to the architecture of New York City that are in the collections of the New York Public Library, as well as other institutions.

The latest news about the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Preservation News, a formerly monthly publication of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, was the official journal of the organization between 1961 and 1995. With a mission to “keep members and the public informed about preservation issues and activities”, the journal serves as a complete chronicle of the activities of the organization during the intervening 34-year span.

Preservationist George McAneny delivered this speech, The Fight to Save Castle Clinton, on October 19, 1950.  His remarks detail the long efforts to defeat Robert Moses’ plan to demolish the historic fort at the tip of Manhattan to make way for a bridge and then a tunnel.  The speech also touches on the saving of Federal Hall.

The Fight for Castle Clinton – McAneny Speech