Architecture Commons^™

Losing Its Way: The Landmarks Preservation Commission In Eclipse, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has an admirable history of protecting the city's historic character. Increasingly in recent years, the commission has backed away from proactively designated sites of historical, architectural, or cultural significance as city landmarks. At the same time, the commission has shown greater deference to the owner of a property when deciding whether to designate, and to the wishes of the owners of designated properties in matters of regulation, notwithstanding that owner consent is nowhere in the landmarks law. At the same time, the commission has introduced new definitions, such as “period of significance,” contributing/non-contributing, and …

The Preservation Moment: Gentrification Saved New York, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

In the 1960s and 1970s, New York City was in decline. Crime was rising, jobs were leaving, and the population was falling. At the same time, much of the historic city was being lost and replaced by less distinctive architecture. But the declining city offered an opening for recovery and re-imagining. New residents moved into old, declining neighborhoods. Gentrification stabilized sections of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. Between 1965 and 1989 the city designated more than fifty historic districts, and those areas prevented further decay and anchored the recovery. Unlike other older cities, New York continues to grow. The previous …

Review: Saving Place: 50 Years Of New York City Landmarks, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

This piece is a review of "Saving Place: 50 Years of New York City Landmarks" at the Museum of the City of New York from April 2015 to January 2016. It discusses the presentation of the history of preservation in New York City and how the landmarks law has been implemented and challenged over its first half century.

Article of record is at http://jsah.ucpress.edu/content/75/1/119.abstract

The City As Palimpsest, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

“Palimpsest preservation” suggest the necessity of keeping the successive layers of urban form alive rather than simply effacing and rebuilding, for that keeps a city’s history alive. No city without a tangible, tactile history, without the capacity for denizens and visitors to reach into the past while experiencing the present, can be truly vital. But this is a contested approach. George Orwell’s 1984 offers a warning in the guise of a party slogan: “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Preservationists may advocate on historical, architectural, or cultural grounds, but the final decision …

Preserving The Historic Garden Suburb: Case Studies From London And New York, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

The garden city or garden suburb was a response to the social and environmental ills of cities at the turn of the twentieth century. Letchworth Garden City, Hampstead Garden Suburb, and Welwyn Garden City were built outside London in the early 1900s, and each remains a highly desirable place of residence today. From the start, each was tightly regulated, and remains so a century later. By protecting the appearance and enhancing property values, the strict application of historic preservation principles contribute to the long-term sustainability of each place. Similar garden suburbs were built in the borough of Queens in New …

In Defense Of Preservation, Jeffrey A. Kroessler, Eric W. Allison, Dorothy Minor, Anthony C. Wood

Publications and Research

"In Defense of Preservation" is the transcript of a presentation at the Gotham History Festival at the CUNY Graduate Center, October 6, 2001. The discussants argued that historic preservation is vital to New York City's economic and cultural health, and countered arguments that preservation was elitist and hindered the city's growth. Dorothy Minor discussed the legal basis for preservation and reviewed the Penn Central decision and other court cases. Anthony C. Wood discussed the history of historic preservation in New York. And Eric W. Allison presented the intersection of preservation with the liveable cities movement.