Historic Preservation
Preserving City Landmarks
1950-1965
Back to Exhibitions
On August 2, 1962, architect Philip Johnson, urban activist Jane Jacobs, and dozens of others picketed outside Pennsylvania Station to protest plans to tear down the 1910 Beaux-Arts masterpiece. Their campaign was the culmination of over a decade of struggle to protect city landmarks. Although they lost the battle over Penn Station, the building’s demolition helped lead to the passage of New York’s 1965 landmarks preservation law.
Following World War II, large swaths of the city were cleared to make way for office buildings, housing complexes, and roads. While some considered this progress, a small but influential group of activists warned of the loss of New York’s cultural and historic heritage. The Municipal Art Society and other groups fought the efforts of developers, including City Construction Coordinator Robert Moses, to tear down “landmark” structures.
But it wasn’t until the Landmarks Preservation Law of 1965 that buildings could be legally protected. Not only did the law allow for the preservation of individual structures, it also became a tool for activists fighting to preserve the character of entire neighborhoods.
The law and its application remain contested topics. Affected property owners often point to the financial difficulties of adhering to the preservation law, and some preservation advocates have complained about insufficient landmark protection. But indisputably, New York activists helped make New York City, in the words of historian Anthony C. Wood, “the intellectual capital of the preservation movement.”
Objects & Images
Key Events
Global | Year | Local |
---|---|---|
|
1941 | Municipal Art Society compiles first list of threatened historic buildings in New York City |
1947 |
New Yorker George McAneny helps establish National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings |
|
1949 |
Preservationists win battle against Robert Moses to save Battery Park |
|
Bard Act allows for the protection of structures of “special historical or aesthetic value” |
1956 |
|
1958 |
Community Conservation and Improvement Council is formed and works with Brooklyn Heights Association for preservation of Brooklyn Heights landmarks |
|
1960 | Citizen’s Committee for Carnegie Hall forms non-profit corporation to save the Hall from demolition | |
1961 | Mayor Robert Wagner appoints Committee for the Preservation of Structures of Historic and Esthetic Importance | |
1962 | Protesters from Action Group for Better Architecture in New York (AGBANY) picket against proposed demolition of Pennsylvania Station |