CBH Talk | What to Save? Landmarks for a New New York

Sixty years ago New York City passed the NYC Landmarks Law, designed to protect the city’s historic and architectural heritage. Today the Landmarks Preservation Commission ensures the future of more than 38,000 buildings in five boroughs, along with scenic landmarks like Prospect Park, and unique historic neighborhoods or districts, like Greenwich Village.

In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Law, preservationist and historian Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel commissioned some of the most respected and innovative architectural critics, city planners, historians, scholars, and journalists to share their thoughts on sixty years of New York City preservation and its future. The essays are published in a volume titled Beyond Architecture: The New New York.

Join Center for Brooklyn to explore the past, present, and future of historic preservation with two Beyond Architecture essayists, architect Vishaan Chakrabarti and landscape architect Lisa Switkin, whose contributions to transforming the city include projects like the High Line and the conversion of Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Factory.

Led in conversation by Jorge Otero-Pailos, Director and Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, they discuss what preserving the character of our city has meant, and what will merit protection in the future.