Upcoming Programs

BARD BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST BENEFIT

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

8:30 to 10:00am

The Power & Profit of Place: 
The Economics of Aesthetics
  

The Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums:

Thoughts on Houses

Monday, April 16, 2012 6:00PM

Franklin D. Vagnone, Executive Director, Historic House Trust of New York City

Historic house museums were actual private domestic worlds - now encapsulated and re-presented for a public narrative. As architectural fragments, they exist in the volatile world between the "real" and the "ideal," the sensuality of private, personal experience and the desire for rigorous cultural absolute truth. This provocative visual presentation concentrates on the contemporary issues of the historic house museum and will highlight topics from Mr. Vagnone's manuscript: The Flattening of History.

Battle for Bryant Park, 25 Years On:

A Discussion with Anthony Tung

Thursday, March 8, 2012

6:00pm

Co-sponsored with the Historic Districts Council
and the Neighborhood Preservation Center.

On January 8, 1987, The New York Times reported: "A four-year-old plan to build a restaurant behind the New York Public Library has been dealt a surprising setback, with the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission warning that it would consider 'absolutely untenable' any structure that would make it difficult to view the library's west facade."

The author of the motion was Commissioner Anthony Tung.

Five days later, on Sunday, in "A Landmark of Misfeasance" the Times editorial board called for the replacement of every member of the commission.

By Monday, Anthony Tung had been sacked. But it took 18 turbulent months for the mayor to finally unseat him.

BARD BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST BENEFIT
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 
8:30 to 10:00am

Preservation Martyr, Archival Triumph: 
The Legacies of Richard Nickel, Adler & Sullivan, and the Richard Nickel Committee 

  

Civic Virtue & the Politics of Display,  

or How Anthony Weiner Shed Light on a Public Art Cause:  Notes from One Preservation Archive

Frederick MacMonnies's Civic Virtue, a monumental Progressive Era fountain in Kew Gardens, Queens, is an exemplar of the "political correctness versus preservation" debate. The statue's imagery invoked high-minded ideals, but has also been regarded as misogynous, and is thus in disrepair.  Michele H. Bogart, author and professor of art history at Stony Brook University, sheds new light on the history of this important monument, revealing how sex and the city were the heart of the problem, and how the sad story of Anthony Weiner paradoxically helped its cause. 

The Historic Districts Council was formed in 1971 as a committee at the Municipal Art Society, consisting of representatives from New York City's designated and proposed historic districts. Join HDC and the New York Preservation Archive Project for cocktails and a stroll down memory lane to look back at how and why the organization was created and how it has evolved.

Join the New York Preservation Archive Project and the New York Restoration Project for a look beyond our own backyard with an exploration of the inspirational Texas Legacy Project. In a vast series of over 200 videotaped oral histories, this project by the Conservation History Association of Texas has chronicled the inspiring stories of Texans who felt compelled to preserve and protect their rich natural legacy.