Beverly Moss Spatt
Beverly Moss Spatt was a vocal and passionate defender of preservation in New York City both during and after her time as Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Beverly Moss Spatt was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, where she lived and worked for her entire life. Her father was president of the New York Board of Education, and her mother volunteered for anthropologist Margaret Mead. She studied at James Madison High School in Brooklyn and received her bachelor’s degree from Pembroke College at Brown University.[1] Spatt described herself in 1965 as a “civic do-gooder” due to her involvement in a variety of New York City organizations, including the League of Women Voters, the Citizens Union, the Woman’s City Club, and the Brooklyn Women’s Division of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.[2] Spatt became so involved in city affairs while serving as a leader of the League of Women Voters that she eventually obtained a master’s degree and doctorate in city planning at New York University.[3]
[1] Ariel Kates, “Beverly Moss Spatt Oral History: The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s First Woman Chair,” Off the Grid: Village Preservation Blog (blog), August 24, 2021.
[2] “New City Planner: Beverly Moss Spatt,” New York Times, August 19, 1965.
[3] “New City Planner: Beverly Moss Spatt.”
Oral History Interview with Beverly Moss Spatt
Conducted by Sarah Dziedzic on August 24, 2017
Village Preservation
313 W 54th St
New York, NY 10019
Oral History Interview with Beverly Moss Spatt
Pembroke Center Oral History Project
Conducted by Mary Murphy on April 11, 2018
Brown University
PO Box 1958
Providence, RI 02912
City Planning Commission
Board Member
Landmarks Preservation Commission
Chair
[1] Beverly Moss Spatt, Oral History Interview: Beverly Moss Spatt, interview by Sarah Dziedzic for Village Preservation, August 24, 2017.
[2] Kates, “Beverly Moss Spatt Oral History: The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s First Woman Chair.”
[3] Moss Spatt, Oral History Interview: Beverly Moss Spatt.
[4] Moss Spatt.
[5] Robert McFadden, “Beverly Moss Spatt, Protector of Landmarks in New York, Dies at 99,” New York Times, July 17, 2023.
[6] Dolkart and Postal, 26, 42, 99.
[7] Dolkart and Postal, 7, 225; Beverly Moss Spatt, “Stuyvesant Square Historic District Designation Report” (New York City: New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, September 23, 1975); Beverly Moss Spatt, “Carnegie Hill Historic District Designation Report” (New York City: New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, July 23, 1974); Beverly Moss Spatt, “Carnegie Hill Historic District Designation Report” (New York City: New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, July 23, 1974).
[8] Raanan Geberer, “Beverly Moss Spatt: Champion of Historic Preservation, Lifelong Brooklynite Dies at 99,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 18, 2023.
[9] Darcy Lewis, “Exit Beverly Moss Spatt,” New York Times, August 24, 1982.
[10] McFadden, “Beverly Moss Spatt, Protector of Landmarks in New York, Dies at 99.”
Entry by John Slavnik, 2023 Reisinger Scholar