New York Preservation Archive Project

JOIN US FOR A VIRTUAL PANEL
Lost Landmarks and the History of the Hardship Application in New York City
Thursday, March 12, 2026 on Zoom 
Register via link in bio

Prompted by the Landmarks Commission’s multi-year consideration of the West Park Presbyterian Church’s highly-controversial hardship application, this panel will provide an educational overview of the history of the hardship application process in New York City.

A hardship application submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission seeks permission to demolish or alter a landmark due to extreme financial difficulty and evidence that the building can no longer generate reasonable return or fulfill its purpose. Since the founding of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965, there have only been 23 hardship applications with approximately half leading to the destruction of a historic site.

Join the Archive Project’s all-star group of experts including Anthony C. Wood, Laurie Beckelman, Michael Hiller, Frampton Tolbert, Emily Kahn, and Adrian Untermyer as we consider the intellectual underpinnings of the hardship application – and ponder the future of this oft-mysterious legal tool.

Co-sponsored by the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation and the Historic Districts Council

VIRTUAL BOOK TALK: SERVANT OF BEAUTY
January 27, 6:00pm
Hosted by
Registration link in bio!

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Join Anthony C. Wood, founder of the New York Preservation Archive Project and author of Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Secret Love, and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero in conversation with Adrian Untermyer, Chair of the New York Preservation Archive Project and Vice Chair, Woodlawn Conservancy as they explore the legacy of Albert Bard (1866-1963), grandfather of NYC’s landmarks law and civic advocate extraordinaire. Their conversation will focus on Bard’s connections to Woodlawn Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark located in the north Bronx.

Bard’s life is instructive, inspirational, and at times, seemingly incredible. He often opposed Robert Moses, who is laid to rest here at Woodlawn, on issues of city planning, including Moses’ proposed Brooklyn-Battery Bridge and the preservation of Castle Clinton. From battling Moses and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America to drafting and achieving the passage of the Bard Act (the state enabling legislation that is the legal basis for NYC’s landmarks Law) the evening’s conversation will explore the relevancy of Bard’s life and legacy to today’s preservationists as they confront the challenges ahead.

Thank you to Woodlawn’s President & CEO Christopher Jeannopoulos and Senior Advisor to the CEO Lisa Ackerman (both Archive Project board members) for their support of this event and Servant of Beauty.

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The New York Preservation Archive is grateful this Thanksgiving to have been awarded $45,500 by the New York State Council on the Arts. Through New York State’s continued investment in arts and
culture, NYSCA has awarded $80.9 million in FY 2026 to arts and culture nonprofits across
all 10 regions and a historic number of artists.
”New York’s arts and culture sector is a cornerstone of the state’s identity, and we’re
making bold investments to ensure it remains strong,” Governor Hochul said. “These grants will lift up artists and organizations in every region, fueling local economies and expanding access to the arts. Congratulations to all the grantees – your talent and dedication help power New York’s future.” .

Preservationist, Archive Project founder, and Servant of Beauty author Anthony C. Wood joined host Randy Cohen for a live taping of the podcast Person PlaceThing on July 16, 2025.

Person Place Thing is an interview show based on this idea: people are particularly engaging when they speak not directly about themselves but about something they care about. Guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing that are important to them. The result? Surprising stories from great talkers

Wood’s episode will be broadcast in New York on Sunday, October 26, at 1:30pm on WNYE, 91.5 FM, and more broadly tonight (Friday, October 24) at 10:30pm across WAMC Northeast Public Radio. You can hear it any time as a podcast at PersonPlaceThing.org (link in bio) or download it free at iTunes.  

For interviews with Anthony C. Wood and for information about engaging him to speak about his book, please email [email protected]

2025 is off to a great start! The Archive Project is thrilled to announce that it received a Public Impact Projects at Smaller Organization grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to launch and grow a new, thematic podcast series featuring voices from New York City’s historic preservation movement. Building off of our growing Oral History collection, this podcast will repurpose completed interviews AND allow us to conduct new interviews with neglected voices in preservation.

Through this grant, we look forward to continuing uplifting voices and advocacy legacies of lesser-known preservationists, projects, and movements. While the vast majority of our oral histories are publicly accessible on our website and YouTube channel, this podcast presents a unique and exciting opportunity to interpret our oral histories in a way that reaches people of all backgrounds who are interested in New York City’s preservation history. Look out for the pilot podcast episodes in late 2025!

This podcast and oral history work has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Public Impact Projects at Smaller Organizations. Thank you also to Humanities New York for a Vision Grant which supported podcast planning work in 2024.

Landmarking in NYC Since 1965: The Highs and Lows - Village Preservation Co-Sponsored by New York Preservation Archive Project and Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts Earlier this year, Village Preservation released a first-of-its-kind analysis of all…

Dr. Joshua Mardell, an architectural historian from the Royal College of Art, London, is researching Margot Gayle. While she has a substantial professional archive, he is looking for any surviving personal correspondence with those who knew her, to help get a more rounded sense of her personality.

If you have letters from Margot that you'd be willing to share for research purposes, please contact Joshua at [email protected] He'd be delighted to hear from you, and Joshua will be certain to acknowledge any help.

Come work with one of our 2023 grantees of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archival Assistance grant!

LESPI is looking for a qualified Archival Consultant, local to the New York City area, to help to identify, maintain and preserve our archival resources. For further information please see our Request for Proposal at https://lespi-nyc.org/lespi-archival-consulting-position/. Thank you.

Join us tonight at the Explorers Club!

Join the New York Preservation Archive Project this Wednesday, April 3rd at 6 pm for “Documenting Recent History and Promoting Healing at Drayton Hall”, a free lecture and reception co-sponsored by the Historic House Trust of New York City and Frederic Church's Olana held at The Explorers Club.

This lecture will explore the role of historic preservation in highlighting both places and people, and delve into how to create a museum that is a safe place for discussion and healing. 🕊️

Featured speaker George McDaniel was the Executive Director for 25 years of Drayton Hall, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site located in Charleston, South Carolina, and published “Drayton Hall Stories: A Place and Its People” in 2022. The first of its kind, this book uses oral history interviews with descendants of the Drayton family, those who were enslaved by them, and the people responsible for the preservation of Drayton Hall since it became a historic site in the 1970s. This book reveals never-before-shared family moments, major preservation and stewardship decisions, and pioneering efforts to transform a Southern plantation into a site for racial conciliation.

Register here: https://www.nypap.org/a-model-for-new-york-city-sites-documenting-recent-history-and-promoting-healing-at-drayton-hall/