View More Pictures
Read Michael’s Remarks
Tickets
SOLD OUT!
View the Program
For more than 20 years, the Historic Districts Council has honored a New Yorker who has significantly contributed to the celebration and preservation of our beloved New York City. This year, HDC is delighted to present Michael S. Hiller with the Landmarks Lion Award at our 2024 fall gala. You are invited to help celebrate Michael by becoming a member of the Landmarks Lion Benefit Committee.
Michael S. Hiller is a zoning, land-use, and historic preservation attorney who has made an almost three-decade-long career of defending New York City’s landmarks. He sees his battles as crucial to the future of New York and its history. He has worked with clients across the city—community groups, advocacy organizations, and concerned stakeholders intent on preserving the places that matter to them.
He has taken on powerful opponents in numerous high-profile cases that impacted the integrity of designated historic places. Representing Citizens Defending Libraries and The Committee to Save the NYPL, he ended the New York Public Library’s plans to significantly alter their flagship; at the Hopper-Gibbons House in Chelsea he stopped an addition that would have destroyed the defining significance of this documented stop on the Underground Railroad; at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he prevented an expansion into the greenspace within Central Park, a scenic landmark; and at First Church of Christ, Scientist on Central Park West he prevented condos from being inserted into the individually-landmarked structure.
Today he continues to represent worthy causes including the Center at West Park who are striving to save the designated West-Park Presbyterian Church from demolition as well as supporting the Merchant’s House Museum in protecting its irreplaceable interiors from neighboring construction.
He has said, “As we lose the soul of the city in its architecture, its landmark buildings and historic districts, and its urban planning, we lose our identity as people. I think that is the greatest threat to New York City.”
Among his other awards, Hiller previously received an HDC Grassroots Preservation Award in 2017, was designated the “protector of the little guy” by the New York Law Journal, and in 2021 was a finalist for New York State Lawyer of the Year.
Your support in joining the Benefit Committee will truly celebrate Michael’s remarkable contributions to New York City and beyond. Joining the committee will also ensure that HDC is able to continue our valuable work with more than 500 communities and neighborhoods to preserve, protect, and celebrate New York’s historic places.
It will be a great pleasure to see you at the Landmarks Lion gala this fall. All of us at HDC thank you for your support.
Read more about Michael’s legal cases.
BENEFIT COMMITTEE LIST
AMBASSADOR
Hiller PC
Union Square Community Coalition
BENEFACTOR
John Bacon
The Center at West Park
Franny Eberhart
Christabel Gough
Roberta Brandes Gratz
Walter B. Melvin Architects
PATRON
Françoise Astorg Bollack and Tom Killian
Lynn Ellsworth and William Duggan
The Green-Wood Cemetery
Christopher W. London
Thornton Tomasetti
SPONSOR
Penelope Bareau
The Brooklyn Studio
Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel
Andrew S. Dolkart
Elizabeth and David Goldfarb
Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation
Congregation of Memorial Baptist Church –
Pastor Stephen Christopher, Boris Gilzon, Svetlana Lazarev, Pastor Jason Meade,
Cantor Lisa B. Segal, Catherine Shannon, Ari Strimling, Tim Pietrzak, Martin Zoltowski
FRIEND
A. Ottavino Corp./Kate Ottavino
Lisa Ackerman
Allen Architectural Metals
Angel Ayón
Kathleen Benson
Joan Berkowitz
Peter Bray
Hal Bromm & Don Meris
George L. Calderaro
Carol Clark and Kyle Johnson
Kerri Culhane
Michael Devonshire
Daniel Donovan
Essex Works Ltd
Howard Friedner
Doreen Gallo
Law Offices of Alison Greenberg, LLC
Laura Heim Architect PLLC
David Helpern
Susan Hopper
Mary Jablonski
Robert Kornfeld, Jr.
Jeremy Lechtzin
Brenda Levin
New York Landmarks Conservancy
Lorna Nowvé
Jorge Otero-Pailos, Columbia University Historic Preservation Program
Margery Perlmutter
Susan Povich and Ralph Gorham
Save Harlem Now!
Susan E. Sullivan
Susan Tunick and Friends of Terra Cotta
Thomas A. Fenniman Architect
Adrian I. Untermyer, Esq.
Anne H. Van Ingen
Charles D. Warren
Vicki Weiner, Pratt Historic Preservation Program
Anthony C. Wood
Jeremy Woodoff
Caroline Rob Zaleski
ADDITIONAL
CONTRIBUTIONS
Miriam Berman
Kelly Carroll
Julia Charles
Heide-Rose Funk Cleary
Matthew Coody
Paula Glatzer
Liz McEnaney
Tamer Mahmoud
Robert Ohlerking
Nancy and Otis Pearsall
Arete Warren
Liz Waytkus
West End Preservation Society