The Historic Districts Council is pleased to present a series of classes that will illuminate the process of proposing a historic district on either the state or local level. This series is ideally suited to civic organizations, community board members, grassroots preservationists and anyone interested in how to preserve neighborhood character. In addition to the overall theme, the classes will provide you with general knowledge and vocabulary about historic preservation practice in New York City. There are two semesters, Spring and Fall, each year. Everyone is welcome to attend both semesters.
How to Research NYC Buildings
This class will guide participants on tools and strategies for researching buildings in New York City, including various repositories and document types. Learn the basics of how to investigate the origins and stories behind historic properties.
Instructor: Gregory Dietrich
NYC Architectural Styles
This session focuses on common architectural styles and building types found in New York City’s historic built environment, and instruct participants on how to identify them by their distinguishing features.
Instructor: Gregory Dietrich
Social Media for Preservation Campaigns
This class will teach participants how to harness the power of social media to enhance preservation campaigns, build a constituency and sound a call-to-action. Participants will leave with practical strategies to better manage their organizational “brand” and drive traffic to social media profiles and websites.
Instructor: Cristiana Peña
Architectural Photography
Historic Preservation is first and foremost a visual field. This class will provide tips and tricks to improve your photos of buildings and streetscapes in order to maximize their impact.
Instructor: Lynn Massimo
Common NYC Building Materials
This class provides an overview of common building materials used in New York City, including terra-cotta, brick, brownstone, concrete and much more. The session will explain how these materials are employed, how to identify them, and “scratch the surface” on their maintenance and conservation.
Instructor: Dan Allen
Reading Architectural Drawings
Architectural drawings and renderings illustrate the often complicated design and construction plans for proposed building projects. This class will teach participants how to evaluate such documents in order to understand and analyze an upcoming construction project.
Instructor: Brendan Coburn
Preservation Tools for NYC
This introductory course will provide an overview of the regulations and funding mechanisms (both at the City and State levels) that exist to protect historic resources in New York City. The course will also outline the various organizations and entities that work to uphold and strengthen these mechanisms.
Instructor: Simeon Bankoff
NYC Architectural Styles: 53rd & Modern
NYC contains a wealth of historic architecture in a vast array of typologies and styles spanning generations. While previous iterations of the NYC Architectural Styles course have focused on rowhouse styles, this course focus’s on Modernism, explored through the lens of one particularly rich thoroughfare: 53rd Street, river to river.
Instructor: Sean Khorsandi
Overview of NYC Building Materials: Terra Cotta
n this course on Building Materials commonly found in NYC, instructor Daniel Allen (HDC Board President) will focus on a ubiquitous material found across the ages and across the boroughs: terra cotta. The session will explain how this material is employed (past and present), how to identify it, and “scratch the surface” on its maintenance and conservation.
Instructor: Dan Allen
Research NYC Buildings: Cultural Significance
This course delves into tools and strategies for researching buildings in NYC, including various repositories and document types. Learn the basics of how to investigate the origins and stories behind historic properties. This course will focuses on resources for determining a building’s cultural, as well as architectural, significance.
Instructor – Amanda Davis
SUPERTALLS: So What?