Celebrate Women’s History Month

Ada Louise Huxtable Ella Fitzgerald Lady Deborah Moody Walentyna Janta-Połczyński (née Stocker) Audre Lorde Emma Goldman Odetta Margaret Sanger Alice Austen Jane Jacobs Margaret Cochran Corbin Billie Jean King Edith Wharton Ada Louise Huxtable Ada Louise Huxtable (1921-2013), a native New Yorker, was a pioneer in architectural criticism, and a champion of livable cities. As […]

HDC Defends Buildings at Risk with New Policy Recommendations

On February 6th, following up on our December 2022 Press Conference at City Hall decrying the ongoing trend of demolition of landmarked structures across New York, HDC sent a number of new policy recommendations to LPC detailing specific ways the LPC and DOB can work together to prevent demolition of landmarked structures in the future. In […]

Follow HDC’s Advocacy at 60 Wall Street

For the better part of a year, HDC has been at the forefront of advocacy on behalf of the architectural and material integrity of 60 Wall Street, Roche-Dinkeloo’s 1985-89 Postmodern office tower in Lower Manhattan. We have not only called on the LPC to designate 60 Wall as both an Individual and Interior Landmark, but […]

Read HDC’s Response to The New York Times Article about 250 Water Street

On January 27, 2023, the New York Times published a Big City column concerning the Seaport Coalition’s successful lawsuit against the Landmarks Preservation Commission over the proposed development at 250 Water Street. Because The Times article falsely pitted preservation against affordable housing, our Executive Director, Frampton Tolbert, responded with this letter to the editor: To […]

The Seaport Coalition Wins Lawsuit Against the Landmarks Preservation Commission

On Thursday, January 12th, the Seaport Coalition won its lawsuit against the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). The Coalition took the Commission to court over LPC’s inappropriate approval of the Howard Hughes Corporation’s proposed development project at 250 Water Street in the South Street Seaport District.  HDC filed an amicus brief in support of the Seaport Coalition’s lawsuit against LPC, going on record to call out what we […]

HDC and Preservation Colleagues Question NYC’s Link5G Tower Roll Out in Joint Letter

On Thursday, January 12, 2023, HDC sent a joint letter to City Hall in conjunction with 8 preservation colleague organizations, pressing the City for information about its Link5G Tower roll out, and questioning both the tower design, and locations chosen, for the program’s initial phase. We support the City’s stated project goal of bridging the […]

Penn Station Advocacy Alert

 Send a Letter to Governor Hochul! There has been increased focus by the press recently on Governor Kathy Hochul and Empire State Development’s plan to transform the Penn Station Area. Many of these articles point out the lack of transparency and details in this plan. While the Historic Districts Council agrees that there need to […]

Statement of the Historic Districts Council – West Park Presbyterian Church Hardship Application

To Landmarks Preservation Commission June 14, 2022   I am Frampton Tolbert, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. HDC is the advocate for New York City’s designated historic districts, individual landmarks and structures meriting preservation.   HDC opposes this hardship application on several points. First, while the case law does not envision a reasonable return […]

Send a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission in Support of Designating Parkchester As a Historic District

Parkchester is the earliest example of the tower-in-the-park development in both New York City and the United States. The complex was also the first major housing development undertaken by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1938, and would later inspire the development of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Parkchester is notable for the hundreds of terra cotta […]

Help Us Save West Park Presbyterian Church

Join the Historic Districts Council in telling the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission that Landmarks should stay as Landmarks!  Express your support for the preservation of the individually-landmarked West Park Presbyterian Church and tell them you are opposed to their hardship application to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for its de-designation and […]