1984: Advocating for Sacred Sites
We are revisiting some of our past accomplishments this year as we celebrate our 50th Anniversary. In that spirit, let’s take a look at one of the League’s early advocacy campaigns: Advocating for sacred sites.
St. Bartholomew’s circa 2019.
Fighting against the Religious Properties Exemption
''If this were proposed in Paris, Rome, London or Dublin, places with significant church architecture, the general population would be outraged,'' said Kent L. Barwick, chairman of The Landmarks Preservation Commission. ''It would be laughed out of town.''
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis leaves a LOB hearing room after testifying against legislation that would have exempted religious properties from local preservation laws. Onassis was part of a committee trying to save St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City. February 8, 1984. Photo by Tom Killips via Albany Group Archive on Flickr.
In the 1980s, the League joined other New York preservation groups to block legislation that would have exempted religious properties from landmark laws. St. Bartholomew’s, a 1919 Episcopal church on Park Avenue in New York City, sparked a statewide controversy by requesting approval to demolish its Community House so a developer could construct an office tower on the site. The New York Times covered the issue at the time saying, “The St. Bartholomew's case is only one element in an assault on the landmarks law under way throughout the state.”
The debate reached a climax in February 1984, when more than 100 preservationists, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Brendan Gill, Orin Lehman, and many clergy testified against the religious properties exemption bill in Albany.
That same year, the League launched our annual statewide Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards to recognize exceptional projects, groups, and individuals, who have advanced historic preservation in New York State. That inaugural Awards program recognized historic religious properties.