Introducing the 2024 Pillars of New York
The League’s annual Pillar of New York Awards allows us to recognize those who have demonstrated remarkable commitment to preserving and celebrating New York State’s rich history. This year’s honorees are no different. We hope you will join us in the Rainbow Room on March 14 as we celebrate four remarkable preservationists – Peggy King Jorde, Richard J. Moylan, and Melissa Auf der Maur & Tony Stone.
ABOUT THE 2024 PILLAR HONOREES
Peggy King Jorde is the Principal of KING JORDE Culturals, a consulting practice in cultural heritage, preservation, and design for marginalized communities. A Harvard Loeb Fellow, Peggy’s extraordinary activism and leadership realized our first National Monument and Interpretive Center honoring enslaved and free Africans in New York City. A global expert on the memorialization of African burial grounds, Peggy is a consulting producer for, and protagonist featured in, A Story of Bones, the celebrated British documentary from Tribeca Film Festival / PBS POV.
Richard J. Moylan has served as President of The Green-Wood Cemetery since 1986, where he has worked for over 50 years. His vision transformed Green-Wood into a cultural center by prioritizing education, arts programming, environmental initiatives, and historic preservation. Under Moylan’s leadership, Green-Wood gained National Historic Landmark status in 2006, and recently embarked on a bold endeavor to create an Education & Welcome Center to better serve its community. Moylan is a recipient of the Fine Arts Federation’s highest honor and the 2016 Place Maker award from the Foundation for Landscape Studies.
Melissa Auf der Maur, musician, photographer, curator, and producer, was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. She is most prominently known for being the bass player in two seminal 90s bands, Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins. The photographs she took during her time in both bands have been published and exhibited in National Geographic, SPIN Magazine, Sotheby’s NYC, and The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Tony Stone, a filmmaker and builder, was born and raised in Lower Manhattan. His feature films SEVERED WAYS and PETER AND THE FARM were released by Magnolia Pictures to high acclaim. TED K, his most recent film released by NEON, continues his exploration of the dark and rugged soul of America.
Melissa and Tony co-founded Basilica Hudson in 2010, a reclaimed, solar powered, 1880s industrial factory turned multidisciplinary art center in Hudson, NY. In 2019, they completed the rehabilitation of another historic Hudson building – River House Project is a fossil fuel-free film, media, and design hub within a 1903 schoolhouse. That restoration earned the couple an Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the Preservation League in 2020.
For more than 25 years, the League has been honoring individuals and organizations that have taken extraordinary action to protect, preserve, and promote New York’s artistic and architectural heritage – the true believers in the power of preservation. On March 14, 2024, we’ll celebrate the League’s 50 years of action and advocacy by toasting this half-century milestone and paying tribute to these four marvelous honorees.
This event is the League’s largest annual fundraiser — supporting the Pillar Awards supports the League’s statewide work all year long.