Excellence Award Spotlight: Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church
The restoration of Most Precious Blood Church, an Art Deco masterpiece located in Astoria, New York, was a monumental effort aimed at preserving a historic landmark while ensuring its continued service to the community. Built in 1932, the church is one of the earliest examples of Art Deco ecclesiastical architecture in the US. Renowned architects Henry J. McGill and Talbot Hamlin masterfully blended Art Deco aesthetics with influences from Celtic architecture, creating a distinctive and timeless design.
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Excellence Award Spotlight: Roosevelt Island Lighthouse
The Roosevelt Island Lighthouse restoration was completed in 2022 after a years-long project initiated by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. The project included restoring brick, stone, windows, and doors. Site improvements at the Lighthouse include installation of a new metal spiral staircase, new electrical and LED accent lighting, resetting and installation of new and salvaged stone pavers and curb stones, and the installation of new recessed ground lighting and controls. The project was completed by the construction team of The LIRO Group and ICC Commonwealth.
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A History of the League HQ from Historic Albany Foundation
Our colleagues at Historic Albany Foundation are also marking their 50th Anniversary this year. Add to that a big move they have planned, and they have been spending time sifting through their archives and highlighting treasures from their past. We were thrilled when they came across a cache of historic photos of our Albany HQ at 44 Central Avenue. In this guest blog post, HAF President Pam Howard gives us a history lesson on the building that at one time was also home to HAF!
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Repurposing Outdated Transportation Infrastructure
Waterways, roadways, railways, and airports – the architecture of how we get around can tell us a lot about the time in which it was constructed and how our communities have evolved and developed over the years. Whether purely utilitarian in its original conception or a grand statement of forward-looking aspirations, many great buildings and structures have fallen out of use and landed on our Seven to Save list. But just because something can no longer be used for its original purpose doesn’t mean it can’t still be useful.
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"We know every rock in this building." - Checking in with the masons restoring the historic Louw-Bogardus Ruin in Kingston
This guest blog post from our colleagues at Friends of Historic Kingston shines a light on an exciting rehabilitation project they are overseeing on the Frog Alley ruin, just outside Kingston’s Stockade Historic District. Using traditional masonry techniques, tradesmen Derrick McNab, Tim McDonough, and Manuel Roque are stabilizing the iconic structure.
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Preserve New York Grants - 2024
The Preservation League of NYS and their program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) are thrilled to announce the 2024 Preserve New York grant recipients. At its 2024 meeting, an independent panel selected 21 applicants in 17 counties to receive support totaling $264,388.
“Projects funded through Preserve New York often mark the beginning of bigger preservation efforts, and the League takes tremendous pride in helping to jumpstart this important work,” said Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League of NYS. “We can’t wait to see how this year’s grantees tackle these projects and look forward to continuing to be a resource into the future. We are grateful for the continued partnership of the New York State Council on the Arts, as well as the additional support from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, which makes these grants possible.”
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Representing Underrepresented Histories with Seven to Save
When highlighting underrepresented histories through a Seven to Save listing, it is key for the League to bolster the work already being done by local advocates. It is not necessarily our job to come in and declare a place important — local communities are able to decide that for themselves. Rather, the League can play an important role supporting and advocating alongside the people with roots in these places.
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A Vanishing New York: A Conversation with Photographer John Lazzaro
New York is filled with forsaken buildings, each ravaged by the exploits of modernization, each having fascinating histories. A Vanishing New York, published in 2022, explores over 40 of the most evocative abandoned sites in the Empire State and puts their individual stories in the larger context of New York’s historical legacy. Photographer and author John Lazzaro traveled the state over a three-year period, capturing what’s left of such places before they are swept away by time. Divided by region, these sites, ranging from the Catskills’ once-vibrant vacation destinations to Long Island’s melancholy psychiatric centers, reveal deeper social, cultural, and political changes that lead to their decay. These abandoned hospitals, schools, churches, railways, and estates offer us a view into a past rapidly dissolving before it disappears completely.
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Recapping Our Colleagues Retreat: Expanding the Narrative
Last week, about 30 preservationists gathered in the village of Rhinebeck for our first in-person Preservation Colleagues gathering in several years.
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Announcing the Inaugural Preservation Opportunity Fund Grantees
he Preservation League of NYS is thrilled to share that three capital projects will receive funding from the newly launched Preservation Opportunity Fund. As Preservation League President Jay DiLorenzo said when the grant program was first announced in February, “We have seen a clear need from nonprofits across the state for more grant funding specifically for capital improvement projects. Through our new Preservation Opportunity Fund, we hope to meet some of that need.”
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Every Woman Her Own Architect: Author Talk with Kelly Hayes McAlonie
As America's first professional female architect, Louise Blanchard Bethune broke barriers in a male-dominated profession that was emerging as a vital force in a rapidly growing nation during the Gilded Age. Yet, Bethune herself is an enigma. Due to scant information about her life and her firm, Bethune, Bethune & Fuchs, scholars have struggled to provide a complete picture of this trailblazer. Using a newly discovered archival source of photographs, architectural drawings, and personal documents, Kelly Hayes McAlonie paints a picture of Bethune never before seen. A comprehensive biography of the first professional woman architect in the United States, who was also the first woman to be admitted to the American Institute of Architects, Louis Blanchard Bethune: Every Woman Her Own Architect serves as an important addition to New York and architectural history.
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Brownstone Boys: For the Love of Renovating
For the Love of Renovating: Tips, Tricks & Inspiration for Creating Your Dream Home by Barry Bordelon and Jordan Slocum, is the inspiring, game-changing book every fixer-upper needs, whether the project is budget remodeling or a full gut renovation. In this webinar, Barry and Jordan talk about how they first began their restoration journey with their own Brooklyn brownstone, plus examples from some of their historic renovations around the borough.
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Meet our new Development Director, Kaitlyn Robitaille
Kaitlyn Robitaille has nearly ten years fundraising experience, having worked at nonprofit organizations including the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the New Britain Museum of American Art and most recently, Project SAGE, a domestic violence prevention agency in northwestern Connecticut. Kaitlyn has an MA degree from Trinity College in American Studies, a BA degree in history from SUNY New Paltz, and an AAS degree from Dutchess Community College in early childhood education. Kaitlyn lives in Poughkeepsie New York with her husband, daughter, and many pets.
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Lessons in Placekeeping from Buffalo and Beyond
In this webinar, sociologist and photographer David Schalliol and Assembly House 150 Founder Dennis Maher talked about their respective work and how that work has intersected. Following their presentations, David and Dennis were joined in conversation by Jennifer Minner, Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor, Director of Just Places Lab at Cornell University.
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The Borscht Belt Revisited
In her talk, Photographer Marisa Scheinfeld discusses the rise, fall, and impact of the Borscht Belt along with the deeper, more layered meaning she finds in her series, as well as her current work with the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project.
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Protecting Great Camp Sagamore
In this post we take a look at one of the League’s major early victories. The campaign to save Great Camp Sagamore began in 1975 — just a year after the League was founded — with advocacy that saved the main camp complex, and continued in the early 1980s with a complicated legislative process that further protected the 11 historic outbuildings on the Sagamore campus.
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Preservation Month 2024: People Saving Places
May is National Preservation Month, and following the National Trust's lead, we'll also be celebrating "People Saving Places" to mark the occasion!
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A Fair Land to Build In: The Architecture of the Empire State
Written and narrated by Brendan Gill, this short film from 1980 was produced by the Preservation League of NYS to showcase the remarkably varied architecture found throughout the Empire State. We've brought it out of the archive and digitized the original film in honor of our 50th Anniversary in 2024.
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Preservation is Climate Action (Happy Earth Day!)
Happy Earth Day and a friendly reminder that historic preservation is climate action!
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A Proclamation in Rochester
This year’s New York Statewide Preservation Conference was back in Rochester for the first time in several years. Rochester Mayor Malik Evans was on hand to welcome conference attendees — and we were honored that during his opening remarks he recognized the League’s 50th Anniversary by presenting League President Jay DiLorenzo with a City Proclamation.
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