By the time some historic places end up on the Seven to Save list they have suffered from years of vacancy and/or significant disrepair. Our final theme in this year's anniversary retrospective will highlight three such listings that have since gone on to have incredible transformations: the former Eastman Dental Dispensary in Rochester, the former TWA Flight Center in Queens, and Bent’s Opera House in Medina.

Main Streets serve as the physical, economic, and cultural center of a community, home to municipal offices, banks, local businesses, and community gathering spaces. They can be one block long or ten (or more!); rural, suburban, or urban; with simple single story wood frame buildings or high style multi-story masonry buildings, and everything in between. Over the past 25 years, many Main Streets across the state have landed on our Seven to Save list – from Downtown State Street in Schenectady back in 2000 to the listing of Downtown Oneonta’s Historic District just last year. 

By our count, almost 20 neighborhoods have been included as Seven to Saves over the years – not counting Main Streets! Two threats tend to loom largest over Seven to Save communities: development pressure and deterioration. Gentrification, rising housing costs, and overdevelopment can push longtime residents out of their homes. Systemic disinvestment and lack of resources can make it difficult for residents to take care of their historic homes. Tools like historic district designation, Homeowner historic tax credits, and a push for affordable housing in historic neighborhoods helps to build sustainable communities. Neighborhood groups, local preservation and community-based organizations, and neighborhood residents (whether they be homeowners or renters) are the driving forces in preserving these kinds of sustainable communities.

The Preservation League was honored to be recognized by our colleagues at the Albany County Historical Association (ACHA) during their "Raise the Roof" Gala on Thursday, November 7. The League was awarded alongside the New York State Library, and the Rapp Road Historical Association, in recognition of their work to promote the rich and diverse history and culture of our region, and more broadly, all of New York State. 

“Upstate and downstate, in cities and rural villages, the League is committed to a preservation movement that is truly for everyone. And your support makes that work possible – so our past has a future.”

In many ways, New York is defined by its relationship to water. New York City and Long Island are surrounded by it. The Hudson River shoots north all the way into the Adirondacks. The Finger Lakes are home to picturesque landscapes and thriving communities. Lakes Ontario and Erie form our western border. And of course, the Erie Canal is the reason New York is called the Empire State. Our coastal, river-, lake-, and canal-side communities are rich in history. But being on the water can also put historic structures at risk – from natural erosion and increased flooding caused by climate change to development pressure caused by increased real estate value.

With shifts in population, budget constraints, and older buildings no longer meeting contemporary needs, many educational buildings have been vacated and left to deteriorate without an immediate new use on the horizon. In some cases, the buildings are so large that finding a new use proves difficult. In others, districts outgrow their historic buildings and move on. Regardless of particular circumstances, educational buildings tend to be local landmarks, deeply connected to a community’s identity and sense of place. People often have a strong emotional connection to these places because they used them as a children, or members of their families did. Losing these places can be a major blow to a community.

Since 1997, the League’s Preservation Colleagues program has strengthened the work of preservationists across the state. Our Colleagues are the front-line advocates and the behind-the-scenes heroes working on behalf of endangered landmarks, historic neighborhoods, rural landscapes, and commercial centers in their respective service areas. This year, we prioritized the Colleagues program by focusing on three core areas that have made this program so valuable in the past: Networking, Training, and Advocacy.

Now in its 40th year, the League's annual Excellence Awards program allows us to shine a light on the people who are using historic preservation to make all our lives better —through exemplary restoration projects, indispensable publications, individual action, and organizational distinction. This year’s Award winners will be recognized at a public reception in NYC on Friday, November 15. Event details can be found here.

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!

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.

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.

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.”

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.

May is National Preservation Month, and following the National Trust's lead, we'll also be celebrating "People Saving Places" to mark the occasion!

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.

On Wednesday, March 27, alongside our colleagues at Historic Albany Foundation (who are also celebrating their 50th Anniversary!) the League received a proclamation from Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan. In addition to the Mayor, we were honored that both Congressman Paul D. Tonko and NYS Assemblymember John T. McDonald were on hand to show their support. Relationships with elected officials like Rep. Tonko and AM McDonald are essential to our statewide work and we are grateful for their continued support of historic preservation in NYS.

On Thursday, March 14, we hosted a festive evening in New York’s iconic Rainbow Room for our 50th anniversary Pillar of New York Awards. In addition to our wonderful honorees and their guests, the room was filled with League Trustees and members of the Trustees Council, historic preservation students and recent grads, and great friends and supporters of preservation.

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.

Since we first began drawing attention to at-risk places with a Seven to Save designation, some places have been lost, some are still endangered, and others have gone on to be remarkable success stories. There are lessons to be learned in all three cases. For our anniversary year, we wanted to look at the program with a thematic retrospective – highlighting seven themes we’ve seen pop up in our listings over the past 25 years. Over the course of the year, we’ll be digging into our STS archive to highlight places across the state that help tell a broader story of preservation in New York. In this post we are teasing the themes we’re going to be looking at more deeply later in the year. We hope you’ll follow along!

The Preservation League of New York State is thrilled to be starting its 50th Anniversary year with a brand-new grant opportunity for New York nonprofits. Organizations with an ownership interest in, or a long-term lease of, a historic property requiring preservation, restoration, or rehabilitation, are invited to apply for the inaugural year of funding for the League’s new capital grant program.

Covering July 2022-June 2023, our recently released annual report features highlights of our work over the past year, our donor list, and financial statements. Providing an opening for the report is a letter from League Board Chair Frank Sanchis and League President Jay DiLorenzo: