Our Vision

Letter From The CHAIR

April 2025

Dear Friends.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the New York City Landmarks Law.  In 1965, the New York City Landmarks Law was enacted in order to protect historic landmarks and neighborhoods from precipitate decisions to destroy or fundamentally alter their character. The law also established the creation of a permanent New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Commission is authorized to designate a building to be a “landmark” on a particular “landmark site,” or to designate an area as a “historic district.” The legal definition of a landmark stipulates that the building must be at least 30 years old, and have either historical or architectural merit, as determined by the Commission.

The 1973 amendments to New York City’s Landmarks Law established interior landmarks, scenic landmarks, and historic districts. Today, the Landmarks Law continues to be the most significant tool used by preservationists in the fight to protect their cherished landmarks.

The NYLPF and LPC is co-sponsoring a Forum on the morning of April 24th at the new home of the LPC at 253 Broadway. TO register to attend by ZOOM please link to https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_SDlkT0m1Qr25MbBFwA2XTg#/registration

In June of this year, we will unveil a plaque at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park in Staten Island.  The park is the only existing non-sectarian cemetery founded by — and specifically for — New York City’s Black community. The memorial park opened in 1935, offering a dignified cemetery for Black New Yorkers at a time when discrimination and segregation excluded them from other burial sites across the city and limited them to substandard facilities and services. The 14.88-acre cemetery memorializes Black heritage and honors the generations of Black Americans who are buried here. An impressive monument to the park’s namesake, abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass, was dedicated in 1961 and is located near the entrance. Frederick Douglass Memorial Park was designated a New York City Landmark in 2024.

Looking forward to fall 2025, our annual “Lunch at a Landmark” will be held on Thursday, October 9 from noon – 2pm with a guest speaker and location to be announced in May with invitations coming in July.  Please “SAVE THE DATE” to join us to celebrate architecture of the past and present.

Thank you for your interest in the work of the Landmarks Preservation Foundation.

Tom Krizmanic, AIA

Board Chair, NYLPF