From Left to Right: Paul Selver, Jerold Kayden, Meenakshi Srinivasan, Kent Barwick. Image Credit: LPC
Speakers spoke of the different priorities of City government and other stakeholders, examined preservation strategies of municipalities nationwide, and considered changes in the legal landscape that could affect landmarking. On October 26, 2015, , Meenakshi Srinivasan, Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and Jerold Kayden, Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, co-hosted an event titled “History in the Making: The New York City Landmarks Law at 50.” The event held at the New York City Bar Association consisted of multiple addresses and panels intended to provoke and challenge common assumptions and perceptions regarding historic preservation as the City’s landmarks law enters the second half of its first century. (read more…)
Kent Barwick has a stickball bat hiding in the corner of his office. He swears he does not use it, and who can argue with him? His office is in the Villard Houses in Midtown, and its courtyard is too small for a game. But physical boundaries aside, he would never have the time to show off his skills. Mr. Barwick, a graduate of Syracuse University and a Harvard University Loeb Fellow, is the current president of the Municipal Art Society, a group for which he has served since 1968 as executive director and president; an unlikely stop after being an ad agency creative director. He recently announced that he will step down in 2008. Having also served as Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission from 1978 to 1983, he sat down with CityLand to reflect on a long career of tending to the city.
A Golden Age. With more than 3,000 designations during Mr. Barwick’s six-year term as Landmarks Chair, many describe the period as its golden age. Mr. Barwick offers two explanations: Ed Koch and the Supreme Court. Mr. Barwick describes Koch as a mayor who treated the job of Landmarks Chair with respect, and viewed it as a quasi-judicial role, one that the office of the mayor should not interfere with. Koch “was wonderful to work for,” and “accepted that landmarks preservation was like housing, or education, or rights for seniors: a significant subject.” (read more…)
