A Proclamation in Albany
A Proclamation in Albany

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.

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League Events, PLNYS in the Community, Preservation ColleaguesKaty Peace50th anniversary
Pillars of New York: Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone
Pillars of New York: Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone

For more than a decade we’ve committed blood, sweat, and tears to preserving and celebrating the rich history and heritage of the City of Hudson’s waterfront through our work at Basilica Hudson and the River House Project. It is an honor to be recognized for our part in this effort. We take this opportunity to shine a light on these Hudson River Town architectural gems as beacons and creative havens for arts, culture, and people. This Pillar Award amplifies and echo’s our dreams we set out to make come true when our love affair with Hudson began in 2010. Our greatest hope is that our special attention to historic restoration matched with "green" renewable energy systems will inspire the next wave of preservationists. Thank you to the Preservation League of NYS for recognizing this work” – Melissa Auf der Maur

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Katy PeacePillar Gala
Pillar of New York: Richard J. Moylan
Pillar of New York: Richard J. Moylan

“I'm honored to be named as a “Pillar of New York” by the Preservation League of New York State. It’s a recognition that my vision for Green-Wood is not mine alone; it’s one that is shared by like-minded individuals across the state. For over 35 years, it’s been my passion to tap into this potential at my favorite place in the world: Green-Wood. It has transformed the cemetery into a public art venue, a leader in historic preservation, a force for protecting the environment, and an important resource to our community. I am honored to have been at the helm through this journey.” - Richard J. Moylan

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Katy PeacePillar Gala
Pillar of New York: Peggy King Jorde
Pillar of New York: Peggy King Jorde

The Preservation League of NYS was thrilled to recognized Peggy King Jorde with a 2024 Pillar of New York Award! 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.

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Katy PeacePillar Gala
Announcing the 2024 Zabar Scholars
Announcing the 2024 Zabar Scholars

Since 2019, the League has been awarding cash scholarships to the best and brightest preservation students studying in NYS. The Zabar Family Scholarship Program was established by former League Trustee Lori Zabar and continues to award students in her memory. This year’s applicants were extremely strong, inspiring a lively discussion among our scholarship jury. The three students receiving scholarships this year truly rose to the top, and we are honored to support them. Get to know this year’s Zabar scholars: Lorraine Colbert (City College), Cecelia Halle (Columbia), and Siena Leone-Getten (Pratt Institute).

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PLNYS StaffZabar Scholars, Press Release
25 Years of Seven to Save
25 Years of Seven to Save

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!

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Seven to SaveKaty PeaceSTS 25th Retrospective, 50th anniversary
A Look at the League's First 50 Years
A Look at the League's First 50 Years

A lot has happened over the League’s 50-year history and we wanted to share some of the highlights that have led our organization to where it is today. This timeline gives you a broad overview of the League’s first 50 years, from our founding in 1974 to today. We’ll be digging into at least of few of these stories in more detail over the coming months as we continue to mark our 50th Anniversary. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this infographic look at the League’s half century of preservation work in NYS!

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Katy Peace50th anniversary
Researching the Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church Thanks to the the Northern NY Community Foundation
Researching the Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church Thanks to the the Northern NY Community Foundation

In 2023, the League received a grant from the Northern NY Community Foundation to hire a summer intern to research the history of the Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church in Watertown. From May until August, Barb Tucker, an Empire State University Public History student and volunteer at the Jefferson County Historical Society, worked to conduct oral history interviews and compile documents relating to the social history of Thomas Memorial.

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PLNYS in the CommunityJanna RudlerThomas Memorial, 2022-2023 STS
The Land Protector Project 2024
The Land Protector Project 2024

Thanks to a Capacity & Regrowth grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, we were able to commission artists to design a creative intervention for each of the Seven to Save in an effort to draw community attention to these endangered places. In thinking about how to use artwork to celebrate and draw attention to Genesee Valley Park, it seemed only fitting to invite someone connected to the University of Rochester to be involved. Associate Professor of Art Heather Layton answered the call and crafted a multidisciplinary, student-led project. Working closely with our colleagues at the Rochester Olmsted Parks Alliance, 11 current students created work inspired by the Park.

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PLNYS in the CommunityKaty PeaceSTS Artist Interventions, 2022-2023 STS
Introducing the Preservation Opportunity Fund
Introducing the Preservation Opportunity Fund

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.

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GrantsKaty PeacePress Release, 50th anniversary
50th Anniversary Artwork
50th Anniversary Artwork

In thinking about all the ways we might mark our 50th Anniversary this year, we knew we wanted to work with a local artist to create something for the occasion. Albany-based illustrator Cara Hanley came immediately to mind. But how can you distill 50 years of work into a single graphic, especially covering an area as large as New York State? You can’t! But we wanted to take inspiration from some of the incredible places we’ve been lucky enough to work with over the years, representing iconic building types — an Adirondack Great Camp, rowhouses, a church, a barn — to get a feel for the kind of historic places that make up the fabric of NYS. We had no shortage of ideas to pull from, but here’s a breakdown of the real places Cara was inspired by in her final illustration.

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Katy Peace50th anniversary
Technical Assistance Grants - 2023
Technical Assistance Grants - 2023

The Preservation League of New York State and their program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts are thrilled to announce the recipients of their 2023 Technical Assistance Grants. During this grant cycle, 19 projects representing 13 counties across the state have been selected by an independent panel of preservation professionals. A total of $66,576 was awarded.

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GrantsKaty PeacePress Release, TAG
Voices of Preservation: Urban Renewal and Historic Preservation in Newburgh
Voices of Preservation: Urban Renewal and Historic Preservation in Newburgh

In this guest blog post from the team behind the Picturing Urban Renewal project, Ann Pfau, David, Hochfelder, and Stacy Sewell look at the legacy of urban renewal in Newburgh, NY. The Picturing Urban Renewal website has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. They post research findings on Substack at Researching Urban Renewal.

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Voices of PreservationPicturing Urban Renewalurban renewal, Newburgh
Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church to Receive $100,000 From African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church to Receive $100,000 From African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

With the official public announcement of the 2024 Preserving Black Churches Grants on January 15, the Friends of Thomas Memorial are proud to share that Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church has received $100,000 in funding from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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Preservation in ActionPLNYS Staff2022-2023 STS, press, Adirondacks
Far from Golden: Hochul’s Silence on Penn Station in her State of the State Address
Far from Golden: Hochul’s Silence on Penn Station in her State of the State Address

This photo essay has been cross-posted and lightly condensed from our colleagues at RethinkPennStationNYC. The League has been collaborating with local advocates to speak out against redevelopment plans that include widespread demolition of buildings surrounding Penn Station since including the Penn Neighborhood on the 2022-2023 Seven to Save list. ReThinkPennStationNYC is proud to be a founding member of the Empire Station Coalition, which is a collection of more than 15 neighborhood and block associations, think tanks and civic organizations advocating for real and equitable solutions at Penn Station. The Empire Station Coalition shares these same values and is doing much to keep this debate open and before the public.

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Voices of PreservationEmpire Station CoalitionPenn Neighborhood, 2022-2023 STS
Bricks and Beliefs: Preservation of Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Ukrainian Village in New York City
Bricks and Beliefs: Preservation of Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Ukrainian Village in New York City

In this guest blog post, Preservation Consultant Andrew Roblee shines a light on a historic space providing much-needed social services to Ukrainian refugees in the East Village of Manhattan. The First Ukrainian Assembly of God has called its 1867 Second Empire building home since 1937. In recent years, the building’s exterior has suffered from deferred maintenance that the congregation is committed to addressing. But while they tackle their preservation projects, they are also proving essential services and a community gathering place to both longtime congregants and recent refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

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Voices of PreservationAndrew RobleeNYC, Sacred Sites
Introducing the 2024 Pillars of New York
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.

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PLNYS StaffPillar Gala, Press Release