Logo for the New York Landmark Conservancy
  • Who We Are
    • Board & Staff
    • Press
    • Annual Reports & 990s
    • Our Supporters
  • What We Do
    • Advocacy
    • Loans & Grants
    • Preservation Services
    • Success Stories
    • 50 at 50
  • Events
    • Living Landmarks Celebration
    • Chairman’s Award
    • Moses Awards
    • Professional Circle Events
    • Sacred Sites Open House
    • Member Talks & Tours
  • Explore NY
  • News
Join / Renew Donate
Fifty Unforgettable stories. Fifty Remarkable Years.

Celebrate the New York Landmarks Conservancy's 50th anniversary by experiencing the 50 at 50 exhibition. Explore our most iconic, memorable successes in preserving and protecting the architecture that helps make New York singularly unique.

Watch a Film

Watch a Film

Learn more about the work, impact, and history of the Conservancy through this short film.

Explore the Exhibition

Explore the Exhibition

See the 50 at 50 exhibition up close, with our featured landmarks all over the City.

New York in the 1970s

New York in the 1970s

Explore what NYC was like when the Conservancy was founded via an interactive timeline.

Explore the Exhibition

Explore 50 of our most iconic and memorable successes from borough to borough, where our work has preserved not only physical landmarks, but also the stories and the history behind them, all woven into the fabric of the City we love. There’s no place quite like New York, and we look to the future with renewed dedication to preserving its unique architectural heritage.

Bowne House

Bowne House

Queens

Domestic

Bowne House, Queens

Why is this building significant? The modesty of this colonial-era, two-story house belies its historical significance. John Bowne, an English...

Learn More
Church of the Most Precious Blood

Church of the Most Precious Blood

Queens

Religion

Church of the Most Precious Blood, Queens

Why is this building significant? This church, constructed during the Great Depression, broke new stylistic ground for an ecclesiastical building...

Learn More
Congregation Tifereth Israel

Congregation Tifereth Israel

Queens

Religion

Congregation Tifereth Israel, Queens

Why is this building significant? Founded by residents of Manhattan’s Lower East Side who moved to the Corona section of...

Learn More
Conrad Poppenhusen Institute

Conrad Poppenhusen Institute

Queens

Civic

Conrad Poppenhusen Institute, Queens

Why is this building significant? German immigrant Conrad Poppenhusen financed this five-story Victorian-style building as a place where people, irrespective...

Learn More
Flushing Friends Meeting House

Flushing Friends Meeting House

Queens

Religion

Flushing Friends Meeting House, Queens

Why is this building significant? The Old Quaker Meeting House, as it is widely known, is reputedly the oldest house...

Learn More
TWA Flight Center and Hotel

TWA Flight Center and Hotel

Queens

Transportation

TWA Flight Center and Hotel, Queens

Why is this building significant? Saarinen’s curvaceous, concrete structure is a symbol of post-World War II American optimism and a...

Learn More

New York

When We Were Founded
The New York Landmarks Conservancy was founded in 1973. Explore the 70's when New York was defined by crises and opportunities.
The Custom House Is Abandoned

1973

The Custom House Is Abandoned

The Custom House Is Abandoned, 1973

In 1973 the Customs Service vacated its grand headquarters in Cass Gilbert’s Beaux-Arts masterpiece for offices in the new World Trade Center. The fate of the building—dismissed by some as a “white elephant”—was uncertain. When the Conservancy was founded, the organization ardently championed the building, which became its first preservation initiative.

Photo: U.S. Custom House, 1975. Photographer: Edmund Vincent Gillon. Museum of the City of New York.
Focus on the Theater District

1974

Focus on the Theater District

Focus on the Theater District, 1974

In addition to the Conservancy’s efforts, other attempts to preserve and revive the City’s architecture were prevalent in the 1970s. In 1974 the nine-year-old New York City Landmarks Commission, a city agency, granted individual landmark status to the Lyceum Theater. The Lyceum is an architectural gem in the Theater District and one of the oldest performing arts venues in the City.

Photo: Lyceum Theater, West 45th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, 1903. Photographer: Byron Company. Museum of the City of New York.
Saving Brownstone Brooklyn

1974

Saving Brownstone Brooklyn

Saving Brownstone Brooklyn, 1974

It was not just the City’s monumental architecture that was being newly appreciated and saved. Intrepid New Yorkers had been on their own restoring brownstones, as seen in this photograph of 1974, until the Conservancy got involved. It has played an indispensable role in providing homesteading “brownstoners” with expert advice and funding.

Photo: Park Slope, Brooklyn, 1974. Hum Images/Alamy Stock Photo.
A City in Panic

1975

A City in Panic

A City in Panic, 1975

Early landmarks preservation successes were all the more remarkable for taking place against the backdrop of a city in decline. Crime was so high that the Council for Public Safety issued a brochure for tourists advising them how to protect themselves.

Photo: Survival Guide to Visitors, 1975.
NYC on its Own

1975

NYC on its Own

NYC on its Own, 1975

New York was in financial trouble and facing insolvency. President Gerald Ford refused to spare the City from economic disaster, as the New York Daily News famously proclaimed: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

Photo: New York Daily News, October 30, 1975. Wikicommons, Public Domain.
New Optimism for NYC

1976

New Optimism for NYC

New Optimism for NYC, 1976

While early preservation successes, including those achieved by the Conservancy, were beginning to transform the City, a new optimistic mood emerged.  New Yorkers’ faith in their city–edged with a bit of never-say-die homegrown chauvinism–was given memorable expression in Milton Glaser’s bold image, often accompanied by an up-beat jingle sung by New York City officials and celebrities.

Photo: Milton Glaser, I Love New York logo, 1976. © 2022 NYS Dept. of Economic Development.
The South Bronx Renaissance

1977

The South Bronx Renaissance

The South Bronx Renaissance, 1977

Parts of the South Bronx literally burned to the ground and became a national symbol of urban blight when visited by President Jimmy Carter. But once again, community groups and the City refused to give up and in subsequent decades the borough would witness a renaissance.

Photo: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Patricia Harrison, President Jimmy Carter, and Mayor Abraham Beame on Charlotte Street, South Bronx, October 5, 1977. Everett Collection Inc./Alamy Stock Photo.
Mrs. Astor Signs On

1978

Mrs. Astor Signs On

Mrs. Astor Signs On, 1978

Saving the block with the historic Fraunces Tavern was another of the Conservancy’s early successes. In 1978 the Conservancy obtained funds from philanthropist Brooke Astor to purchase the five buildings, and the row was leased to a private developer for conversion to residential and commercial use.

Photo: Brooke Astor signs a check to save Fraunces Tavern, 1978. New York Landmarks Conservancy.
A Supreme Victory

1978

A Supreme Victory

A Supreme Victory, 1978

In the mid-1970s, a decade after the loss of Pennsylvania Station, a
monumental gateway to the City, Grand Central Terminal was threatened. Supported by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the Landmarks Preservation Commission took a legal case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1978 the court ruled in favor of saving the terminal, sending a clear message that the preservation movement was here to stay.

Photo: Philip Johnson, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bess Meyerson, Ed Koch in front of Grand Central Terminal, January 30, 1975. Municipal Art Society.

Credits

Photography

Noël Sutherland (Except where noted)

Curators

Donald Albrecht Thomas Mellins

Branding Web Design

SJI Associates

Support Us

Donate

Your donation helps us expand our reach and be your voice for preservation.

Make A Donation

Become A Member

Join the Conservancy and be part of our mission to save New York’s extraordinary architectural heritage.

Join Us

Join Our Mailing List

Sign up to receive our free E-Newsletter, informative alerts, our monthly Mystery Landmark contest, and our monthly Tourist in Your Own Town video series.

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: New York Landmarks Conservancy. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Connect With Us

New York Landmarks Conservancy
One Whitehall Street, 21st Floor
New York, NY 10004

Email: info@nylandmarks.org
Phone: 212.995.5260


Have a preservation question? Email our experts.

Follow Us:

  • Who We Are
    • Board & Staff
    • Press
    • Annual Reports & 990s
    • Our Supporters
    • Contact Us
  • What We Do
    • Advocacy
    • Loans & Grants
    • Preservation Services
    • Celebrate 50 at 50
  • Events
    • Chairman’s Award
    • Living Landmarks Celebration
    • Member Talks & Tours
    • Moses Awards
    • Professional Circle Events
    • Sacred Sites Open House
  • Explore NY
    • Manhattan
    • Brooklyn
    • Queens
    • The Bronx
    • Staten Island
  • News
    • Advocacy
    • Emergency Preservation Grants
    • Historic Properties Fund
    • Preservation Services
    • Nonprofit Technical Assistance Grant Program
    • Sacred Sites
    • Queens Historic Properties Fund
Board & Advisory Login

© 2025 New York Landmarks Conservancy. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy Sitemap
  • Who We Are
    • Board & Staff
    • Press
    • Annual Reports & 990s
    • Our Supporters
  • What We Do
    • Advocacy
    • Loans & Grants
    • Preservation Services
    • Success Stories
    • 50 at 50
  • Events
    • Living Landmarks Celebration
    • Chairman’s Award
    • Moses Awards
    • Professional Circle Events
    • Sacred Sites Open House
    • Member Talks & Tours
  • Explore NY
  • News