New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation

General Society Landmark Lectures begin at 6:00 pm 

LOCATION: The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen building – 20 WEST 44TH STREET

New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation
With Professor Steven W. Semes, Professor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame
Tuesday, October 8th at 6 P.M.

An In-Person and Online Talk.

The in-person program will be followed by a book signing and a short reception.

To register for In-Person attendance,
please click here

To register for Online attendance,
please click here

All registrants will receive a link to the recording approximately 10 days after the lecture.

General Admission: $15
General Society Members, Historic District Council Members, New York Landmark Conservancy Members, and Senior Citizens: $10
Students: $5

Advance registration is required.

Professor Steven Semes will discuss the impact of Gustavo Giovannoni (1873-1947) who was a central figure in the fields of architecture, urbanism, and historic preservation in the first half of the 20th century in his native Italy and throughout Europe. His theory and practice have had a profound, if often unacknowledged, influence in these fields up to the present day. Central to his thinking was a sense of continuity between historic architecture and contemporary design, the mission of restoration to make our historic monuments whole, and a deep sense of respect for the character and meaning of historic buildings, cities, and landscapes.

Giovannoni’s focus on the urban scale led him to view the whole city as a monument, including both important public buildings and the ordinary urban fabric that forms their setting. Proponents of historic preservation, new traditional design, New Urbanism, sustainability, and environmentalism will find in Giovannoni an invaluable precursor and resource. The talk is based on a new book, New Building in Old Cities by Professor Semes that offers a comprehensive portrait of the architect for the first time in English.

Steven W. Semes is a Professor of Architecture and Director of the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability at the University of Notre Dame. He was Academic Director of the Notre Dame Rome Studies Program 2008-2011. He is the author of The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation (2009) and The Architecture of the Classical Interior (2004), as well as many articles. His new book is New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation, with co-editors Francesco Siravo and Jeff Cody (2024). Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty in 2005, he practiced architecture for three decades in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and New York.