The Once and Future New York

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The Once and Future New York

Historic Preservation and the Modern City

Randall Mason

Table of Contents

EVENTS:
12/1/09 New York, NY

PRESS:
PlanPhilly.com article
Rorotoko interview

$27.95 paper
ISBN: 978-0-8166-5604-2

$84.00 cloth
ISBN: 978-0-8166-5603-5

Uncovering the roots of America’s historic preservation movement

In the popular imagination, the controversial 1963 demolition of Pennsylvania Station gave birth to New York City’s historic preservation movement. As Randall Mason reveals, however, historic preservation has been a persistent force in the development of New York since the 1890s, when the city’s leading politicians, planners, and architects first recognized the need to preserve the rapidly evolving city’s past.

Rich with archival research, The Once and Future New York documents the emergence of historic preservation in New York at the turn of the twentieth century. Between 1890 and 1920, preservationists saved and restored buildings, parks, and monuments throughout the city’s five boroughs that represented continuity with the past. Mason argues these efforts created a “memory infrastructure” that established a framework for New York’s collective memory and fused celebrations of the city’s past with optimism about its future.

Focusing on three major projects—the restoration of City Hall Park, the ultimately failed attempt to save historic St. John’s Chapel, and the construction of the Bronx River Parkway— Mason challenges several myths about historic preservation. Against the charge that preservationists were antiquarians concerned only with architecturally significant buildings, Mason instead asserts that many were social reformers interested in recovering the city’s collective history. Even more important, he demonstrates that historic preservation in this period, rather than being fundamentally opposed to growth, was integral to modern urban development.

“Mason’s expertise as a planner and his interest in the process that was followed (or not) in responding to the city’s growth in the era 1890-1920 is what makes The Once and Future New York more than just a sentimental look at the grievous historical losses of that time frame.” —The Rochester Post-Bulletin

Randall Mason is associate professor in the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and coeditor of Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States.

344 pages | 96 b&w photos | 7 x 10 | 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Preservation and Its History in New York

1. Memory Sites: Buildings, Parks, Events
Portfolio: Frank Cousins’s Photographs for the Art Commission, 1913

2. The Preservation and Destruction of St. John’s Chapel

3. City Hall Park: Hearth of Official Civic Memory

4. Bronx River Parkway: Modern Highway, Environmental Improvement, Memory Infrastructure

Conclusion: Looking Critically at Preservation’s Own Past

Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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The Once and Future New York *Historic Preservation and the Modern City* Randall Mason Table of Contents EVENTS: 12/1/09 New York, NY PRESS: PlanPhilly.com article Rorotoko interview		$27.95 paper ISBN: 978-0-8166-5604-2 $84.00 cloth ISBN: 978-0-8166-5603-5
Uncovering the roots of America’s historic preservation movement In the popular imagination, the controversial 1963 demolition of Pennsylvania Station gave birth to New York City’s historic preservation movement. As Randall Mason reveals, however, historic preservation has been a persistent force in the development of New York since the 1890s, when the city’s leading politicians, planners, and architects first recognized the need to preserve the rapidly evolving city’s past. Rich with archival research, The Once and Future New York documents the emergence of historic preservation in New York at the turn of the twentieth century. Between 1890 and 1920, preservationists saved and restored buildings, parks, and monuments throughout the city’s five boroughs that represented continuity with the past. Mason argues these efforts created a “memory infrastructure” that established a framework for New York’s collective memory and fused celebrations of the city’s past with optimism about its future. Focusing on three major projects—the restoration of City Hall Park, the ultimately failed attempt to save historic St. John’s Chapel, and the construction of the Bronx River Parkway— Mason challenges several myths about historic preservation. Against the charge that preservationists were antiquarians concerned only with architecturally significant buildings, Mason instead asserts that many were social reformers interested in recovering the city’s collective history. Even more important, he demonstrates that historic preservation in this period, rather than being fundamentally opposed to growth, was integral to modern urban development. “Mason’s expertise as a planner and his interest in the process that was followed (or not) in responding to the city’s growth in the era 1890-1920 is what makes The Once and Future New York more than just a sentimental look at the grievous historical losses of that time frame.” —The Rochester Post-Bulletin Randall Mason is associate professor in the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and coeditor of Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States. 344 pages \| 96 b&w photos \| 7 x 10 \| 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Preservation and Its History in New York 1. Memory Sites: Buildings, Parks, Events Portfolio: Frank Cousins’s Photographs for the Art Commission, 1913 2. The Preservation and Destruction of St. John’s Chapel 3. City Hall Park: Hearth of Official Civic Memory 4. Bronx River Parkway: Modern Highway, Environmental Improvement, Memory Infrastructure Conclusion: Looking Critically at Preservation’s Own Past Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index