Lessons from Lee: 2022 was another year your support made a difference
In a year full of challenges, supporters like you continued to provide a vital lifeline. As we start the new year, I wanted to look back at some of my favorite League webinars and stories of impact from 2022 – made possible by preservationists like you. Thank you!
January – How does $1 turn into $13? Because so much of our statewide work is behind the scenes, providing advocacy, technical services, and grants often at the very beginning of preservation efforts, it can be hard to pin down just how far-reaching the League’s work can be.
Brenda Simmons and Dr. Georgette Grier-Key standing next to the Pryyhus Concer Homestead historical marker in Southampton
February – The effort to save the Pyrrhus Concer Homestead on Long Island demonstrates how interdisciplinary coalition-building can support historic preservation efforts, centered around issues of equity and social justice.
March – The League advocates strongly for federal and state tax credits. In New York, the historic tax credits are due to expire in 2024; we are advocating for them to be renewed for a seven-year period rather than the typical five, in order to give those who wish to use them confidence that the credits will still be available when their projects are ready to move forward.
April – On Tuesday, April 5, we were joined by over 200 friends, supporters, activists, and donors, both in person and virtually, to celebrate our 2022 Pillars of New York: Nancy & Otis Pearsall, A’Lelia Bundles, and Elizabeth & Ethan Finkelstein.
May – We announced the League’s 2022–2023 list of Seven to Save list of endangered sites. “The individual sites included on this year’s Seven to Save list embody key preservation issues affecting places across New York State,” said Preservation League President Jay DiLorenzo. “From the negative environmental impact of senseless demolition to bringing little-known, but important, histories to light, the League is excited to work alongside on-the-ground advocates to save each of these seven at-risk places.”
The public art installation No Records by Reggie Black at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum. DFM Executive Director Meredith Horsford was part of our June webinar exploring the intersection of public art and preservation. Photo by Marquis Perkins
June – Bringing contemporary artists into historic spaces drives dialogue and helps bring the past into the present. In this webinar, our panelists highlight how public art and preservation can work together, from public monuments to historic house museums.
July – The Preservation League of NYS and our program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts and the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation announced the 2022 Preserve New York grant awards totaling $235,920, supporting 22 projects in 18 counties.
August – In thinking about how to build a more sustainable future, the preservation of our historic buildings needs to be prioritized. But when buildings can't be saved, there is still room for preservation to play a role. Deconstruction and architectural salvage allows heritage building materials to be saved and repurposed, diverting material from the landfill and creating a circular economy in the process. As much as we might want to save all the old buildings, it is inevitable that we will lose some. The question is how those buildings will come down.
Volunteers stand outside the newly restored Art’s Cafe building in Springville, a 2022 Excellence Award winner.
September – League staff went to Rochester to visit the Seven to Save-listed Genesee Valley Park, and found that there are a lot of great excuses to visit.
October – Historic sites can struggle with modern accessibility requirements. But how can we push past compliance to build a truly equitable and accessible baseline for everyone who engages with historic buildings? This Zoom panel explored work being done around disability justice in the preservation field, to go beyond ADA access and look at a more holistic vision for accessibility in historic spaces.
November – New York is a big state, and this year’s Excellence in Historic Preservation winners show us that great preservation work is happening all over.
December – This guest blog post from Jeff Iovannone provides an analysis of the demolition of the Great Northern Grain Elevator in Buffalo from a legal perspective. This piece was originally written for his Historic Preservation Law course at Cornell University.
In the nearly 50 years since the League was founded, we have invested in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth, and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. We couldn’t do this work without the support of generous people like you.
You make a difference.