HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

How NYC's Landmarks Act Bulldozed the Future

Views:1033
@ReasonVids

Once upon a time New York City's builders blithely turned spectacular monuments into dust. Henry James complained about Manhattan’s "restless renewals,” but in the old days nostalgia was for writers and poets. Developers were preoccupied with building the future.

This ethos of creative destruction allowed New York to become the world’s preeminent city. And then fifty years ago this Sunday, Mayor Robert F. Wagner signed the Landmarks Preservation Act. The law made it illegal to destroy any structure that the city’s planning elite deem too important not to save. Today almost a third of the buildings in Manhattan, and more than 33,000 structures citywide, may as well be encased in a life-sized historical diorama.

To illustrate the damage done by this law, let’s imagine that the Landmarks Act had been passed not in 1965, but in 1865, when the spire of Trinity Church still towered over Lower Manhattan. Modern New York wouldn’t exist.

Consider Henry Hardenbergh’s original Waldorf-Astoria, which was an architectural masterpiece and Manhattan’s leading luxury hotel. If the Landmarks Commission had been around in the Jazz Age, surely it would have protected this great structure — and then it never could have been torn down to build the Empire State Building, which occupies the exact same spot.

If the landmarks commission had been around to save architect Stanford White’s majestic Madison Square Garden, the second of four structures with that name, Cass Gilbert’s New York Life Insurance Building couldn't have replaced it. Forget about the hustle of Midtown Manhattan—this entire block would still be home to Columbia University’s pre-1897 campus. The old London Terrace wouldn’t have cleared a path for the new London Terrace, instead of the Woolworth Building, Philip Hone's luxurious townhouse would still stand here right here next to the old American Hotel, and we might still have this old church instead of the celebrated Met Life Tower.

The landmarks commission not only protects individual buildings, but also 114 districts, meaning entire neighborhoods are essentially frozen in time. Manhattan’s Upper West Side became a landmark district in 1990, but what if it had earned that distinction in 1890, to preserve its Gilded Age character? These hulking apartment buildings never would have replaced the distinguished brownstones and mansions that once occupied these blocks. The district certainly would have been expanded one block west to include The Apthorp House, which quartered General Washington among other colonial bigwigs and would still stand right here near 90th Street and Columbus Avenue.

Before landmarking, sure there were plenty of great buildings replaced by plane jane skyscrapers, but that’s also part of how cities grow and evolve. For example, would New York really be better off if Temple Emanu-el still stood right off Times Square?

In 1847, native New Yorker Washington Irving reflected with nostalgia on growing up in a city that was “a mere corner” of what it had become, and that corner “all changed, pulled to pieces.” This 50th anniversary of the landmarks preservation act is an opportunity to mourn the opposite: all the invisible buildings that will never exist because of a misguided law. What if an earlier generation had outlawed the rise of skyscrapers and spread of asphalt pavement? Washington Irving would still feel right at home.

Video written and edited by Jim Epstein.

3 minutes and 30 seconds.

Go to http://reason.com/reasontv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube Channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

landmark (literature subject)
,
new york city (city/town/village)
,
free minds
,
landmarks preservation act
,
new york city landmarks commission
,
libertarianism
,
creative destruction
    Thumbnail for Conservative Artist Sabo: "My focus was to be mean, nasty, and just as bad as Bill Maher"6:59
    Conservative Artist Sabo: "My focus was to be mean, nasty, and just as bad as Bill Maher"
    ReasonVids
    919 views
    Thumbnail for Spin Control Happening Now. Propaganda Getting Ahead of the Story on Flu Deaths.  Influenza cases nosedive by 98% across the globe.0:33
    Spin Control Happening Now. Propaganda Getting Ahead of the Story on Flu Deaths. Influenza cases nosedive by 98% across the globe.
    bestofsaidit
    2712 views
    Thumbnail for *DIY Craft Ideas* How to make the "Happy Merchant" puppet with a rubber glove1:07
    *DIY Craft Ideas* How to make the "Happy Merchant" puppet with a rubber glove
    bestofvoatxyz
    1178 views
    Thumbnail for Live Webathon Edition of the Reason Podcast! Ask Us Anything1:31:47
    Live Webathon Edition of the Reason Podcast! Ask Us Anything
    ReasonVids
    817 views
    Thumbnail for Former MTV VJ Kennedy on Her Libertarian Evolution28:22
    Former MTV VJ Kennedy on Her Libertarian Evolution
    ReasonVids
    1084 views
    Thumbnail for Hapa chick pranks Pajeeta1:04
    Hapa chick pranks Pajeeta
    bestofvoatxyz
    551 views
    Thumbnail for Teclis is a search engine for finding interesting, unique results on 'clean' websites. [interactive]1:00
    Teclis is a search engine for finding interesting, unique results on 'clean' websites. [interactive]
    bestofsaidit
    992 views
    Thumbnail for Separation Is the Solution9:15
    Separation Is the Solution
    AmericanRenaissance
    1429 views
    Thumbnail for Wende Museum: An Archive of the Cold War4:27
    Wende Museum: An Archive of the Cold War
    ReasonVids
    865 views
    Thumbnail for US News LIVE | BIDEN $830M SCAM EXPOSED! U.S. IN SHOCK | White House Briefing | US News Live1:00
    US News LIVE | BIDEN $830M SCAM EXPOSED! U.S. IN SHOCK | White House Briefing | US News Live
    kids.topic
    81 views
    Thumbnail for Timothy P. Carney on "Obamanomics": Crony Capitalism as Progressive Reform8:52
    Timothy P. Carney on "Obamanomics": Crony Capitalism as Progressive Reform
    ReasonVids
    917 views
    Thumbnail for Exclusive: Barack Obama Talks Harry Reid, Economy, Legacy with Reason TV1:21
    Exclusive: Barack Obama Talks Harry Reid, Economy, Legacy with Reason TV
    ReasonVids
    813 views
    Thumbnail for The Mystery of the Missing Baby Formula4:07
    The Mystery of the Missing Baby Formula
    ReasonVids
    987 views
    Thumbnail for How to Abolish the Electoral College | Robert Reich4:49
    How to Abolish the Electoral College | Robert Reich
    invidious
    118 views
    Thumbnail for Family Farmers Fight Michigan Township For Their Animals5:39
    Family Farmers Fight Michigan Township For Their Animals
    ReasonVids
    1006 views
    Thumbnail for What "Scarface" Can Teach Us About Immigration: The Case for Open Borders8:45
    What "Scarface" Can Teach Us About Immigration: The Case for Open Borders
    ReasonVids
    973 views
    Thumbnail for Elizabeth Warren's Plan To Cancel Student Debt Helps the Well-Off2:48
    Elizabeth Warren's Plan To Cancel Student Debt Helps the Well-Off
    ReasonVids
    928 views
    Thumbnail for Situational phone awareness0:12
    Situational phone awareness
    bestofupgoat
    257 views
    Thumbnail for Another French civilian killed by the occupying Islamic Army in the Battle of Paris0:28
    Another French civilian killed by the occupying Islamic Army in the Battle of Paris
    bestofvoatxyz
    479 views
    Thumbnail for Two ants drag a cockroach by its antennae0:19
    Two ants drag a cockroach by its antennae
    bestofvoatxyz
    347 views
    Thumbnail for This bento shop in Japan was filthy… | Japan Eat1:00
    This bento shop in Japan was filthy… | Japan Eat
    invidious
    150 views
    Thumbnail for PROPHUNT! (GMOD) | No TTT, there were internet Issues! | ChilledChaos3:45:44
    PROPHUNT! (GMOD) | No TTT, there were internet Issues! | ChilledChaos
    invidious
    93 views
    Thumbnail for Can Bitcoin Replace Government-Issued Money? A Debate1:22:39
    Can Bitcoin Replace Government-Issued Money? A Debate
    ReasonVids
    728 views
    Thumbnail for D.C. Taxi Heist: How a new law would screw drivers and riders6:17
    D.C. Taxi Heist: How a new law would screw drivers and riders
    ReasonVids
    974 views
    Thumbnail for SNL 1989: The Big Lie0:31
    SNL 1989: The Big Lie
    AOUisgay
    501 views

points

Permalink
Reply
landmark (literature subject)
,
new york city (city/town/village)
,
free minds
,
landmarks preservation act
,
new york city landmarks commission
,
libertarianism
,
creative destruction
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle