Lessons from the Upper East Side
May 20th, 2010
They say when you do something well, you make it look easy. Although it seems an obvious designation today, the original Upper East Side Historic District was incredibly hard fought. In Landmarks45, a blog celebrating the 45th anniversary of the landmarks law, Tony Wood reminds us of this, and thus encourages future efforts. “As today’s preservationists contemplate equally daunting preservation challenges, they should keep in mind this lesson from the Upper East Side. Today’s preservation impossibility will appear to future generations as a preservation inevitability.”
And so the Upper East Side Historic District Extension along Lexington Avenue will also be a lesson. One day it will be taken for granted, though we could never forget all the hard work our FRIENDS (members, neighbors, politicians, business owners) have done. The question is, what will be our next seemingly formidable task?
To read the rest of “The Upper East Side Historic District: The Impossible Becomes the Inevitable,” click here: http://www.landmarks45.org/archives/117.
