NYC's Landmarks Law at 45 (you look beautiful, dahling!)

Less than one month from today, preservationists from across New York City (and beyond!) will gather for the Fitch Forum 2011.  Registration is now open at http://fitchforum.eventbrite.com.

On Saturday, February 5, 2011 the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, in co-sponsorship with the Law Department of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, Preservation Alumni, and the Widener Law Review of the Widener University School of Law, present ... 

Fitch Forum 2011:  45 Years of Preservation Law: 

New York City and the Nation—The Past and the Future

Using the occasion of the 45th Anniversary Year of New York’s Landmarks Law, the Forum seeks to take stock of preservation law looking both nationally and at New York City.  In addition to assessing where we are today and how we got here, the Forum seeks to explore pressing challenges and opportunities facing preservation law today and tomorrow and to begin to explore strategies to respond to them.

For the whole of 2010, the New York Preservation Archive Project, helmed by Anthony C. Wood, provided a post-by-post review of the last 45 years of preservation in NYC on the Landmarks45 blog.  A great resource for a pre-Forum refresher--visit them now to learn (so much) more!

Saturday, February 5, starts with a Keynote Presentation by Jerold Kayden, the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.  Also on the program are Adele Chatfield-Taylor of the American Academy of Rome and Paul Edmondson, General Counsel to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  

One session will examine what is going on at the municipal level in other cities.  On that panel is Linda Dishman, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Conservancy.  Among those who will be participating in a panel discussion on New York’s landmarks law "NYC’s Landmarks Law at 45: Perpetually Young or Showing its Age?" are Mark Silberman, General Counsel of the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, Jack Kerr, over the years a frequent pro bono counsel to the New York Landmarks Conservancy, Margery Perlmutter, Landmarks Commissioner, lawyer and architect, and Al Butzel, preservation legal counsel to a variety of civic organizations.  

Also on the program are Carol Clark, Adjunct Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University, John Weiss, Deputy Counsel, Landmarks Preservation Commission, and Anne Van Ingen, formerly of NYSCA.   The day will conclude with the author Tony Hiss,  pulling the day’s proceedings together in his role as Rapporteur.  

The program is in formation so watch this space for announcements of additional speakers.

The event is being organized by Carol Clark and Anthony C. Wood.  Space is limited so register ASAP. This is a day you won’t want to miss (and what else is there to do in February in New York?).