At the Dakota Apartments, Hands-On Learning for First Graders

Education is central to LANDMARK WEST's mission, especially our award-winning youth education program, Keeping the Past for the Future (KPF), and its accompanying student workbook, "My Preservation Journal".

KPF teaches students to look at their surroundings and learn about architecture, history and community.  First-grade students from the Anderson School did just that as Dir. of Education Debi Germann led them to the famed Dakota Apartments (1 West 72nd Street at Central Park West).  Students sketched the building's detailing, such as the fantastical ironwork by Samuel Yellin, who also designed the intricate metal work at the Central Savings Bank (now Apple Bank for Savings, an Individual Landmark designated in 1975).

Students from the Anderson School sketching
the Samuel Yellin-designed ironwork at the Dakota Apartments.

If you're a parent with children who attend school on the Upper West Side and want to help introduce KPF into your child's classroom and school, let us know!  Call our Dir. of Education, Debi Germann, at (212) 496-8110 or email her at debigermann@landmarkwest.org.  Get page-by-page interactive preview of "My Preservation Journal" here.

Stay tuned to the LW! blog for updates on KPF in West Side classrooms and other education activities (follow the "Education" label, linked here!).

For more information and photographs of the Dakota Apartments, the Central Savings Bank, and many more of the West Side's architectural treasures, download our FREE iPhone walking tour app!