Meet the specialty bricklayers helping to preserve a quaint remnant of New York City’s early days. Source: New York Times
Posts published in “Historic Buildings and Sites”
They Were Building a Homeless Shelter. But the Land had a Grim Past.
By Gotham Rex on September 21, 2025
The search for a place to build a shelter in Manhattan resurfaced New York’s often overlooked history of slavery. Source: New York Times
Barnett Shepherd, Champion of Staten Island’s Heritage, Dies at 87
By Gotham Rex on September 7, 2025
A longtime resident, he devoted his career to Historic Richmond Town and Sailors’ Snug Harbor, two of the borough’s most important cultural institutions. Source: New York Times
Jack Goldstein, a Savior of Broadway Theaters, Dies at 74
By Gotham Rex on July 7, 2023
He helped secure landmark status for more than two dozen theaters in the 1980s, then initiated the design competition that led to a new TKTS booth. Source: New York Times
Looking for a House in This Tight Market? Consider an Octagon.
By Gotham Rex on December 9, 2022
A 19th-century fad, octagonal houses don’t appeal to everyone. But that’s one more thing to love about them. Source: New York Times
A Long Road to Renewal for Former Military Bases
By Gotham Rex on December 8, 2022
Closed defense sites are like snowflakes in that no two are alike. The efforts to redevelop two New Jersey forts show the obstacles to revitalization. Source: New York Times
A Scruffy Guitar Shop Survives the Chelsea Hotel’s Chic Makeover
By Gotham Rex on November 25, 2022
After a costly renovation, a landmark of Manhattan that was once home to Patti Smith and Bob Dylan is drawing a different crowd. Dan Courtenay, the proprietor of Chelsea Guitars, is fine with that. Source: New York Times
How a Draft of the Constitution Ended Up in a Drawer in Trenton, N.J.
By Gotham Rex on November 20, 2022
New Jersey was no less involved in the Revolutionary War than Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. So why does it hide away its priceless artifacts? Source: New York Times
Should a Park Include a Burial Ground? Residents of Newburgh, N.Y., Can’t Agree.
By Gotham Rex on October 26, 2022
Tensions have been simmering over plans for a new addition to a beloved Olmsted park: A memorial for African Americans whose nearby burial ground was taken over by municipal projects. Source: New York Times
The Rockefeller Family Estate Expands to Include New Artists and Audiences
By Gotham Rex on October 21, 2022
The new David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at the Pocantico Center in Tarrytown, N.Y., aims to bring new artists, audiences and life to the Rockefeller family estate. Source: New York Times
Stanley Turkel, Manager and Avid Historian of Hotels, Dies at 96
By Gotham Rex on September 3, 2022
A hotelier, a history maven and a New York civic activist, he chronicled hotels in extraordinary detail both in books and on a blog. Source: New York Times
Can a Neighborhood Be Instagrammed to Death?
By Gotham Rex on August 5, 2022
The return of tourism to New York has brought crowds back to one of the most popular selfie spots on earth. People who live there aren’t feeling #grateful. Source: New York Times
Plotting the Future of the Most Storied Studio in Jazz
By Gotham Rex on July 19, 2022
The New Jersey recording space built in 1959 by Rudy Van Gelder is filled with history. Can it regain its glory without getting stuck in the past? Source: New York Times
The Fight Over Tearing Down a Landmark Red Church
By Gotham Rex on July 19, 2022
West Park Presbyterian Church has been on the Upper West Side for almost 150 years. Now its congregation consists of 12 people. Source: New York Times
What To Do in New Bedford, the Old Whaling Capital Outside Boston
By Gotham Rex on June 29, 2022
Once a powerhouse in whaling and textile manufacturing, this maritime city is sprucing itself up — but still leans heavily into its seagoing past. Source: New York Times