'50 at 50' explores the impact of the New York Landmarks Conservancy through the lens of archival photography

The New York Landmarks Conservancy is now hosting a new online exhibition that examines its role and influence in protecting the building heritage of the country’s largest metropolis for the past 50 years.

Through the use of archival photography, “50 at 50” takes viewers on a tour through select important landmarks in all five boroughs beginning with their first project — the adaptive reuse and preservation of the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at Bowling Green — in 1973.

Other highlights include Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center and Hotel in Queens; the Alice Austen House on Staten Island; the Bedford Park Congregational Church in the Bronx; Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery; and the Eldridge Street Synagogue in Manhattan.

Per the group, which is organized as a private non-profit organization: “From its gutsy beginnings finding new uses for vacant public buildings, the Conservancy has become one of the largest preservation groups in the country. The Conservancy’s range of financial and technical programs has helped maintain more than 1,300 historic structures, providing more than $60 million in grants and loans which has leveraged $900 million to preserve worthy buildings and neighborhoods.”

An accompanying book and print magazine put together by historian Anthony Robins will offer a further summary of the Conservancy’s activity over the past 50 years. The exhibition is curated by Donald Albrecht and Thomas Mellins. 

Plans are also underway to visit each Borough Hall in the city with a focus on loans, grants and projects in accord with the year-long celebration.