About the Project
The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, launched in 2015 by historic preservation professionals, is an award-winning cultural heritage initiative and educational resource. Its mission is to broaden people’s understanding of LGBT history by exploring the places where that history was made. Through our interactive website, public programs, and social media, we make visible hundreds of historic places, from the 17th century to the year 2000, that reflect the diversity of LGBT New Yorkers and the community’s influence on America.
The Project is a national leader in the documentation of LGBT historic sites, highlighting the community’s contributions to the visual arts, theater, literature, dance, music, healthcare, activism, business, and other fields. Bars, clubs, and community centers, historically the only places where LGBT people could gather openly, are also featured. View all historic sites on our website.
As the lead advocate for the preservation of LGBT history in New York City, the project team prepares nominations to the National Register of Historic Places and testifies in support of local landmark designation. The Project’s walking tours, talks, and community events instill pride and awareness. Our school educator resources, developed in partnership with the NYC Department of Education, connect LGBT youth to their own history, which they often are not taught otherwise.
The Project has been the recipient of awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Preservation League of New York State, and the Historic Districts Council.
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Our Team
Since the early 1990s, the three project directors have been national pioneers in LGBT place-based issues. In 1994, as part of the Organization of Lesbian and Gay Architects + Designers (OLGAD), they created the first map of LGBT historic sites in the nation. Their research and advocacy work led to the listing of the Stonewall Inn on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the first LGBT site so recognized, and the designation of Stonewall National Monument in 2015.
Andrew S. Dolkart
Andrew is a noted architectural historian and Professor of Historic Preservation in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University. He is the author of several award-winning books, including The Row House Reborn: Architecture and Neighborhoods in New York City, 1908-1929; Biography of a Tenement House in New York City: An Architectural History of 97 Orchard Street; and Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development. He is also the author of the first edition of the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s Guide to New York City Landmarks.
Ken Lustbader
Ken is a historic preservation consultant based in New York City. His past work experience includes serving as the Historic Preservation Program Officer at the J.M. Kaplan Fund, lead consultant for the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, and the Director of the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Program. His graduate thesis, “Landscape of Liberation: Preserving Lesbian and Gay History in Greenwich Village,” received the 1993 Outstanding M.S. Historic Preservation Thesis award at Columbia University.
Jay Shockley
Jay, a senior historian at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission for 35 years before retiring, wrote the agency’s first-ever designation reports to include LGBT history, in the early 1990s. He later authored “Preservation of LGBTQ Historic & Cultural Sites – A New York City Perspective” in the National Park Service’s LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History (2016), recipient of a 2018 Vernacular Architecture Forum award. In 2011, Jay was the creator and leader of the panel program, “Beyond Stonewall: Recognizing Significant Historic Sites of the LGBT Community” at the National Trust for Historic Preservation conference.
Amanda Davis
Amanda is an architectural historian who has overseen the Project’s initiatives since its founding. In 2018, she was named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s inaugural “40 Under 40: People Saving Places” list, in recognition of her efforts to help tell America’s full history. Amanda previously served as the Director of Preservation and Research at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, architectural historian-preservation planner at Architectural Resources Group (in Los Angeles), researcher/surveyor at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and monuments technician at the Central Park Conservancy.
Speaking Opportunities
We offer private virtual talks and in-person walking tours on a limited basis for employee resource groups (ERGs) and other professional associations. Please email us to discuss fees and logistics.
For additional information and examples of programs and fees, contact Amanda Davis at [email protected].
Virtual Talks
Virtual talks are customizable and last one hour, which includes time for Q & A. For an introduction to LGBT history and activism, we recommend our talk on Stonewall National Monument and the LGBT history of Greenwich Village. This talk explores early 20th century LGBT life and activism that contextualizes the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a key turning point in the LGBT rights movement. It also highlights events such as the formation of the first Pride March, in 1970, and gay liberation groups that include the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR).
Walking Tours
Walking tours last approximately 1 ½ hours and generally take place in warmer weather on a weekday after work, typically at 6 p.m. Tours take place rain or shine. Our walking tour in the vicinity of Stonewall National Monument is our most popular and is ideal for newcomers to LGBT history. We have also given walking tours in and around Washington Square Park and the Upper West Side.
Advisory Committee
The project team would like to thank the following group of historic preservationists, authors, and historians who form our advisory committee. Their support of the project and their in-depth knowledge of LGBT and NYC history have been invaluable.
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Joan Berkowitz
Preservationist
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Richard Burns
Not-for-Profit Consultant
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George Chauncey
Historian
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Kenneth R. Cobb
Assistant Commissioner, NYC Municipal Archives
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Deborah Edel
Public Historian
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Donna Graves
Public Historian
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Kathleen Howe
Survey and Education Coordinator, New York State Historic Preservation Office
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Perin Hurewitz
Heritage of Pride and Committee Chair of InterPride
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Jonathan Ned Katz
Author and Founder of OutHistory.org
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Kathleen LaFrank
National Register Coordinator, New York State Historic Preservation Office
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Eric Marcus
Founder and Host of Making Gay History Podcast
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Eric Washington
Historian & Author
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Shayne Watson
Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner