NYC Landmarks Preservation Lesson Page
Students learn about the process for protecting and preserving sites of historical and cultural significance for New York City's heritage. Additionally students become civically engaged advocates by participating in developing the actual application process.
IDEA: This can be done even as a writing unit even if you end up not submitting the final application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. It provides an authentic opportunity to embed civics, social studies, research into the literacy classroom. The follow up lesson guides students in writing written testimony for the Landmark Preservation Commission.
IDEA: This can be done even as a writing unit even if you end up not submitting the final application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. It provides an authentic opportunity to embed civics, social studies, research into the literacy classroom. The follow up lesson guides students in writing written testimony for the Landmark Preservation Commission.
Teaching TIPS
- Internalize the application process. This page supports literacy instruction, in both reading and informational writing.
- Collaboratively put together the actual application.
- Read the application to comprehend the process. Read each of the sections and ask comprehension questions. Teach decoding skills and how to look up the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. This is done best in small groups and whole groups as opposed to independent reading of the application.
- Teach about completing forms online and the importance of following directions.
- Develop geography skills through online maps. The application will require you to complete the "borough," "tax map block." and "tax map lot" by visiting NYC's Digital Tax Map website. Teach skills around using a compass, directions, zooming in and out, satellite vs map view, and so on.
- This can also be used to examine the purpose of "taxes" and how governments collect taxes.
- Enhance expository writing instruction by completing the section, "Statement of Significance." This is a real world opportunity for writing. Develop teaching points that highlight persuading an audience, using evidence, and summarizing information.
- Teach photographic skills by composing the required photographs of the site you propose for Landmarks status. This site provides a great starting point for teaching students about photography.
NYC LANDMARKS PRESERVATION LESSON IN ACTION
This lesson, put into action, created systemic change. On December 12, 2023, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the site as an individual landmark. Progress is possible. Education can make a difference. Read on to see the steps, which included students writing written testimony that was included in the public hearing. How will you engage youth in civic activism and social justice learning activities?
December 12, 2023
Burial Ground Receives Individual Landmark Status
NYC LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION PUBLIC Hearing
Tuesday, November 14, 2023, at 9:30 a.m.
New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission LPC held a public hearing to decide on the preservation status of the Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Site. The notice of public hearing states, "The proposed designation of a New York City park, opened in 1910, containing two surviving colonial-era cemeteries for Hunts Point's early European-descended settler families, and for the African and Indigenous people they enslaved." This preservation status will protect the site and ensure that the site's space informs the present and future understanding of the lasting impacts of enslavement.
You can watch the HPSBG LPC hearing presentation here on the LPC YouTube Channel. Additionally, CBS News has reported on this public hearing as well.
This LPC meeting was a follow up on the August meeting where the Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Project was proposed for the Commissioners' Calendar to vote on historic preservation status. You can view the August LPC hearing on the LPC Youtube channel here.
New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission LPC held a public hearing to decide on the preservation status of the Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Site. The notice of public hearing states, "The proposed designation of a New York City park, opened in 1910, containing two surviving colonial-era cemeteries for Hunts Point's early European-descended settler families, and for the African and Indigenous people they enslaved." This preservation status will protect the site and ensure that the site's space informs the present and future understanding of the lasting impacts of enslavement.
You can watch the HPSBG LPC hearing presentation here on the LPC YouTube Channel. Additionally, CBS News has reported on this public hearing as well.
This LPC meeting was a follow up on the August meeting where the Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Project was proposed for the Commissioners' Calendar to vote on historic preservation status. You can view the August LPC hearing on the LPC Youtube channel here.
NYC LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION (LPC) Public Meeting On HPSBG August 15, 2023
NYC LPC presented a recommendation for the HPSBG to be landmarked by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Watch the hearing to learn more about the site, the research, and the historic preservation status recommendation of the NYC LPC research department.
BACKGROUND ON THE NYC LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION
"The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the largest municipal preservation agency in the nation. It is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites by granting them landmark or historic district status, and regulating them after designation...There are more than 36,000 landmark properties in New York City, most of which are located in 141 historic districts and historic district extensions in all five boroughs. The total number of protected sites also includes 1,405 individual landmarks, 120 interior landmarks, and 10 scenic landmarks."