Book Talk – AGBANY: Capturing a Moment in the Historic Preservation Movement

Tuesday, July 12 6:00pm – 7:15pm ET

Free

Zoom Meeting, pre-registration required.

Join Village Preservation and author and emerging historic preservationist Sydney Andrea Landers as we look back at a critical moment in New York preservation history. We’ll hear from Sydney about her upcoming graphic novel AGBANY: The Birth of the Historic Preservation Movement. AGBANY, The Action Group for Better Architecture in New York, was an informal activist group formed by about 25 architects and preservation-minded individuals outraged at the proposed demolition of Penn Station. This organization had noteworthy voices such as Mies Van Der Rohe and Jane Jacobs on their side. The group’s leadership also included post-modern architect Philip Johnson, whose connections to 20th century Fascism and German Nazism begs the question, “how do we acknowledge a complicated past that includes historical figures who participated in abhorrent behavior?”

This graphic novel chronicles these events in a creative medium. This project was completed in May of 2021. A year later, in the Summer of 2022, Sydney is self publishing ‘AGBANY’.

Along with discussing the book, we’ll hear from Sydney about her journey studying and practicing historic preservation, and what it is like to get started in preservation today. You can pre-order the graphic novel at https://forms.gle/LuyUcJkEnEmg2bVu6 and you’ll get a sneak peek into this incredible window into history.

Sydney Andrea Landers (she/her) is an emerging historic preservation professional with a passion for equity in preservation, comics, affordable housing and midcentury design. A native Texan, she is now based in Los Angeles and works in historic preservation consulting.

In the Summer of 2021, Sydney interned with the National Trust for Historic Preservation as an Affordable Housing Intern, researching the intersection of affordable housing and historic preservation through the use of rehabilitation tax credits to develop a research report for the Trust.Sydney holds a Masters of Science in Historic Preservation and Bachelors of Arts in Art History (with a minor in Architectural History and Certificate in Museum Studies) from the University of Texas at Austin. Sydney’s graduate thesis concerns the university housing cooperatives in Ann Arbor, Austin and Berkeley. Follow Sydney on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/squidnycomics/.

Photo Credit: Carole Teller

Date: Ca. 1963

Citation: Penn Station being demolished, 33rd Street & 7th Avenue” Village Preservation