Twenty Years Later: Preserving Federal Houses

It was twenty years ago, in October 1997, that VP first received funding from Preserve NY, a grant program of the Preservation League of NY State and the NY State Council on the Arts, to research and document the remaining Federal style (1790-1835) houses in Lower Manhattan. Ever since, preserving federal houses has been a special part of VP’s mission, whether within the boundaries of our neighborhood or beyond. The years of research and advocacy since the 1997 grant yielded the landmark designation and/or State and National Register of Historic Places listing of 136 Federal style houses, including ten historic districts and thirteen individual landmarks. To mark the occasion, VP has released a comprehensive report on all 136 Federal houses. Susan De Vries, now a researcher, writer, and a building historian, began the Federals research as a VP intern twenty years ago and eventually expanded the project into her master’s thesis. She will be joined by current VP staff members and others to discuss the long and arduous road towards trying to protect these charming and hearty survivors in the Lower Manhattan landscape.