Skip to main content Skip to main navigation
Guide to the Papers of Harmon Hendricks Goldstone1906-1979 (bulk 1966-1979) MS 256

Harmon Hendricks Goldstone Papers

Call Number

MS 256

Date

1906-1986 (bulk 1966-1979), inclusive

Creator

Extent

9 Linear feet
(14 boxes)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The papers of Harmon H. Goldstone focus primarily on the work of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission from 1968 until 1979. Goldstone's detailed journal record books, created during his tenure as Chairman of the panel, are included, as are Landmarks Designation Reports from 1973 through 1979. A few reports reflecting earlier work Goldstone did as a member of the City Planning Commission are also contained within the collection, his manuscript for History Preserved: New York City Landmarks and Historic Districts along with notes compiled in preparation of the manuscript. Other highlights include published books and pamphlets concerning New York City along with a number of clippings, photographs, and personal memorabilia.

Biographical Note

Missing Title

1911 Harmon H. Goldstone born in New York City.
1928 Graduates from Lincoln School.
1932 Receives BA from Harvard, majoring in Fine Arts.
1936 Receives Architectural degree from Columbia University School of Architecture.
1936 Joins architectural firm of Harrison & Fouilhoux (later Harrison & Abramovitz), where he helps develop the Trylon and Perisphere, symbols of the "World of Tomorrow" at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He remains for 16 years, although he leaves for a year of government service in Washington and three years in the Army as an economist and statistician.
1952 Leaves Harrison & Fouilhoux to form own architectural firm, Goldstone and Dearborn (known later as Goldstone, Dearborn & Hinz, and Goldstone and Hinz); projects include the Aquatic Bird House at the Bronx Zoo (1964), the Osborn Laboratories of Marine Sciences at the New York Aquarium at Coney Island (1965), and the remodeling of the Christie's auction house at Park Avenue and 59th Street (1977)
1961 Goldstone, then president of the Municipal Arts Society, named by Mayor Robert F. Wagner to the Committee for the Preservation of Structures of Historic and Aesthetic Importance, a forerunner of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
1961 Goldstone also named to the City Planning Commission, the first architect in many years to serve.
1968 Goldstone succeeds Geoffrey Platt as the Chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and becomes the first to be paid a salary. On his watch, 7,271 buildings were designated for preservation. Many historic districts were authorized, including 60 blocks of Greenwich Village and 26 of SoHo. Also during his time on the panel, plans for a tower over Grand Central Terminal were rejected, touching off a legal battle that ended in a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision vindicating the landmarks law.
1974 Goldstone finishes tenure as Chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, leaving it, in Ada Louise Huxtable's words, "at a new threshold of power and influence."
2001 Goldstone dies on February 21, 2001, at the age of 89, in New York City.

Additional information may be found in Mr. Goldstone's obituary in The New York Times, February 23, 2001.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following eight series:

Missing Title

  1. Series I. Journals
  2. Series II. Reports
  3. Series III. Scrapbooks
  4. Series IV. Clippings and Memorabilia
  5. Series V. Pulications, Speeches, & Indices
  6. Series VI. Books and Pamphlets
  7. Series VII. Photography
  8. Series VIII. Oversized Materials.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Harmon H. Goldstone have as their primary focus the work of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission from 1968 until 1979. Goldstone's detailed journal record books, created during his tenure as Chairman of the panel, are included, as are Landmarks Designation Reports from 1973 through 1979. A few reports reflecting earlier work Goldstone did as a member of the City Planning Commission are also contained within the collection, his manuscript for History Preserved: New York City Landmarks and Historic Districts along with notes compiled in preparation of the manuscript. Other highlights include published books and pamphlets concerning New York City along with a number of clippings, photographs, and personal memorabilia.

Subjects

Organizations

Families

Genres

People

Topics

Places

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. (Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days.)

Use Restrictions

Permission to quote from this collection in a publication must be requested and granted in writing. Send permission requests, citing the name of the collection from which you wish to quote, to the Library Director, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024.

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Harmon H. Goldstone Papers (MS 256), The New-York Historical Society.

Provenance

Bequest, 2002 and 2004.

Related Material at The New-York Historical Society

The N-YHS Library has other manuscript collections relating to historic preservation in New York including the Margot Gayle Papers,the Shirley Hayes Papers, and the Carolyn Kent Papers.

The N-YHS Library also has several books co-authored by Harmon Goldstone:

Goldstone, Harmon H. and M. Dalrymple. History Preserved: A Guide to New York City Landmarks and Historic Districts. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974. (Call Number: F128.7 G64)

Goldstone, Aline Lewis and Harmon Goldstone. Lafayette A. Goldstone; A Career in Architecture. New York, 1964. (Call Number: CT.G6245)

Goldstone also donated to the Library's collections a variety of items. The following examples include an architectural proposal, conference papers, and a children's story about preserving buildings:

Goldstone & Hinz Architects, P.C. Proposal for New Queens County Court Building: February 1989. [New York: Goldstone & Hinz Architects, [1989]]. (Call Number: F128QHD3890.N7G65)

Economic Benefits of Preserving Old Buildings: Papers from the Economic Benefits of Preserving Old Buildings Conference. Washington: Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1976. (Call Number: E159.E26 1975)

Colman, Hila. Andy's Landmark House. New York: Parents' Magazine Press, [1969]. (Call Number: PZ7.C7 1969)

Collection processed by

Valerie Paley and Jan Hilley, with later assistance by Alison Barr.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:48:34 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from goldstone.xml

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New York Historical
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
https://www.nyhistory.org/library