New York University

New York University, New York City, New York

New York University report to the Getty (PDF) 31.4MB

Founded in 1831, New York University (NYU) was established with the goal of being "a center of higher learning open to all, regardless of national origin, religious beliefs, or social background." The campus is spread across lower Manhattan and its representative structures include buildings from early nineteenth-century Greek Revival and Federal Style row houses, to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century manufacturing buildings, as well as modern, purpose-built academic and residential facilities designed by world renowned architects. NYU will develop a preservation plan that will address 96 buildings, 65 of which are located within locally designated historic districts and two others that are historic landmarks.

New York University received a Getty grant in 2006 for $180,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: The principle goal of the project was to produce a guide that would be a significant resource for NYU’s Office of Facilities and Construction Management; Office of Strategic Assessment, Planning and Design; and the campus community at large. The objectives in this guide were to study, evaluate, and document the historical and architectural significance and physical integrity of the campus, create treatment guidelines as a resource for the university and its consultants to assist in undertaking future work on its buildings, develop a rational strategy and schedule for performing necessary preservation work on campus buildings, and share information about NYU’s buildings and campus heritage.

Historic Designation(s): Roughly half of the university’s buildings are New York City landmarks or are located in designated historic districts. Such sites include: Judson Hall (New York City Landmark; National Register of Historic Places); Brown Building (New York City Landmark); University Village (New York City Landmark); and many contributing buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District (New York City Landmark; National Register of Historic Places) and the NoHo Historic District (New York City Landmark).

Planning Process: New York University assembled a team of university administrators representing planning and design, public resource administration, and corporate foundation relations, to work with architects and cost consultants on this project. The study was based on a tri-partite approach of studying common building types on the university campus, outlining treatment guidelines for several categories of façade features, and presenting an implementation strategy. Treatment guidelines were based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and are meant to convey ideas about best practices for addressing the most common problems.

Outcomes—Products: The project resulted in the creation of the “New York University Campus Preservation Plan” (2007). Building assessment was based on historical research and investigations of the visual conditions of each building in the study area. Treatment guidelines were organized by building type, which was determined by use, primary construction materials, and age (with guidelines broken down related large to either Maintenance/Preservation or Restoration/Rehabilitation). Implementation strategy considered the building inventory and prioritized related maintenance and preservation work. Building data about each site in the study area includes identification of original and historic features as opposed to non-historic alterations. Additionally, the report includes a glossary of specialized architectural features, materials, and preservation-related terms.

Outcomes—Strategies and Goals for the Future: It is expected that the resulting report will serve as a significant guide in preservation planning for both the campus community and outside consultants doing work at the university. Several strategies were developed for short- and long-term implementation, such as the adoption of a preservation and maintenance program for buildings under six stories (i.e., those not covered by New York City’s Local Law 11), the expansion of the scope of the five-year cycle of Local Law 11 work, and the restoration of a select group of NYU’s buildings that have outstanding architectural qualities or a strong presence in the immediate neighborhood.

Other long-term goals include taking information from this study and incorporating it into a newly created electronic work order system that can benefit renovation and maintenance projects overseen by Facility and Construction Management. Building data will also be utilized on the university’s internal real estate website that is viewed by NYU administrators. In terms of educating the broader community, the university will post sections of the report on its public website. In addition, NYU plans to continue and expand tours of the Washington Square neighborhood for the community which incorporated research uncovered by this project.