At the front lines of advocacy, the rooftops of sacred spaces, and the stoops of brownstones, the Conservancy works in many directions on behalf of New York’s architectural heritage. The Conservancy’s programs demonstrate that hands-on help for building owners is the key to successful preservation. By providing technical advice, financial aid, and education, the Conservancy contributes to economic revitalization of the City’s neighborhoods and aesthetic rehabilitation of its much-loved older buildings.

The Conservancy is nationally and internationally recognized as a vocal and forward-thinking leader in the preservation movement. Its work ensures that the landmarks of New York—homes and schools, businesses and cultural institutions, theaters and houses of worship—will serve its citizens for generations to come.

The Conservancy was founded in 1973 by a small group of architects, lawyers, planners, writers, and preservationists eager to save and reuse landmark buildings. Their early successes include saving the U.S. Custom House on Bowling Green and the Fraunces Tavern block, also in Lower Manhattan, restoring the Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn, and converting the Federal Archive Building in Greenwich Village to residential apartments and stores. As the Conservancy grew, they developed financial and technical assistance programs that became models and have made us one of the leading preservation groups in the country.

The Conservancy advocates for preservation in Washington, Albany, and at City Hall. They encourage sound policies that incorporate preservation as an integral part of urban planning. To safeguard the more than 21,000 building protected by the City’s Landmarks Law, the Conservancy works closely with property owners, community groups, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and other public agencies.