... I want to also share this obituary from the New York Times, paying tribute to a man who did much to preserve the historic parts of New York that we (and even I) sometimes take for granted.
It's humbling to me to think about the hard work that Mr. Taylor must have put in, in a pre-Internet age, to fight the battles that he fought to save historic structures. In the mid-1990s, with the help of some New Yorkers I met online, I launched Friends of the Biltmore, a non-profit organization designed to promote and perhaps operate Broadway's Biltmore Theater on 47th Street. The existence of the Web, the ability it gave me to organize people and make contacts with the media and with various arts-related constituencies and organizations in the city, make the task of saving the theater a lot easier than it would have been had I tried to do it in a world of analog contacts and physical meetings. Indeed, in my case, since I live in Baltimore, had it not been for the Internet it's doubtful that there would have been very much that I could do at the time to help save the theater.
The other lesson that I took from Mr. Taylor's obituary? A reminder that, for a preservationist, it's important to accept in advance that you will not win every battle, for a variety of reasons. Often, saving buildings is possible only by way of the kismet of various factors coming into place at the right time. But that's all the more reason to savor the victories--and all the more reason to be involved in the first place. After all, who's to say that you, or I, aren't meant to be one of the essential factors? If you care, get involved. You never know how important you may be until you make an effort to find out.
RIP, Mr. Taylor, and baruch dayan ha'emet. Thanks for doing your part to save the essential New York for all of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment