As an architectural student in Istanbul and Europe, I had the opportunity to study some inspiring buildings. I was reminded of those buildings when I was assigned as the project manager of an exterior repair program RAND recently completed at…
Recently my husband (and RAND Project Engineer) Samuel and I had the honor of attending the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s 20th Living Landmarks Celebration—fittingly enough at a New York City Landmark. The New York Landmarks Conservancy is the preeminent organization…
On Tuesday night my RAND colleagues and I had the pleasure of celebrating two New Yorkers who have enriched the city’s historic preservation movement. The Historic Districts Council honored Hugh and Tiziana Hardy with its Landmarks Lion Award for the…
After nearly 14 wonderful years at RAND, I have left my regular full-time role of Senior Project Associate to take on a new position pursuing an old passion—teaching masonry preservation at a newly established high school. Before I tell you…
One reason I became an architect was to make a positive impact in my community. My current RAND assignment at the historic Rutgers Presbyterian Church, on West 73rd Street near Broadway, only a block from my home, presents an opportunity—and…
In my more than 30-year career as a bricklayer, preservationist, and project manager, I’ve been fortunate to have worked on many noteworthy buildings in New York City. None, however, has had more significance to me than the Algonquin Hotel, a…
New York City has nearly one million buildings (975,000 by the DOB’s count), many of them prewar constructions with historic features that require regular maintenance and repair to guard against the ravages of time and weather. Yet for New York…
Rand was recently hired to oversee an exterior restoration and roof replacement program at 901 Broadway, which the New York Observer called “one of the most architecturally unique buildings still standing in Manhattan.” Built in 1870, the five-story building—the first…
I recently had the pleasure of visiting a fifth-grade class at the Bloomingdale School (P.S. 145) on West 105th Street in Manhattan and talking to the students about what it’s like to be a “real life architect.” The students participate…