Urban Renewal at Lincoln Center

A unique chapter in the story of urban renewal, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, was the nation’s first performing arts complex. It was also part of the larger 45-acre Lincoln Square Urban Renewal Project, which included the Lincoln Towers housing complex, Fordham University, and community facilities. Directed by Robert Moses, the project erased the San Juan Hill neighborhood, displacing more than 7,000 families, largely African American, and 800 businesses.

Despite problematic origins, many of the new structures built in the 1960s are nationally significant works of Modern architecture. Lincoln Center buildings were designed by an all-star roster including Wallace Harrison, Max Abramovitz, Philip Johnson, Eero Saarinen, Gordon Bunshaft, Pietro Belluschi, Eduardo Catalano and Dan Kiley. The tour will consider whether contemporary interventions, some of which have been opposed by preservationists, enhance or detract from the original 16-acre campus. The tour will also discuss Lincoln Towers, PS199 by Edward Durell Stone, and some lesser known Modern buildings that have been replaced by recent developments.

Guide: John Arbuckle, President, DOCOMOMO US/New York Tri-State.

This tour is part of DOCOMOMO US Tour Day 2023, a series of tours across the country throughout the month of October. This year’s thematic focus is  “Revisiting Urban Renewal.” The Lincoln Center tour is being offered in conjunction with a tour of the Washington Square South Urban Renewal Project on Sunday, October 29, by the New York Tri-State chapter. Together, these two tours offer the opportunity to spend a weekend exploring urban renewal in Manhattan.

$25 DOCOMOMO Members / $30 General Public

Advance Registration Required. Space is limited. Rain or shine.

Tour meeting place will be provided upon registration