On November 20th, PHPO held its first Preservation Pub Crawl!  Architectural historian Francis Morrone led a group of 12 on a meandering tour of three historic watering holes on the West Side of Manhattan.  We began at the White Horse Tavern, where Dylan Thomas drank his last drinks, and then we ambled past Jane Jacobs‘ house on Hudson Street.  After peeping through the gate at Grove Court, we wandered down Leroy Street past the Cosby homestead.  Then it was time to warm up  at the good old Ear Inn on Spring Street.  From there the hearty bunch hurried down to the Triangle Below Canal where we ended our tour at Walker’s, famous neighbor to both JFK Jr. and the Ghostbusters’ firehouse.   Though chilly, it was an informative and exciting evening, full of fantastic NYC trivia!

Oh!klahoma where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain! So, some PHPO’ers went to Tulsa for the annual National Trust for Historic Preservation conference.

First of all, Art Deco. It’s everywhere. This Deco boom town was nouveau riche ripe with OIL! when they built it. We walked some of the shiny, shapely and well loved lobbies on our tour of downtown.

Secondly, people from Tulsa are nice, and in a good way! Not annoying at all.

And finally, like everywhere else, Tulsa is what you make of it. They celebrated their centennial last year; it’s a baby of a city and has toddler like tendencies. It’s fun and ridiculous, but after a certain amount of time you want to hand it back to mom and return to the adult party.

I tell you what, we can’t wait for Nashville next year!

On Sunday, September 14, a few students participated in a tour of Coney Island sponsored by the Historic Districts Council led by Melissa Baldock, Kress/RFR Fellow for Historic Preservation and Public Policy at the Municipal Art Society and architectural historian Jane Cowan. The dynamic duo presented the past, present and proposed future(s) of Coney Island. Post tour we discussed what we learned over hot dogs at Nathan’s and shared a terrifying ride on the Wonder Wheel.

PHPO visited Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, CT on September 5th. Built in 1949, it predates Mies Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House by two years. Upon the death of Philip Johnson in 2005, the Glass House and its 47 acre campus became a stewardship of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The mission of this International Style residence is “to be come a center point and catalyst for the preservation of Modern architecture, art and landscape design.”

Tickets for the Glass House go on sale for the 2009 season on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 9am. Tickets are $30 for 90-minute tours and $45 for 2-hour tours.