Surprising Survivors: 18th-Century Structures Still Standing in Manhattan
Historian Anthony Bellov reveals over a dozen Colonial-era buildings still standing across Manhattan, witnesses to the Revolution and centuries of urban change.
Why we picked this
New York is the city that never stops demolishing itself — which makes the dozen-plus 18th-century buildings still standing feel like quiet acts of resistance against time.
Anthony Bellov takes the audience on a tour of Manhattan’s most improbable survivors — buildings that predate the Republic and somehow withstood two and a half centuries of relentless development. Despite New York’s reputation as the city that is never finished, over a dozen colonial-era structures remain standing, witnesses to the American Revolution and everything that followed.
The presentation details their locations, their historical significance, and stories from early New York’s time as British headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Part of Village Preservation’s Semiquincentennial series, hosted at the Grolier Club. Free admission.