Each quarter, Village Preservation updates its chronological catalogue of every designated landmark in New York City since landmarking began in 1965. It’s the only place where landmark designations are shown by date in chronological order, revealing when and how designations have taken place over time. Village Preservation first compiled the list in 2024 when we noticed what appeared to be a precipitous drop in new landmark designations under Mayor Adams, but no comprehensive information existed to allow temporal comparisons. Our compilation of this data and analysis of it showed that Mayor Adams was the worst Mayor for landmark designations in NYC history, designating at the lowest rate by far of any of his predecessors.

You can view the updated quarterly catalogue HERE.

Unfortunately, the news from the latest update is not good. There have been no new landmark designations in NYC, and no sites currently under consideration for landmark designation. In fact, no site has been calendared or formally placed under consideration for designation since 2025, and we are currently on track to have one of the barest years in NYC history for new landmark designations. Though it’s still very early in his term, at the current rate Mayor Mamdani will best Eric Adams as the mayor with the lowest rate of new landmark designations, in spite of the countless historic sites throughout NYC calling out for landmark designation. This includes endangered sites in our neighborhood for which we’re seeking designation, including Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the city’s first Spanish-language church; the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, which would be the city’s first landmark recognizing people with disabilities; and Most Holy Redeemer Church, “the German Cathedral of the Lower East Side” and a monument to generations of immigration. It also includes sites like the former headquarters of the first national LGBTQ+ rights organization in the United States and the NYC Woman Suffrage League, all of which the City has so far refused to landmark, even though they fit the “Equity Framework” supposedly guiding new landmark designations. 

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