Co-sponsored by the Historic Districts Council

This program is part of Village Preservation’s Semiquincentennial series of programs celebrating our Revolutionary Village. Revolutionary Village not only celebrates the founding of our country, but the exceptional role our neighborhoods played in its development and the realization of its ideals over the last 250 years and beyond.

First Houses, the first public housing project in New York City, celebrated the 90th anniversary of its completion in December 2025. The campus includes 8 buildings with 126 units designed by Frederick Ackerman. But more important is the innovative way the project acquired land, secured funding, selected tenants, and completed construction. How did this pioneering development get off the ground and what can we learn from it almost a century later?

Brad Greenberg, Executive Director, and Isabel Kirsch, Junior Research and Policy Fellow, at the Furman Center will give an illustrated talk on the history and significance of First Houses based on their archival research and original brief published about the project. Following their presentation, the panelists will have a moderated conversation with Frampton Tolbert, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council and Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Village Preservation about lessons learned from First Houses and how these lessons could be applied to housing needs citywide.