- Master of Science in Historic Preservation
- Sectors of Specialization
- Program Requirements
- Admissions / Registration
- Resources and Opportunities
- Studio Sequence
- Previous Studios
- Progressive Housing (2008)
- Gowanus Canal (2008)
- The Proposed Pelham Parkway Historic District (2007)
- Lincoln Square: Preserving the Modern Architecture of Slum Clearance, Urban Renewal, and their Architectural Aftermath (2007)
- Penn Station Redux: Preservation of the Farley Post Office (2007)
- Corporate Responsibility and the Preservation of Post-Industrial Landscapes (2007)
- 14th Street and Union Square (2006)
- Downtown Manhattan (2005)
- Harlem River (2004)
- Midtown South (2003)
- Previous Theses
- Certificate in Conservation of Historic Buildings and Archeological Sites
News and Announcements
Dean Mark Wigley of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation is pleased to announce that effective July 1, Andrew S. Dolkart will serve as the Director of the Historic Preservation Program
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Project Quicklinks
Progressive Housing in New York City (2008)
A Closer Look at Model Tenements and Finnish Cooperatives
The two major factors contributing to the introduction of progressive housing in New York City were the living conditions of the poor and the massive population of the city. These two forces working together created a housing crisis that continues even today, evident by the high cost of land in the city. By 1865 the city's population was just over eight-hundred thousand, half of which lived in tenement buildings. The majority of these buildings were built on the standard sized lot, established by the 1811 grid system, one-hundred feet long and twenty-five feet wide. The buildings were long and narrow and abutted each other on the long sides. There were only windows on the front and rear facades, leaving the interior rooms in the buildings with no exposure to natural light, these buildings also had little, if no, plumbing on the interiors.