James Marston Fitch (1909–2000) was an architect and a Preservationist. In 1964, he was one of the founders of the Historic Preservation Program at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the architecture school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. It is regarded as an important and highly prestigious architecture school.

. He was a member of the faculty there from 1954 to 1977, and received an honorary Litt.D. in 1980. The School has established a lecture series in his honor and endowed a named professorship, previously held by

Andrew Dolkart Andrew Scott Dolkart is a professor of Historic Preservation at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) and the former Director of the school's Historic Preservation Program. Professor Dolkart i ...

and currently held by Erica Avrami. The ACSA ( Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) honored Fitch with the ACSA Distinguished Professor Award in 1985-86. After leaving the Columbia faculty, he became director of historic preservation at the private architecture and planning firm,

Beyer Blinder Belle Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB) is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Ri ...

. He led the fight that prevented the construction of an expressway through

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

, to save the buildings at what is now the

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district ...

. In the 1990s, he supervised the renovation of Grand Central Terminal. The James Marston Fitch Foundation, established in his honor in 1988, awards $25,000-dollar research grants for historic preservation. The activist

Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs (''née'' Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book ''The Death and Life of Great American Cities'' ...

considered that Fitch "was the principal character in making the preservation of historic buildings practical and feasible and popular."Obituary, New York Times Dr. Fitch was awarded the

Historic Districts Council The Historic Districts Council (HDC) is a New York City-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that serves as the advocate for New York City's historic buildings, neighborhoods, and public spaces. HDC'YouTube channelprovides a large catalog of free ...

's 1998 Landmarks Lion award in recognition of his lifetime of contributions to the historic preservation movement in New York City and beyond.

Publications

* American Building: The Environmental Forces that Shape It (1947, updated 1999) * Historic Preservation: Curatorial Management of the Built World (1982).

References

External links

James Marston Fitch papers, 1933-2000
http://library.columbia.edu/locations/avery/da.html/ Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives]
Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia university
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitch, James Marston Preservationist architects 1909 births 2000 deaths Columbia University faculty 20th-century American architects 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers

Publications

See also

References

External links