Ada Louise Huxtable and the shape of New York

On May 30, 2013, a program organized by The Museum of the City of New York and co-sponsored by the Architectural League brought together several individuals who were close to the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic to celebrate her impact on New York City. Hilary Ballon, Stanton Eckstut, Donald Elliott, Lynne Sagalyn, and Suzanne Stephens reflected on Huxtable’s deep influence, as well as her complex and insightful views on preservation and development in the city. Over the course of the panelists’ wide-ranging discussion, a sense emerged of Huxtable’s “clear-sighted vision for the humanistic meaning and artistic power of architecture and the built environment,” as Ballon put it.