No NYC buildings now under landmark review, preservationists warn

What happened

The New York Post reported on October 15, 2026 that no buildings are currently under consideration for landmark status by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), citing city records. The Post said that puts this year on track to be the worst for preservation since the commission began in 1965. The LPC did not respond to the Post's request for comment.

Three buildings were landmarked this year: the Lithuanian Alliance Building on West 30th Street and the Church of Saint Mary on Grand Street, both in Manhattan, and the Public School 15 Annex in Brooklyn. The Post said all three had been scheduled under former Mayor Eric Adams. The Post reported 11 designations in 2024 and four last year. The city has over 38,000 landmarked properties, most of them inside 159 historic districts.

Preservationists quoted by the Post are most worried about Most Holy Redeemer church on East 3rd Street in the East Village, built in 1851. Richard Moses of the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative said the church has been closed to regular service in recent years and only occasionally hosts events. Groups are also seeking protection for Our Lady of Guadalupe on West 14th Street, which the diocese has decommissioned, the New York Ear and Eye Infirmary on 2nd Avenue, the Church of the Transfiguration in Maspeth, Queens, and the Church of St. Michael in Chelsea. The church's operator did not respond to the Post.

The Post tied the slowdown to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's housing push. It noted that a state bill, the "Faith Based Affordable Housing Act" from Brooklyn Democrats Andrew Gounardes and Brian Cunningham, would have let houses of worship change landmark protections to add to or demolish buildings if some units were below market rate. That bill died in the last legislative session. The Post also reported that the mayor recently targeted 12 neighborhoods with the lowest rate of affordable housing production, including the Upper West Side and Bay Ridge, for fast-track development, and spoke about it at an October 1 press conference.