A Fair Land to Build In: The Architecture of the Empire State (1980)

Written and narrated by Brendan Gill, this short film from 1980 was produced by the Preservation League of NYS to showcase the remarkably varied architecture found throughout the Empire State. We've brought it out of the archive and digitized the original film in honor of our 50th Anniversary in 2024.

From an introductory text that was produced later, then-League Executive Director Diana Waite wrote, "A Fair Land to Build In: The Architecture of the Empire State is a celebration of the buildings of New York State. The enterprise began in 1980 when the National Trust for Historic Preservation held its 34th annual conference in New York City. Eager that participants in the conference, coming from all over the country, should learn as much as possible about our New York architecture, the Preservation League undertook the production of a slide/tape program that, though not skimping the landmarks of New York City, would call attention to the exceptional profundity of building styles that have developed throughout the entire state over the past three centuries.

Beginning in the early summer of 1980, Preservation League trustees and staff set to work. Two professional photographers were commissioned to travel the length and breadth of the state. Simultaneously, scores of public and private slide collections were examined in order to identify photographs taken in every season from many angles of vision, whether at long range or close up. Over 25,000 separate images of buildings and landscapes were scrutinized before 600 of the most suitable slides were selected for assembling into a 30-minute, 6-projector show. Our Chairman, Brendan Gill, composed and narrated the script. The project was directed by two consultants, the audio-visual designer Rusty Russell and John P. Grady, a partner at Chermayeff & Geismer Associates, who served as executive producer."