To highlight the preservation efforts of Columbia University as custodian of some of the most significant structures on New York’s Acropolis, the Morningside Heights Historic District Committee, and the Upper Manhattan Society for Progress through Preservation will conduct a walking tour on Sunday, July 26th, 1998 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., concluding with a reception and slide lecture. This tour, hosted by the university, will provide a unique opportunity to visit some of the city’s most splendid interiors, which are otherwise not open to the public.

These include the neoclassical grandeur of Charles Follen McKim’s Pantheon-inspired Low Memorial Library, where tour participants will have an opportunity to inspect the handsome Burden Room, the Trustees’ Room, as well as the office of Columbia University’s presidents, not seen publicly since 1968. The tour will visit two exquisitely paneled lobbies and turn-of-the-century apartment buildings owned by Columbia, as well as the Teatro Piccolo of the recently renovated Casa Italiana.

Columbia University, whose historic preservation program is the oldest in the country, in consultation with some of the country’s leading preservation professionals and with neighborhood residents, recently completed a critical assessment of its own preservation goals. Though only five officially designated landmarks are located on Morningside Heights, the Morningside Heights Historic District Committee is working to secure this neighborhood’s first designated historic district.

The tour will be led by preservationist Michael Henry Adams, an alumnus of Columbia’s Historic Preservation Program. For additional information please call 281-5802. Tickets for the tour are $15 on the day of the tour or $10 if purchased in advance (contribution).

TICKETS AND ORIENTATION: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.

Meet at Faculty House of Columbia University: West 116th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive. Take the 1 or 9 Train to West 116th Street; walk east.

TOUR: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

LECTURE AND RECEPTION: 2 - 5 p.m.

Casa Italiana, Picolo Teatro, Broadway at 117th St, 2nd floor.

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