Battlegrounds & Bachelor Flats

DataHigh Density, Jacob R. Moore, Jay Shockley, Politics and economics, Urban Omnibus, Urban Paradigms.

Architecture&Gender, Data, Gender, Heritage, History, Mapping, New York, Political implications, Politics, Social associations, Urban Paradigms, USA

The first initiative to document historic and cultural sites associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the five boroughs, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project launched its website in March 2017, but the project is more than a quarter century in the making. Jay Shockley worked as senior historian at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, researching and writing over 100 designation reports covering all aspects of the city’s architectural, social, and cultural history, before turning his attention full-time to this project, which he directs together with Andrew Dolkart and Ken Lustbader. Related in certain ways to contemporaneous domestic and international efforts, the New York City project identifies and advocates for the preservation of LGBT historic sites in the city’s five boroughs, with a website featuring an interactive map of 111 sites and counting. Below, Shockley looks backward and forward, through the project and through his career, discussing the challenges that come with “making an invisible history visible.” – JM