Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Alan BURNHAM
New York Times, The (NY) - March 5, 1984
Deceased Name: ALAN BURNHAM IS DEAD AT 71 ARCHITECT AND PRESERVATIONIST
Alan Burnham, an architect whose research provided the intellectual foundation for the architectural preservation movement in New York, and a former executive director of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, died Saturday at his home in Greenwich, Conn. He was 71 years old.
In 1963, Mr. Burnham's book, "New York Landmarks: A Study & Index of Architecturally Notable Structures in Greater New York," appeared. Published by Wesleyan University Press and considered "a landmark in the realm of works on New York architecture," it was a major factor in the creation of a landmarks preservation movement in New York.
In April 1965, two years after the book's publication, Mayor Wagner created the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and Mr. Burnham joined the staff in November as a landmark preservation specialist. By then, working for Stanley & Sturges, an architectural firm that specialized in churches, Mr. Burnham had supervised the restoration of the rectory of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, at 7 State Street.
He had, some time before, established the American Architectural Archive, which at first was just some files stored in a closet at home, he later told Brendan Gill, a writer for The New Yorker and chairman of the Landmarks Conservancy of New York. But as word spread, documents and materials were sent to him and the archive became a valuable architectural history resource. 'He Did His Homework'
For some who knew him, the archive and his book symbolize Mr. Burnham. Ada Louise Huxtable, former architecture critic at The New York Times, said yesterday that Mr. Burnham was "one of the early preservationists who did a great deal of work in a quiet scholarly manner."
"He was not an activist," she said. "He did his homework. His knowledge and research backed up the commission and public interest groups."
And Mr. Gill, who wrote the introduction to the landmarks book, said Mr. Burnham was "one of very first people in the whole country to care about the preservation of the architectural past."
"He became an authority and went from preserving records to preserving buildings that remained standing," he said.
Quiet Nature Helped Effort
Mr. Gill also said Mr. Burnham's quiet nature helped to make landmarks preservation generally acceptable. "He was not on the barricades," Mr. Gill continued, "but he was among the earliest battlers with Margot Gayle and Whitney North Seymour and others. He formed the intellectual base and others brought emotion to the battles."
Mr. Burnham spent almost his entire working life trying to save historically important structures from abolition by wrecking crews in a city enamored with the instant, different artifact. But, paradoxically, he was not a New Yorker, by either birth or residence.
Born in Englewood, N. J., on Feb. 10, 1913, he was raised in Philadelphia and went to preparatory schools in Connecticut and Colorado. He was graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Harvard in 1935, and in 1940 he received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Columbia.
His penchant for architectural history was indicated during his tenure in the United States Navy in World War II. Based as an enlisted man in the West Indies, he conducted a preliminary architecural survey of Trinidad during his stay there. Redevelopment of Bryant Park
Before he died, Mr. Burnham was concerned with the redevelopment and design of Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library. He was also working on three books - an annotated bibliography, "New York City: The Development of a Metropolis," a compendium of New York City squares and a biography of Richard Morris Hunt, an architect who designed mansions for the very wealthy.
Mr. Burnham was also an active preservationist in his own community. He was a member of the Connecticut Historical Commission's review board and the historic District Commission of Greenwich, and aided the Junior League in its "Great Estate Survey of Greenwich." He played a major role in the preservation of the Christ Rectory, the Y.M.C.A, which was built at the turn of the century, and the Town Hall Annex, Greenwich's first high school.
Mr. Burnham, who also lived in Ellsworth, Me., is survived by his wife, Frances Berking Burnham; a son, Roderick Hotchkiss Burnham, of York, Pa., and a daughter, Cora Lewis Burnham of Greenwich.
Copyright 1984, The New York Times Company
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