Giorgio Cavaglieri

[1] He joined the United States Army during World War II, and was put to work testing bridges and adapting captured German barracks for use by Allied forces.

[6] He replaced old-fashioned bronze screens with a modernist glass entry, leaving the lobby intact and newly on view to the street – a move which was praised in The New Yorker by critic Lewis Mumford.

[5] He was involved in the unsuccessful battle to save Penn Station, advocated for the preservation of Grand Central Terminal and the Morgan House on Madison Avenue, and would frequently write letters on behalf of preservationist causes to the editor of the New York Times and to various elected officials.

[1][4] Cavaglieri's many preservation and restoration projects include the Grand Central incoming trains room; the Chapel of the Good Shepard and the James Blackwell Farmhouse on Roosevelt Island; the Eldridge Street Synagogue; and the New York University Grey Art Gallery.

[11] Cavaglieri's restoration of Calvert Vaux and Frederick Withers's Victorian Gothic Jefferson Market Courthouse building is considered the first significant work of historic preservation in New York City.

[1] After a grassroots movement led by Margot Gayle, Ruth Wittenberg, and other local activists saved the Greenwich Village landmark from being sold and potentially demolished, Cavaglieri was brought in to convert the derelict building into a new branch of the New York Public Library.

[2] Cavaglieri continued his preservationist work with the restoration of the Alexander Saeltzer-designed Astor Library at 425 Lafayette Street, a building that was saved from demolition by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

[13] The commission was to restore and convert the building to house the Public Theater (then known as the New York Shakespeare Festival) under the direction of Joe Papp and with consultation from set designer Ming Cho Lee.

[4][5] His legacy of mixing contemporary style with careful preservation can be seen in major restoration projects in New York City, including the High Line's transformation into an elevated park.