Andrew Scott Dolkart is a professor of Historic Preservation at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) and served as the Director of the school's Historic Preservation Program from 2008 to 2016.[1]
Dolkart's work focuses on Historic Preservation and the architecture and development of New York City. Dolkart holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University (1973) and a Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation from Columbia University (1977), and previously worked at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Dolkart first became interested in Historic Preservation during his graduate studies in Art History.[2] He has authored many of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's reports and served as an editor for the first edition of the Guide to New York City Landmarks. He was described as someone who is "without peer among New York's architectural researchers" by architectural critic Francis Morrone.[3] In 2014 he received the Historic District Council's Landmarks Lion award.
Along with Jay Shockley and Ken Lustbader, Dolkart is a founding member of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, begun in 2015, and serves as a Project Director for the group.
In his teaching and writing Dolkart stresses the importance of Vernacular architecture based more on commercial need than strictly stylistic preferences. Much of his work emphasizes the practical and economic aspects of buildings, whether they were constructed to meet the needs of the garment industry, tenement housing, or high-end housing designed primarily to meet the profit objectives of speculative real estate developers.
