For more than 20 years, the Historic Districts Council has honored a New Yorker who has significantly contributed to the celebration and preservation of our beloved New York City. This year, HDC is delighted to present Michael S. Hiller with the Landmarks Lion Award at our 2024 fall gala. You are invited to help celebrate Michael by becoming a member of the Landmarks Lion Benefit Committee.
Michael S. Hiller is a zoning, land-use, and historic preservation attorney who has made an almost three-decade-long career of defending New York City’s landmarks. He sees his battles as crucial to the future of New York and its history. He has worked with clients across the city—community groups, advocacy organizations, and concerned stakeholders intent on preserving the places that matter to them.
He has taken on powerful opponents in numerous high-profile cases that impacted the integrity of designated historic places. Representing Citizens Defending Libraries and The Committee to Save the NYPL, he ended the New York Public Library’s plans to significantly alter their flagship; at the Hopper-Gibbons House in Chelsea he stopped an addition that would have destroyed the defining significance of this documented stop on the Underground Railroad; at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he prevented an expansion into the greenspace within Central Park, a scenic landmark; and at First Church of Christ, Scientist on Central Park West he prevented condos from being inserted into the individually-landmarked structure.
Today he continues to represent worthy causes including the Center at West Park who are striving to save the designated West-Park Presbyterian Church from demolition as well as supporting the Merchant’s House Museum in protecting its irreplaceable interiors from neighboring construction.
He has said, “As we lose the soul of the city in its architecture, its landmark buildings and historic districts, and its urban planning, we lose our identity as people. I think that is the greatest threat to New York City.”
Among his other awards, Hiller previously received an HDC Grassroots Preservation Award in 2017, was designated the “protector of the little guy” by the New York Law Journal, and in 2021 was a finalist for New York State Lawyer of the Year.
Historic Districts Council
