Michael Goldblum and Michael Devonshire replaced Stephen Byrns and Roberta Brandes Gratz. Architect Michael Goldblum and architectural conservator Michael Devonshire have replaced Commissioners Stephen Byrns and Roberta Brandes Gratz on the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Byrns joined Landmarks in 2004 and is a founding partner of BKSK Architects LLP. Gratz joined Landmarks in 2003 and will continue to serve the City as a member of the Sustainable Advisory Board for PlaNYC.
The City Council approved Goldblum’s appointment in October 2010 and Devonshire’s appointment in December 2010. The eleven-person Commission must include three architects, an architectural historian, a city planner or landscape architect, and a realtor. There must also be at least one resident of each borough.
Goldblum is one of the founders of Building Studio Architects. He also serves on the U.S. Green Building Council, the board of the Municipal Art Society Fellows, and the Bronx Borough President’s Historic Preservation Task Force. Goldblum replaces Byrns as Landmarks’ Bronx representative.
Devonshire is director of conservation at Jan Hird Pokorny Associates and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. He has worked on several significant restoration projects including the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Manhattan and the North China Daily News Building in Shanghai.