Historic Preservation, MS

As a future historic preservation professional, you’ll gain the skills and experience needed to preserve historic architecture and cultural heritage that reflects our past and shapes an equitable and inclusive future.

A group of students listen to a worker at the Roslyn Grist Mill restoration site talking about the project.

Type: Graduate, MS
Department: Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
School: School of Architecture
Credits: 47
Duration: 2 years

Courses Plan of Study

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Historic Preservation at Pratt

Pratt’s Master of Science program in Historic Preservation provides an excellent foundation in preservation strategies, practices, history, and theory, along with experiential learning opportunities. Our program offers interactive conservation projects, place-based and archival research, and class sessions at museums and studios where you’ll learn directly from the field’s most innovative professionals.

You’ll develop the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to collaborate with community members in protecting valued cultural and historic sites at the local, national, and international levels while tackling complex issues such as gentrification, displacement, racial injustice, social inequity, and climate change.

Student Work

These examples of work by recent Historic Preservation graduates represent the kinds of projects you’ll be engaged in as a Pratt HP student.

The Experience

A group of students stand outside by a park attentively listening to someone speaking. — Heritage Documentation students conduct analysis on site in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Immersed in Brooklyn’s vibrant community and landscape, Pratt Historic Preservation students and faculty are both thinkers and doers. Our faculty scholars and practitioners bring their experience and connections to the classroom. Students come from a variety of disciplines, including architecture, design, fine art, history, the humanities, and the social sciences.

Multidisciplinary

A multidisciplinary approach promotes collaboration. Our partnerships within the Institute enable students to explore coursework in multiple disciplines and pursue their interests in climate-adaptive design solutions, preserving affordable housing, community storytelling through public art, cultural heritage studies, archival management, and more. This interdisciplinary education fosters learning and prepares future professionals to solve problems together.

Experiential Learning

Two students work on masonry in Green-Wood cemetery. They are wearing hardhats and there is scaffolding behind them. — Students gain masonry conservation experience at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery

Real-world projects turn students into professionals. You’ll prepare for the professional world by working directly with community partners as clients, tapping a neighborhood’s history, cultural heritage, and architectural assets to empower residents to manage and direct change, with a focus on equity and social justice. You’ll propose preservation strategies for real places. Recent studios have provided plans for interpretive community gardens in the South Bronx, green adaptive reuse in central Brooklyn, and preservation policies to save affordable Manhattan tenement apartments.

Internships & Fellowships

Our network opens doors locally, nationally, and internationally. Pratt’s Preservation program connects students to paid internships and fellowships with some of the most prominent preservation organizations, conservation studios, and architecture firms in New York and beyond. We partner frequently with New York-based institutions such as the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Brooklyn Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Green-Wood Cemetery, The Municipal Art Society of New York, The World Monuments Fund, and many others.

Study Abroad

A woman in a headscarf looking at the camera stands next to a sculpture in an arid landscape. The base of the sculpture reads, "Priest King."

Immersing yourself in another culture is an incredible experience that enhances social justice-oriented heritage preservation studies. Together with our partners in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment we offer several internationally-focused courses each year, and Pratt’s School of Architecture has deep connections with university partners around the world. Recent study abroad opportunities have engaged students in travel to Havana, Rio de Janeiro,Tokyo, Rome, Venice, and Amsterdam to name a few. Community and university partnerships in these cities have ensured our work supports efforts to preserve sites and neighborhoods of cultural, historical and architectural value to local stakeholders.

Our Faculty

Pratt Historic Preservation’s distinguished faculty of outstanding heritage professionals and scholars value collaborative learning and strive to create a classroom environment in which each student’s lived experience is respected and valued. They generously share their knowledge, experience, and professional networks to ensure student success throughout the program and beyond.

Academic Director of Historic Preservation; Adjunct Associate Professor

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Our Alumni

Our alumni are leading preservation advocates, architects, policymakers, researchers and innovators who are deeply connected to preservation and many allied fields. Their commitment to our program is unwavering. Under the auspices of the Pratt Historic Preservation Alumni Association, they generously donate their time and expertise to support students and graduates as they embark on preservation careers.

They hold impressive positions, such as:

Executive Director, Maine Preservation
Chief Projects Officer, History Colorado/Colorado State Historic Preservation Office
Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, World Monuments Fund
Architectural Project Manager, RAND Engineering
Principal, Phillips Preiss Grygiel Leheny Hughes Planning & Real Estate Consultants
Program Director, World Heritage Monuments Toolkit Initiative
Associate, Stern & Bucek Architects
Deputy Director, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
Project Manager, PRESERV Building Restoration Management Inc.
Executive Director, Docomomo U.S.
Architectural Historian, Dewberry
Project Manager, AYON Studio Architecture and Preservation
Regional Planner, East Alabama Regional Planning & Development Commission
Development Director, Pan Am Museum Foundation
Founder & Executive Director, Community Alliance for Heritage and Preservation

Success Stories

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Prattfolio Story

Group of students approaches white colonial house in tree-filled lot

Prattfolio Story

The Alice Austen House Museum on Staten Island (courtesy Vicki Weiner)

Article

Ready for More?

HERE’S HOW TO APPLY	OUR CAMPUS & BEYOND
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.	You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.

Upcoming Information Sessions

All times ET

Fall 2023

Tuesday, September 12, 2023 10am -12pm (virtual)
Thursday, October 19, 2023 3 – 5pm (In Person + Campus Tour + Studio Visit)
Tuesday, November 14, 2023 10am – 12pm (Virtual + Application Q&A)

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Spring 2024

Thursday, April 11, 2023 10am – 12pm (Virtual)

RSVP

Social Media

From the Catalog

Pratt’s 47-credit, four-semester Master of Science program in Historic Preservation builds the skills preservationists need to leverage architectural and cultural assets in addressing the challenges communities face—such as gentrification and displacement, racial injustice, social inequality, and climate change. The scholars and practitioners that make up Pratt’s historic preservation faculty offer students a solid grounding in preservation theory, research methods, law and policy tools, architectural and urban history, and conservation practices. In their advanced coursework, students engage in real-time heritage conservation projects and innovative research, working directly with community stakeholders to identify, understand, and save the places they care about.

About the Program
Housed within Pratt’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment (GCPE),the program’s approach is multidisciplinary, place based, equity-oriented, and intellectually challenging. Our location in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, immerses students in New York City’s rich history, and provides the opportunity to work directly with local partners to uplift community stories, protect heritage assets, and apply preservation tools to achieve social empowerment.

Students and faculty are thinkers and doers. Our faculty scholars and practitioners bring their experience and connections to the classroom. Students come from a variety of disciplines, including architecture, design, fine art, history, the humanities, and the social sciences. Core courses such as Historic Preservation History and Theory, Concepts of Heritage, Building Technology, and Heritage Documentation Studio teach students to think critically about contemporary issues in the field while building their analytical and technical skills. Electives explore emerging theory and contemporary practices such as the reinterpretation of historic sites to promote inclusion, and heritage conservation measures to address climate change.

A multidisciplinary approach promotes collaboration. Pratt’s Historic Preservation program is not siloed; partnerships within the Institute enable students to explore multiple disciplines, including Architecture, City and Regional Planning, Sustainable Environmental Systems, Urban Placemaking and Management, Real Estate Practice, Construction/Facilities Management, and art and design disciplines in other schools within the Institute. A student interested in climate-driven design solutions for adaptive reuse might choose a course in sustainable environmental systems; another interested in addressing the city’s affordable housing crisis might choose real estate or planning courses, or participate in the School of Architecture’s Affordable Housing Consortium; another might explore public art as a venue to interpret heritage with a course in urban placemaking. This interdisciplinary education fosters learning and prepares future professionals to solve problems together.

Real-world projects turn students into professionals. Two community-based studio courses—one focused on heritage documentation and another taken with students from all GCPE programs—draw upon Pratt’s deep connections in New York, the US, and abroad. Preservation students prepare for the professional world by working directly with community partners as clients. They tap a neighborhood’s story, cultural heritage, and architectural assets to empower residents to manage and direct change, with a focus on equity and social justice. They propose preservation strategies for real places; recent studios have provided interpretation plans to lift up the history of community gardens in the South Bronx, explored green conservation solutions for deteriorated historic commercial buildings in central Brooklyn, and proposed creative new preservation policies to prevent the loss of affordable apartments in lower Manhattan tenements.

Individual student research influences the preservation field. The program culminates in an in-depth thesis project. Past theses have explored preservation’s role in tomorrow’s sustainable cities, preserving historic landmarks through effective zoning and adaptive reuse, and developing tools for the heritage conservation of informal settlements, among many other topics.

Our network opens doors locally, nationally, and internationally. Pratt’s Preservation program offers fellowships with some of the most prominent preservation organizations in New York and beyond, and partners frequently with New York-based institutions such as the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Brooklyn Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Green-Wood Cemetery, The Municipal Art Society of New York, The World Monuments Fund, and many others. Our alumni are leading preservation advocates, architects, policymakers, and researchers who are deeply connected to the social and civic fabric that unites our increasingly globalized culture.

We work with students to make the degree affordable. Pratt offers generous merit scholarships to qualified applicants, as well as transfer credits for those with five-year bachelor’s degrees or previous graduate credits, and work/ portfolio credits for those with relevant professional experience. These resources reduce the cost of the degree and in some cases can reduce the number of semesters needed to achieve it. No additional application is necessary—we make financial award and transfer credit determinations based on the student’s initial application.

Academic Director
Vicki Weiner
718.636.8645
vweiner@pratt.edu

Office
www.pratt.edu/historic-preservation

Faculty Bios
www.pratt.edu/historic-preservation/faculty-and-staff

Historic Preservation at Pratt

Student Work

The Experience

Multidisciplinary

Experiential Learning

Internships & Fellowships

Study Abroad

Our Faculty

Our Alumni

Success Stories

Ready for More?

Upcoming Information Sessions

Fall 2023

Spring 2024

Social Media

From the Catalog

Sample Courses

Program Overview

School of Architecture

Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment