THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509220064
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
WITHIN THE jungles of American high culture, Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel - who speaks in Norfolk on Wednesday - is a brave adventurer who shares her findings with the world at large.
The upper-crust New Yorker is not an architect, but she has interviewed the best and the most egotistical of them for books on architectural collaborations, contemporary trends and on her pet subject - adaptive reuse of existent buildings.
She is neither museum professional nor artist. Yet she has asked the most difficult and direct questions of the nation's top museum directors, art dealers and artists for books that give art fans a rare insider's tour.
She could speak easily on any of numerous subjects she has covered in 18 books, six museum exhibits, and five television series for Arts & Entertainment cable network. For her 10:30 a.m. Wednesday talk at The Chrysler Museum of Art, however, Diamonstein-Spielvogel will discuss one of her favorite themes - historic landmarks in her town.
As chair of the New York City Landmark Preservations Foundation since 1987, Diamonstein-Spielvogel is especially suited to the task. From 1972 to 1987, she also served on the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
``Memorable places in the world are often known for their natural beauty - forests, mountains, cascading waterfalls,'' said Diamonstein-Spielvogel, speaking recently from her Manhattan office. ``In New York City, we are known for our unnatural beauty, our man- and woman-made wonders that sometimes spire more than 1,000 feet in the sky.''
Her interest in architecture - and culture, generally - was nurtured in childhood by an arts-revering mother. From 1956, when she married Alan Diamonstein, now a Democratic delegate in Newport News, and lived with him on the Peninsula and in Charlottesville, Virginia became an influence.
``Certainly, landmarks preservation is a big subject in Virginia, which was the leader in that movement,'' she said. ``One of the very first places that was saved was Mount Vernon.''
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association claims status as the oldest national preservation organization in America. It was the mid-19th century when Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina saved George Washington's home in northern Virginia.
The Mount Vernon rescue became a role model for the rest of the nation, Diamonstein-Spielvogel said, followed by the influential reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg.
When she returned to New York in the mid-1960s, she became the city's first director of cultural affairs. (In 1981, she married Carl Spielvogel, CEO of United Auto Group Inc.)
Among the designated landmarks in New York City, which comprises five boroughs, are 66 historic districts comprising about 20,000 properties, 94 interior landmarks and nine scenic landmarks, Diamonstein-Spielvogel said.
The range of preserved material is quite wide. Central Park, including every bench, walkway and light pole, constitutes one scenic landmark.
``But there's also one individual tree in Queens, which is one of my favorites. It's a weeping beech tree brought as a cutting by a nurseryman in 1857, if I recall correctly.
``Now that weeping beech tree has a canopy of 85 feet. An extraordinary old tree. I love the notion of this tree being nurtured, flourishing - and lasting.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Diamonstein-Spielvogel will speak Wednesday.
by CNB