21 Facts About George McAneny

George McAneny, was an American newspaperman, municipal reformer and advocate of preservation and city planning from New York City.

George McAneny served as Manhattan Borough President from 1910 to 1913, President of the New York City Board of Aldermen from 1914 to 1916, and New York City Comptroller in 1933.

George McAneny held several other positions throughout his career, serving as an executive officer of the New York City Civil Service Commission in 1902, secretary of the New York Civil Service Reform League, executive manager of The New York Times, and president of the Regional Plan Association.

George McAneny graduated from Jersey City High School and then reported for The New York World, supporting civil service, city planning and a Bureau of Municipal Research.

George McAneny was elected on fusion tickets as Manhattan Borough President in 1909 and as President of the New York City Board of Aldermen in 1913, serving from that position for several months as acting mayor in place of John Purroy Mitchel.

George McAneny died in Princeton, New Jersey on July 29,1953.

In 1911, George McAneny became the chairman of a new transit committee of the Board of Estimate.

George McAneny was the driving force behind the city's 1916 comprehensive zoning resolution, which for the first time provided residential neighborhoods with the possibility of legal protection against land-use change.

George McAneny supported the Fifth Avenue Association, a business group that advocated for zoning to stabilize land values, and created the committees of the Board of Estimate that would develop the resolution.

George McAneny brokered a plan that prevented City Hall from being overshadowed by a massive new courthouse in City Hall Park.

Also during his time in office as the Manhattan Borough President George McAneny spearheaded a street widening project.

George McAneny spearheaded a plan to extend Seventh Avenue south through Greenwich Village and connect it with Varick Street, which would itself be widened.

When preservationists raised an outcry, George McAneny tasked his newly formed Committee on the City Plan with negotiating a solution that would allocate city funds to shore up the chapel and turn it over to a community group.

Unfortunately, George McAneny left office before the compromise was executed, and in 1918 Trinity demolished the chapel, which was replaced with a modern post office.

In 1939, McAneny helped convince the Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, to designate an 1830s neoclassical building that stood on the site where George Washington had been inaugurated as president in 1789, as a national historic shrine.

George McAneny then became chairman of the Federal Hall Memorial Associates, a group that operated a historical museum in the building.

George McAneny successfully faced down Robert Moses in two related preservation battles.

Meanwhile, drawing on his contacts in the National Park Service, with whom he had worked on Federal Hall, George McAneny was able to muster federal support for saving the fort and obtained a commitment of funds from the US Congress.

In 1947 George McAneny became the chairman of the new group, called the National Council on Historic Sites and Buildings, which, on George McAneny's initiative, organized the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

George McAneny's activism foretold a shift in the overall focus of the preservation movement, which by the end of the 1950s would be deeply engaged in protecting the character of the city's historic neighborhoods.

George McAneny became involved in the Municipal Art Society and served as its first woman president beginning in 1965.