Servant of Beauty

Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Love, and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero is the true story of the interplay between the two all-consuming passions of this unheralded civic champion: his love of beauty in the public realm that would forever change New York City, and his love for a younger man that would forever change Bard. Albert Sprague Bard (1866-1963) fought for cities to have the right to protect their beauty, propelling him into a David versus Goliath combat with Robert Moses and paving the way, after four decades of advocacy, for New York City's Landmarks Law (1965). Today the law protects over 37,000 buildings, mostly in historic neighborhoods, and it has inspired cities across the nation. Bard was delighted and disappointed by his two enduring loves: one for a troubled younger man, the other for the beauty of New York City. Persevering against the odds, resilient in the face of disappointment, and a man who became embroiled in a spy scandal at the same time as he served as a stand-in father to three, Bard is an uncelebrated renaissance man and civic hero whose story will inspire and inform generations of citizens who continue his battle to preserve the beauty of the places they love.