Some people stand as tall and strong as a skyscraper in the Big Apple. Regardless of age.
At a recent gala, the New York Landmarks Conservancy declared several people to be Living Landmarks. The list included philanthropist Brooks Astor, band leader Peter Duchin, caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, AIDS researcher Dr. Mathilde Krim, financier Felix Rohatyn and columnist Liz Smith.Two nonagenarians were among the honorees: 96-year-old Astor and 93-year-old Hirschfeld, whose drawings have graced the pages of the New York Times for most of the century.
Hirschfeld, who recalled that there were still farms in upper Manhattan when he was growing up, said he was thrilled to be a landmark but even more thrilled about his new marriage to theater historian Louise Hirschfeld.
Other honorees accepted their awards with theatrical flair. Astor read a poem, and Smith, accompanied by Duchin, sang a song saluting New York's historic buildings.
The Landmarks Conservancy has preserved hundreds of historic buildings in New York City.
Peg Breen, president of the Landmarks Conservancy, said that until 1993 the group recognized an outstanding historic building every year but decided to honor individuals instead when former New York Gov. Hugh Carey jokingly suggested that he be designated a landmark.
Carey got his wish, and since then other Living Landmarks have been named. Among them: architect Philip Johnson, TV newsman Walter Cronkite, actress Joan Rivers and editor Helen Gurley Brown.
"We'd always honored someone else's building; why not honor people in different professional fields?" said Breen.
Breen said occasionally the human honorees aren't thrilled with the notion of being a Living Landmark. But, she said, "I remind them you only have to be 30 years old to be a Historic Landmark."
Breen said while many of the Living Landmarks qualify as senior citizens, none is over the hill. "They are incredibly vital people. I don't think of them as old."