City College Seminar Identifies Places of Significance in Women’s History

The New York State Women’s Heritage Trail includes the homes of Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Also on the Heritage trail are the Women’s Rights National Historic Park and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. But there are only three sites on the Heritage Trail that are in New York City.

Students in a seminar on gender and architecture at City College in New York have identified 14 additional sites that they believe are important places in women’s history. The students are proposing that these sites be included in New York City’s Census of Places That Matter. Among the proposed additions are a mural in Brooklyn, a Harlem playground, and a 72-year-old bridal salon.

The seminar was taught by Marta Gutman, professor of architecture history at City College. “All of the students were asked to find a place that connected with women, gender or issues of sexuality and what people did there to further the cause of equality and make New York City a better place,” Professor Gutman explained.

Professor Gutman is a graduate of Brown University. She earned a master of architecture degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley.