This is a list of National Historic Landmarks and comparable other historic sites designated by the U.S. government in the U.S. state of New York. The United States National Historic Landmark (NHL) program operates under the auspices of the National Park Service, and recognizes buildings, structures, objects, sites and districts of resources according to a list of criteria of national significance. There are 277 NHLs in New York state, which is more than 10 percent of all the NHLs nationwide, and the most of any state. (Note its count of 258 for New York has not yet been updated for the departure of U.S.S. Edson, the Lightship Nantucket, the absence of Coast Guard cutter Fir, and the addition of the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston.) The National Park Service also has listed 20 National Monuments, National Historic Sites, National Memorials, and other sites as being historic landmarks of national importance, of which 7 are also designated NHLs. All of these historic landmarks are covered in this list.
There are 146 NHLs in upstate New York, 14 on Long Island, and 117 within New York City (NYC), including one listing in multiple regions.Croton Aqueduct is in both upstate New York and within NYC. Four counties have ten or more NHLs: New York County (Manhattan) has 86; Westchester County, just north of NYC, has 19; Suffolk County on Long Island has 11; and Erie County in western New York has 10. Twelve other counties have five to nine NHLs, eight have three or four, 27 counties have one or two, and the remaining twelve of the state's 62 counties have none. The first New York NHLs were eight designated on October 9, 1960; the latest was designated on January 13, 2021. The NHLs and other landmarks outside NYC are listed below; the NHLs in NYC are in this companion article.
Seven NHL sites are among the 20 National Park System historic areas in New York state.NHLs that are also NPS areas: upstate Thomas Cole House, Fort Stanwix, Lindenwald, Kate Mullany House, and in NYC African Burial Ground, Hamilton Grange, and Governors Island. The other 13 National Park Service areas are also historic landmark sites of national importance, but are already protected by Federal ownership and administration, so NHL designation is unnecessary. A list of these National Park Service areas that conserve historic sites in New York State is also provided. Finally, three former NHLs in the state are also listed.
The National Historic Landmark Program is administered by the National Park Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior. The National Park Service determines which properties meet NHL criteria and makes nomination recommendations after an owner notification process. The Secretary of the Interior reviews nominations and, based on a set of predetermined criteria, makes a decision on NHL designation or a determination of eligibility for designation. Both public and privately owned properties can be designated as NHLs. This designation provides indirect, partial protection of the historic integrity of the properties via tax incentives, grants, monitoring of threats, and other means. Owners may object to the nomination of the property as an NHL. When this is the case the Secretary of the Interior can only designate a site as eligible for designation.
Overview
New York State NHLs include ten prehistoric or other archeological sites,The nine archeological sites are: Boston Post Road Historic District, notable for its African American and Indigenous history and high archaeological sensitivities, Ganondagan State Historic Site, Fort Corchaug Archeological Site, Fort Massapeag Archeological Site, Fort Orange Archeological Site, Lamoka site, Mohawk Upper Castle Historic District, Schuyler Flatts, and two in NYC: (African Burial Ground, and Wards Point Archeological Site). 12 historical Dutch farmhouses, manors, and historic districts,The twelve Dutch home sites are: Bronck House, De Wint House, Fort Crailo, Jean Hasbrouck House, Huguenot Street Historic District, Hurley Historic District, Philipsburg Manor House, Van Alen House, and four in NYC (Conference House, Voorlezer's House, Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead, and Wyckoff House). and 21 architecturally and/or historically important churches or houses of worship.The twenty-one churches or houses of worship are: one of the three buildings in Cobblestone Historic District, Dutch Reformed Church (Newburgh, New York), Dutch Reformed Church (Sleepy Hollow), First Presbyterian Church (Sag Harbor, New York), First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston, Harriet Tubman's Thompson AME Zion Church, the Indian Castle Church in Mohawk Upper Castle Historic District, St. Paul's Cathedral (Buffalo), St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Albany, New York), Willard Memorial Chapel-Welch Memorial Hall and 11 in NYC (Central Synagogue, Church of the Ascension, Eldridge Street Synagogue, Grace Church, New York, Old Quaker Meeting House (Flushing, Queens), Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Church, St. George's Episcopal Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and St. Paul's Chapel). Fully 26 NHLs are primarily military, including 13 fort sites (five standing forts, three fortified houses, and five ruins),The thirteen fort sites include five standing forts: Fort Crown Point, Fort Montgomery (Hudson River), Fort Niagara, Fort Stanwix, and Fort Ticonderoga; three fortified houses: Fort Crailo, Fort Klock, and Fort Johnson; and six ruins: Fort Corchaug Archeological Site, Fort Massapeag Archeological Site, Mohawk Upper Castle Historic District, Fort Orange Archeological Site, and Fort St. Frédéric. five other battlegrounds,The five other battlegrounds are: Bennington Battlefield, Newtown Battlefield, Oriskany Battlefield, Plattsburgh Bay, and Stony Point Battlefield. seven military headquarters, training facilities, arsenals and armories,The seven military support sites are: Washington's Headquarters, Knox's Headquarters, United States Military Academy, Watervliet Arsenal, and three in NYC (69th Regiment Armory, Quarters A, Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the Seventh Regiment Armory). and one military shipwreck site.The shipwreck site is Land Tortoise (shipwreck). One of these NHLs is associated with the American Civil War,The military site associated with the Civil War is Watervliet Arsenal. while all the rest of these forts and other military places are associated with the French and Indian War and/or the American Revolutionary War.
There are nine NHL ships, including a warship and a tugboat that served in World War II, one warship that saw combat in the Vietnam War, three sailing boats, two fireboats and a lightvessel.The ten ships are: Edward M. Cotter (fireboat), Modesty (sloop), Nash (tugboat), Priscilla (sloop), USS The Sullivans (DD-537), and five in NYC (Ambrose (lightship), Firefighter (fireboat), USS Intrepid, and Lettie G. Howard (schooner)). Salient in the list are 24 mansions,The 24 mansions include 17 in the Hudson River valley or otherwise outside NYC: Boston Post Road Historic District, including the 1838 Peter Augustus Jay House, Clermont, Jay Gould Estate, E.H. Harriman Estate, John Hartford House, Hyde Hall, Lindenwald, Philipse Manor Hall, John D. Rockefeller Estate, Rose Hill (Fayette), Dr. Oliver Bronson House and Estate, Montgomery Place, Elkanah Watson House, Philip Schuyler Mansion, Sunnyside, Villa Lewaro, and Samuel F. B. Morse House, and seven in NYC: (Bartow-Pell Mansion, Carnegie Mansion, Pierpont Morgan Library, King Manor, Harry F. Sinclair House, Morris-Jumel Mansion, and Van Cortlandt House). and four sites primarily significant for their architectural landscaping.The four landscaped sites are Springside (Matthew Vassar Estate) and three in NYC: (Central Park, Green-Wood Cemetery, and New York Botanical Garden). Many properties, numbering in the thousands, are contributing or non-contributing structures in the state's nine National Historic Landmark Districts.The nine historic districts are: Boston Post Road Historic District, Chautauqua Historic District, Cobblestone Historic District, Geneseo Historic District, Hudson River Historic District, Huguenot Street Historic District, Hurley Historic District, and two in NYC: Brooklyn Heights Historic District and SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. Intellectual accomplishments of New Yorkers are associated with 22 sites, including nine university buildings,The nine university buildings are: Morrill Hall, Main Building (Vassar College), Vassar College Observatory, Nott Memorial Hall, Elihu Root House, and four in NYC: (Low Memorial Library, Philosophy Hall, Pupin Hall, and Founder's Hall, The Rockefeller University). ten other NHLs associated with inventions, inventors or scientists,The ten inventions and scientists NHLs are: General Electric Research Laboratory, W. & L. E. Gurley Building, James Hall Office, John William Draper House, George Eastman House, Irving Langmuir House, Franklin Hough House, Samuel F. B. Morse House, Jethro Wood House, and one in NYC: (Bell Laboratories Building). and four engineering landmarks, including two bridges that were once the longest of their types.The four engineering landmarks are: Old Blenheim Bridge, Adams Power Plant Transformer House, and two in NYC: (Brooklyn Bridge and Holland Tunnel). Commercial accomplishments include 11 historic skyscrapers, five of which were once the tallest in the world,The eleven skyscrapers include five that were once the tallest in the world, all in NYC: Flatiron Building, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, Woolworth Building, Chrysler Building, and Empire State Building, and six others: Prudential Building in Buffalo and five in NYC (Bayard-Condict Building, Daily News Building, Equitable Building, McGraw-Hill Building, and New York Life Building). seven stock exchanges and other buildings important in commercial history,The seven commercial buildings, all in NYC, are: A. T. Stewart Company Store, American Stock Exchange Building, New York Stock Exchange Building, R. H. Macy and Company Store, New York Cotton Exchange, Chamber of Commerce Building, and Tiffany and Company Building. two bank buildings,The two bank buildings are: Troy Savings Bank and New York City's National City Bank Building. five industrial facilities,The five industrial facilities are: Adams Power Plant Transformer House, Harmony Mills, W. & L. E. Gurley Building, Rudolph Oyster House, and one in NYC (Lorillard Snuff Mill). and three water-based civil engineering works.The three water works are: Croton Aqueduct (Old), Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, and Delaware and Hudson Canal. Two are architectural oddities.The two architectural oddities are Armour-Stiner House and Nott Memorial Hall.