"Mightier Than A Wrecking Ball" - How Ada Louise Huxtable Saved Salem

Historic Salem, Inc. has organized a September 25 symposium to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the act of journalism that stopped the wrecking ball. A potent New York Times article by renowned architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable derailed plans to destroy much of downtown Salem. The symposium, called “Mightier than a Wrecking Ball,” will gather prominent architecture critics, historians and other experts to consider what almost happened in Salem and how the issues at play in 1965 remain critical today.

Christopher Hawthorne, The Los Angeles Times architecture critic, will give the keynote address. Historic New England President and CEO Carl Nold will moderate a scholarly panel featuring Eric Gibson, leisure and arts editor of The Wall Street Journal; Elizabeth Padjen, founder and former editor of Architecture Boston; and Donovan Rypkema, a development consultant and authority on the economics of preservation.

“Mightier than a Wrecking Ball” will be held Friday, September 25, 2015, 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Morse Auditorium in the Peabody Essex Museum. Tickets are $45 and may be purchased on the PEM website at PEM.org/calendar or by calling 877-PEM-TIXX.