Gayle, Margot.

A longtime urban preservationist, civic activist, and author, Margot Gayle (née McCoy) was born in Kansas City, Mo., on 14 May 1908. She attended the University of Michigan, and subsequently moved to Atlanta, began work as a social worker, and earned a master's degree in bacteriology from Emory University. Marrying accountant William T. Gayle, Margot contributed to the World War II effort as a volunteer publicizing civil defense efforts. Next moving to New York City, Gayle held various jobs including radio script writer, freelance magazine scribe, public relations entrepreneur, and public relations positions in city government; most important, she wrote a weekly architecture column in the Daily News for sixteen years. In 1957 she joined the Samuel J. Tilden Club, a Democratic Party reform group, and ran unsuccessfully for City Council. In 1957 Gayle spearheaded efforts to save the four stalled clocks adorning the Jefferson Market Courthouse. Gayle's intrepid leadership netted a coterie of followers, including writers Jane Jacobs and Lewis Mumford and poet e.e. cummings. By 1961, the group succeeded in restarting the building's clocks; in 1967 the courthouse itself reopened as a public library. Gayle also lobbied for a landmarks preservation law, which the city enacted in 1965. In 1966, impelled by the demolition of Pennsylvania Station, Gayle helped to establish the Victorian Society in America, and in 1970, she founded the Friends of Cast Iron Architecture, a group focused on the preservation of Victorian-era iron-fronted buildings. The group succeeded in opposing a proposed Lower Manhattan expressway in 1971 and in 1973 it won the establishment of the twenty-six block SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. Gayle went on to fight to preserve cast-iron buildings around the country, as well as street clocks and lamp-posts in New York City until her death in 2008 at the age of 100.

From the description of Margot Gayle papers, 1959-2005 (bulk 1975-1990). (New-York Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 480188753

Margot Gayle (nee McCoy) was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 14, 1908. The daughter of an automobile executive, Gayle moved frequently as a child. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in bacteriology from Emory University. She married William T. Gayle, an accountant, and moved with him and their two young daughters to New York City in the 1940s. Though her career as a preservationist began in her middle age, Gayle was politically active from a young age. While still in Atlanta in the 1930s, Gayle joined the League of Women Voters to work for repeal of the Georgia's poll tax. In 1957, she ran unsuccessfully for the New York City Council. She remained active in Democratic Party politics throughout her life. In her first decades in New York, Gayle worked as a writer for CBS radio, as a columnist for the Daily News, and as a public relations specialist for the New York City Planning Commission, where she gained contacts and political experience that would enable her later work as a preservation activist.

From the description of Margot Gayle papers, 1948-2007 (bulk 1970-1990). (University of Maryland Libraries). WorldCat record id: 759841415

Margot Gayle was a champion of cast-iron architecture. From the 1960s until her death in 2008, Gayle worked as a grassroots organizer, journalist, lecturer, writer, and neighborhood tour guide, all in the effort to raise awareness of preservation issues. She organized several prominent campaigns to save cast-iron structures, including buildings, statues, clocks, lampposts, and bridges. Most of her efforts were focused on New York City, where she lived, and many of its cast-iron structures survive today thanks to her activism.

Margot Gayle (nee McCoy) was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 14, 1908. The daughter of an automobile executive, Gayle moved frequently as a child. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in bacteriology from Emory University. She married William T. Gayle, an accountant, and moved with him and their two young daughters to New York City in the 1940s. Though her career as a preservationist began in her middle age, Gayle was politically active from a young age. While still in Atlanta in the 1930s, Gayle joined the League of Women Voters to work for repeal of the Georgia's poll tax. In 1957, she ran unsuccessfully for the New York City Council. She remained active in Democratic Party politics throughout her life. In her first decades in New York, Gayle worked as a writer for CBS radio, as a columnist for the Daily News, and as a public relations specialist for the New York City Planning Commission, where she gained contacts and political experience that would enable her later work as a preservation activist.

Gayle's first preservation project was the Jefferson Market Courthouse, a structure that was slated for destruction until she helped organize a successful effort to convert it into a library in the early 1960s. The group Gayle formed for this purpose allied with other organizations, including the Municipal Art Society, establishing a precedent for collaboration with like-minded individuals and groups. Gayle founded the Victorian Society in America in 1966, after attending a summer seminar led by Nikolaus Pevsner, the founder of the British-based Victorian Society.

In 1970, Gayle founded the Friends of Cast Iron Architecture (FCIA), a group devoted to the preservation of cast-iron architecture in the United States. She spearheaded the effort to save SoHo's cast iron structures, resulting in the creation of the Soho Cast Iron Historic District in 1973. The decision of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate SoHo a historic district was a direct product of FCIA activism. Through the FCIA, Gayle organized walking tours in cast-iron-rich New York neighborhoods, hosted an annual lecture on cast iron, distributed pamphlets and other educational material to its members, and offered awards to individuals and organizations in recognition of their devotion to the cause of cast-iron preservation.

Gayle's other prominent preservation activities--most of them in New York City-- include the efforts to save the Alice Austen House, the Old Sun Clock, St. Bartholomew's Church, and the Bogardus fire tower in Harlem. She participated in preservation activities across the United States, including the effort to preserve the city hall in Richmond, Virginia. She maintained close ties with the international preservation community and lent her support to preservation campaigns abroad, including the unsuccessful bid to save the cast-iron pavilions of the famous Les Halles market in Paris.

In addition to her activism, Gayle contributed to scholarship on the history of cast-iron architecture. Gayle's 1974 Cast-Iron Architecture in New York, which describes many of New York's iconic cast-iron structures, is considered by many architectural historians to be a seminal work. She broadened her geographical scope with Cast-Iron Architecture in America: the Significance of James Bogardus, published fourteen years later. She also published several articles and book reviews. In recognition of her contributions to historic preservation, she received numerous awards from a variety of organizations, including an Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

From the guide to the Margot Gayle Papers, 1948-2007, 1970-1990, (State of Maryland and Historical Collections)