Author & Photographer John Lazzaro

John Lazzaro Lecture - A Vanishing New York: Ruins Across the Empire State

May 8 | 7 pm – 8 pm
$10 Guests | Members are FREE 

Lecture Tickets

New York is filled with forsaken buildings, each ravaged by the exploits of modernization, each having fascinating histories. This photographic essay explores over 40 of the most evocative abandoned sites in the Empire State and puts their individual stories in the larger context of New York’s historical legacy.

Photographer and author John Lazzaro traveled the state, capturing what’s left of such places before they are inevitably swept away by time. Divided by region, these sites, ranging from the Catskills’ once-vibrant vacation destinations to Long Island’s melancholy psychiatric centers, reveal deeper social, cultural, and political changes that lead to their decay. These abandoned hospitals, schools, churches, railways, and estates offer a view into a past rapidly dissolving before it disappears completely.