Holding Back the Hudson

  • May 6, 2019
  • 7 to 8:30 p.m.
  • Auditorium
Peter Rinaldi, the former engineering program director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, speaks onstage at the Museum Auditorium as Harriet Senie, director of art history at the City College of New York, and Ken Lustbader, the former advisor to the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, listen on. A woman hosting the event is seated to the right of the three panelists. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum logo is on a projector above them. Audience members are silhouetted in the foreground.
Photo by Jin S. Lee

Remnants of the original World Trade Center are embedded throughout the 9/11 Memorial Museum. This is seen most visibly in the slurry wall, a retaining wall built in the late 1960s to hold back the waters of the Hudson River. Though damaged on 9/11, the slurry wall did not breach, and over time became a symbol of endurance and human resolve. In celebration of National Historic Preservation Month, this group of panelists discuss the unique history of the slurry wall and examine how historical events and collective memory can elevate places and objects from the mundane to the sacred.

 

Panelists:

Harriet F. Senie, Director, Art History, Museum Studies Program, The City College of New York

Peter Rinaldi, Former Engineering Program Director, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)

Ken Lustbader, Historic Preservation Consultant and former advisor to the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund

 

This program was made possible through generous support from American Express.

Photos

  • Harriet Senie, director of art history at the City College of New York, speaks onstage at the Museum Auditorium. She is seated in a chair in front of a curtain in the background that is illuminated blue.
  • Ken Lustbader, the former advisor to the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, speaks while seated onstage at the Museum Auditorium. He is looking out at the audience with his hands clasped and his legs crossed. A curtain in the background is illuminated blue.
  • Peter Rinaldi, the former engineering program director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, speaks onstage at the Museum Auditorium as Ken Lustbader, the former advisor to the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, listens on. Rinaldi is looking out at the audience with his hands in his lap. Lustbader is seated beside him with his legs crossed.
  • Peter Rinaldi, the former engineering program director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, speaks onstage as Harriet Senie, director of art history at the City College of New York and Ken Lustbader, the former advisor to the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, listen on. A woman hosting the event is seated to the right of the three panelists. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum logo is on a projector hanging above them. A curtain in the background is illuminated blue.
Photos by Jin S. Lee

Videos

Videos

  • 2019_0506 Slurry Wall
    FULL PROGRAM
  • 2019_0506 Slurry Wall_Highlight_(Caps)
    HIGHLIGHT CLIP

Other Resources

Through the inaugural 9/11 Memorial & Museum Summit on Security, presented by Fiserv, public programs in 2019 were made possible by Accenture, ADP, AT&T, BlackRock, Deloitte, GNYHA Ventures, Inc., Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo Foundation, and UL LLC.

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