Farewell to a former NYSID instructor who got students out of their seats to learn architectural history. 

Generations of NYSID alumni and faculty were saddened by the news that famed New York City architectural historian and former NYSID Instructor Barry Lewis passed away on January 12, 2021 at the age of 75.

Barry Lewis was best known as the quintessential New York City historical and architectural walking tour guide. He co-hosted with David Hartman the TV special  “A Walk Down 42nd Street,” which aired on the New York PBS station WNET in 1998. The special bloomed into a series that was shown on PBS stations throughout the country.

Lewis had a deep expertise in European and American architectural history from the 18th to 20th centuries. Information, stories, and passion for his subject matter flowed out of him as he walked the streets of New York. Says NYSID President David Sprouls, “I always enjoyed getting into conversations about architecture and design history with Barry because no matter how much I thought I knew about the subject, I always came away smiling, having learned something more.”

In addition to lecturing at institutions like the New York Historical Society, Mr. Lewis taught Modern Architecture & Design I & II at the New York School of Interior Design for 25 years. His courses were wildly popular, and he won NYSID’s William Breger Faculty Achievement Award for extraordinary teaching in 2001.

“NYSID was lucky to have such a long affiliation with the NYC icon Barry Lewis,” says President Sprouls. “It was our students who were the luckiest, having been taught by someone as knowledgeable and enthusiastic as he was. His legacy lives on through their work as informed designers.”

Read Barry Lewis’s New York Times obituary.