Historic Preservation Planning

Marissa's fascination with historic cities began as a child in Winston-Salem, NC, a city that began as a mid-18th-century Moravian settlement and today has an acclaimed living-history museum. As a teenager, she was enamored with Charleston, SC, which has the oldest municipal preservation ordinance in the country. 
 
Her academic studies in historic preservation began as an undergraduate at UNC Greensboro and continued at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. There she studied with the foremost experts in preservation architecture, conservation, planning, and policy, using New York as a field lab. She graduated in 2007 and retains close ties with many of her classmates.
 
Her early career was spent at the Manhattan architecture firm BKSK, which is renowned for new design in historic contexts. After a brief stint as a project administrator, she served as the lead marketing director for six years. During that time, she honed her writing and visual storytelling skills. She also oversaw the development and launch of the firm's new brand identity and website.
​
In 2016, ready to return to her true calling, Marissa struck out on her own as an independent preservation consultant. Among her earliest projects was a large resource survey of lower Midtown, Manhattan. A National Register nomination for the Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District in Harlem followed. The Hudson Valley has offered her ample opportunities to shepherd historic rehabilitation tax credit projects for owners of income-producing properties. It is also where she began collaborating with Neil Larson, a sought-after architectural historian with decades in the field. Together, they have completed surveys and nominations throughout the region, including in western Massachusetts. 
​
Recent projects have been increasingly ambitious and challenging—and thus rewarding. They include an expansive cultural resource survey of East Harlem, which was recognized with two state-wide preservation awards. In early 2025, she completed a similar survey for Newburgh, focusing on a historic working-class neighborhood excluded from the 1985 historic district. Another was the nomination of Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park to the National Register, which involved extensive archival research and oral history interviews.

Throughout her career, Marissa has donated her time and expertise. She has served on multiple boards, including Columbia Preservation Alumni, Historic Districts Council in New York, and DOCOMOMO-NY/Tri-State, an advocacy organization for Modern Movement architecture and landscapes. As vice chair of Kingston's Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission, she initiated reforms in the review procedure and advocated for greater municipal investment in the preservation program. She currently advises the care and management of historic buildings for the Reher Center of Immigrant Culture & History and Old Dutch Church, and gives regular public talks on preservation and research.