Margot Gayle, who fought for the preservation of New York City’s 19th-century architecture—even before there was a historic preservation movement or a Landmarks Commision, died today at the age of 100. This quote is from the New York Times:

‘’Margot Gayle is the only reason we have a SoHo,’’ Brendan Sexton said in a 1998 interview, when he was president of the Municipal Art Society. ‘’The only person who comes close or who shares with Margot that honor is Jane Jacobs, who stopped Robert Moses from putting an expressway through what is today SoHo and TriBeCa. Margot turned her eye on the cast-iron district and it appeared like magic.”