An American architecture critic known for his advocacy of preservation and classical architecture and his outspoken criticism of modernist architecture, Henry Hope Reed died Wednesday at his home in Manhattan.

The funeral will take place Thursday, May 9 at 2:00 pm at St. Thomas Church, 5th Avenue at 53rd Street, New York, NY. The Rector, Father Andrew Mead, will officiate and Father Joel Daniels, who came to give communion to Henry on several occasions, will assist.

Photo by Jack Manning/The New York Times

On April 8, 1956, Reed invented the New York walking tour and brought what he himself describes as a French construct to America, according to Robin Lynn, co-author of Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes. "He led what was not only the first MAS walking tour but also probably New York’s first architectural walking tour for the general public. The tour From Madison Square to Gramercy Park was such a novelty that newspapers sent reporters to cover it, and neighborhood residents didn’t know what to make of it. It is a testimony to what MAS and Henry started that walking tours are today an accepted part of the city’s culture," she said.

In the 1960s, his tours of Central Park and his book, Central Park: A History and a Guide, earned him the nonpaying post as park’s first curator by the city’s parks commissioner, Thomas P. F. Hoving.

Reed’s other books include The Golden City, The New York Public Library, The Library of Congress, and The United States Capitol: Its Architecture and Decoration.

Reed was born in Manhattan on Sept. 25, 1915, and earned a degree in history from Harvard College in 1938 and studied decorative arts at the École du Louvre in Paris.

In the weeks and months ahead, the Institute of Classical Architecture (ICAA) will celebrate and examine Mr. Reed's descending legacy.