Posts in Excellence Awards
Q&A with Still Standing Co-Producer Katie Andres
Q&A with Still Standing Co-Producer Katie Andres

Advocating for Wells Barns has been a passion project for Katie Andres for years. And a major part of her advocacy work took the form of the recently-released documentary Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons. Along with her production partner Jill Kuchman, Katie worked to bring the story of Wells Barns to a broader audience. After Still Standing was named a 2024 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award winner, we reached out to Katie to hear more about her experience in making the documentary and why she continues to advocate for Wells Barns.

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Excellence Awards, Voices of PreservationKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, barns
Announcing the 2024 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award Winners
Announcing the 2024 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award Winners

Now in its 40th year, the League's annual Excellence Awards program allows us to shine a light on the people who are using historic preservation to make all our lives better —through exemplary restoration projects, indispensable publications, individual action, and organizational distinction. This year’s Award winners will be recognized at a public reception in NYC on Friday, November 15. Event details can be found here.

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, Press Release
Excellence Award Spotlight: Avon Opera Hall
Excellence Award Spotlight: Avon Opera Hall

Restoration of the Opera Hall performance space was the final stage in bringing this historic structure back to life. The building is now a jewel in the center of town, creating a sense of community pride. Completing the performance hall renovation, preserving the building’s architectural character and history, was like putting the “cherry on the sundae.”

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, Western NY, Opera Houses
Excellence Award Spotlight: Little Caribbean
Excellence Award Spotlight: Little Caribbean

“We are truly humbled and grateful to receive the Preservation League’s Excellence Award,” said Shelley Worrell, Founder of I AM CARIBBEING. “This recognition is a testament to the power of Little Caribbean and the importance of preserving our heritage. We look forward to continuing our mission to uplift and celebrate Caribbean culture, community and commerce in Brooklyn and beyond.”

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, brooklyn, NYC
Excellence Award Spotlight: Reynold's Way
Excellence Award Spotlight: Reynold's Way

Located in the heart of Elmira's civic historic district, the Reynold's Way project is comprised of four very different buildings that had all been vacant for many years. Taken together, Reynold’s Way now houses 41 affordable apartments. The work that was done to convert these four separate buildings into affordable housing celebrates the historic integrity of each building and supports the notion that everyone deserves quality living space. Susan Bull notes that, “We are able to serve people who are choosing to live in a community they love by bringing four spaces back to livable (and beautiful) condition. I’m proud to be a part of the affordable housing supply.”

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, Affordable Housing, Southern Tier
Excellence Award Spotlight: Revive 65 Phila
Excellence Award Spotlight: Revive 65 Phila

Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation successfully preserved 65 Phila Street, a historic property built in 1851 and later modified to the Italianate style, which had fallen into severe neglect (before and after photos of the front facade shown above). After years of advocating against demolition and working with the city to enforce property maintenance codes, the Foundation acquired the building in May 2021 with the assistance of Mark Haworth, a long-time member of the Foundation. The Foundation undertook a comprehensive rehabilitation, including environmental remediation, structural stabilization, and exterior restoration. Through monetary and in-kind donations, the "Revive 65" campaign raised over $500,000. The project, completed in 2024, removed long-standing blight, increased property tax revenue, and demonstrated the community and economic benefits of historic preservation. The property is now on the market, with proceeds going to the Foundation’s Historic Property Redevelopment Fund.

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Preservation Colleagues, Preservation in Action, Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards
Excellence Award Spotlight: Canal Commons
Excellence Award Spotlight: Canal Commons

Canal Commons is a $64 million affordable housing project that has changed the Rochester, NY landscape. Located in the historic Susan B. Anthony neighborhood, Canal Commons was a long-vacant historic warehouse building, which has been converted into a 123-unit apartment building. The rehabilitation was made possible through incentives including Low Income Housing Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits. In addition to providing high quality affordable housing, most Canal Commons apartments are reserved for residents who have experienced chronic homelessness or are in recovery from mental health and substance use disorders. The creation of this supportive housing was made possible through the Empire State Housing Initiative (ESSHI) administered through the NYS Office of Mental Health. This project is a mixed-income development that serves families earning up to 60% of the Area Median Income. The project also participated in the NYS Brownfield Cleanup Program and in NYSERDA’s Multifamily New Construction Program, significantly improving the viability of the neighborhood and of Canal Street.

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, roch, affor
Excellence Award Spotlight: RUPCO's Newburgh East End II
Excellence Award Spotlight: RUPCO's Newburgh East End II

Completed in 2023, East End II is RUPCO’s largest project to date. This $37-million scattered-site development includes 24 building sites spread across a 7-block radius located in New York State’s second-largest historic district. East End II includes the restoration of 10 vacant historic buildings and added new construction on 12 vacant lots – creating a total of 61 new, mixed-income homes plus a community space.

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Excellence AwardsKaty PeaceNewburgh, 2024 Excellence Awards, Affordable Housing
Excellence Award Spotlight: Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons
Excellence Award Spotlight: Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons

Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons strategically highlights the history, heritage, and present-day plight of Western New York’s agriculturally and architecturally significant Wells barns. This television documentary, produced by Churchbell Creative, LLC., creatively explores ways that remaining barns can regain their relevance through adaptive reuse while fostering community engagement in their preservation before these barns disappear from the landscape entirely due to development, decay, and obsolescence.

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, Barns, Western NY
Excellence Award Spotlight: Moyer Carriage Lofts
Excellence Award Spotlight: Moyer Carriage Lofts

Vacant for many years, the sprawling Moyer Factory complex on Syracuse’s Northside has undergone an incredible transformation into 128 units of affordable housing, including 50 designed for tenants requiring supportive housing. The rebranded Moyer Carriage Lofts is the largest public housing project in the City of Syracuse. The League is thrilled to recognize this this project and the team who made it happen with a 2024 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award.

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, Affordable Housing, Syracuse, adaptive reuse
Excellence Award Spotlight: Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church
Excellence Award Spotlight: Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church

The restoration of Most Precious Blood Church, an Art Deco masterpiece located in Astoria, New York, was a monumental effort aimed at preserving a historic landmark while ensuring its continued service to the community. Built in 1932, the church is one of the earliest examples of Art Deco ecclesiastical architecture in the US. Renowned architects Henry J. McGill and Talbot Hamlin masterfully blended Art Deco aesthetics with influences from Celtic architecture, creating a distinctive and timeless design.

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, Sacred Sites
Excellence Award Spotlight: Roosevelt Island Lighthouse
Excellence Award Spotlight: Roosevelt Island Lighthouse

The Roosevelt Island Lighthouse restoration was completed in 2022 after a years-long project initiated by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. The project included restoring brick, stone, windows, and doors. Site improvements at the Lighthouse include installation of a new metal spiral staircase, new electrical and LED accent lighting, resetting and installation of new and salvaged stone pavers and curb stones, and the installation of new recessed ground lighting and controls. The project was completed by the construction team of The LIRO Group and  ICC Commonwealth.

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2024 Excellence Awards, NYC, lighthouse
2023 Excellence Awards Event Recap
2023 Excellence Awards Event Recap

Earlier this week, we celebrated our 2023 Excellence in Historic Preservation Awardees with our first in-person Awards ceremony since 2019. It was a sold out crowd, with winners coming from all over the state and other supporters joining us to honor their great work. As League President Jay DiLorenzo said during his opening remarks, winners of the Excellence Award always inspire us — and I think everyone left Monday night’s event feeling that same inspiration.

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Excellence Awards, League EventsKaty Peace2023 Excellence Awards
Excellence Award Spotlight: Nash Lofts
Excellence Award Spotlight: Nash Lofts

Let’s take a look at the anatomy of an Excellence Award-winning project. The Nash Lofts in Buffalo was treated as a single rehabilitation project, but the building is actually comprised of 4 separate structures that were cobbled together over the years. Years of vacancy and damage made this a difficult project — the complicated nature of the building made it even more so. The team who decided to tackle the project did a remarkable job bringing this anchor property back to active use.

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Excellence AwardsKaty PeaceBuffalo, 2023 Excellence Awards, adaptive reuse
Excellence Award Spotlight: Bent's Opera House
Excellence Award Spotlight: Bent's Opera House

Bent’s is an anchor building in the Village of Medina’s Main Street Historic District. By 2010, the performance space had not been used for decades and the building was fully vacant and in imminent danger of collapsing. In 2016, local developer Roger Hungerford’s Talis Equity purchased the property from the nonprofit Orleans Renaissance Group Inc. Hungerford, who had grown up in Medina, had a vision to give Bent's new life.

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Erie Canal, Excellence AwardsKaty PeaceOpera Houses, 2023 Excellence Awards
Excellence Award Spotlight: Bridge to Crafts Careers
Excellence Award Spotlight: Bridge to Crafts Careers

“I’m very proud that the League has selected to honor Bridge to Crafts Careers with the Excellence in Historic Preservation Award,” said Ann Cuss, Regional Director of North America at World Monuments Fund (WMF), who oversees the program. “B2CC offers something incredibly unique and valuable: a paid opportunity for young people to get hands-on experience in craft skills. This award is a testament to the hard work of our partners and interns over the years.”

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Excellence Awards, People Saving PlacesKaty Peacehistoric trades, 2023 Excellence Awards
Excellence Award Spotlight: Kingston City Land Bank
Excellence Award Spotlight: Kingston City Land Bank

In 2018, the Kingston City Land Bank was formed to return long-vacant tax-foreclosed properties to the tax rolls. In a city with a relatively low foreclosure rate, rising property values, and a pressing need for affordable housing, rehabbing single-family homes into affordable first-time homeownership opportunities quickly became a top priority. Through their focus on preserving and restoring rather than modernizing and flipping, the KCLB has been creating a new model for how affordable housing can be produced and what it looks like. Their mission is to foster an equitable community where vacant or distressed properties are transformed into community assets that improve the quality of life for Kingston residents, stabilize and enhance neighborhoods, and create new pathways for social and economic development. The League was thrilled to recognize their work this year with an Excellence in Historic Preservation Award, and wanted to take the opportunity to learn more about what makes their model so successful. Board Chair Daniel Kanter (and resident interior designer!) was kind enough to answer a few questions for us.

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Excellence AwardsKaty PeaceHudson Valley, 2023 Excellence Awards, Affordable Housing, Kingston, land banks
Excellence Award Spotlight: Julie Nucci
Excellence Award Spotlight: Julie Nucci

After her historic Owego home flooded in 2011, Julie Nucci embarked on a years-long project to elevate her house. It is the first National Register-listed home in NYS elevated for flood mitigation and is included in the Secretary’s Guidelines on Flood Adaptation for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to advocate for people and communities impacted by climate change by promoting resiliency and disaster preparedness. She recently formed J. Nucci Consulting, LLC and is working with the National Hazard Mitigation Association and FEMA on engagement and resilience strategies for under-served communities. Many historic communities are located along waterways, from coastal cities to canalside towns. And many of those places, across the state and country, are under-served – just like her Village of Owego, NY. As one of our 2023 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award winners, we wanted to find out more about how she thinks about preservation and why it matters.

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Excellence Awards, People Saving PlacesKaty Peaceclimate change, sustainability, 2023 Excellence Awards, Southern Tier
Excellence Award Spotlight: Olean's First National Bank Restoration
Excellence Award Spotlight: Olean's First National Bank Restoration

The First National Bank of Olean and the adjacent former Siegel’s Shoes building have been revitalized to provide much-needed high-quality housing, office, and commercial space in downtown Olean. Vacant for more than two decades, the city’s Urban Renewal Agency worked hard to find a path forward, which included historic district designation to allow for the use of Historic Tax Credits. The rehabilitation of these historic spaces was led by preservation architect Elise Johnson-Schmidt and developer Savarino Companies. Elise was gracious enough to answer a few questions about her work on this Award-winning project.

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Excellence AwardsKaty Peace2023 Excellence Awards, adaptive reuse, Olean
Excellence Award Spotlight: Claudette Brady
Excellence Award Spotlight: Claudette Brady

Claudette Brady has been a staunch advocate for her Brooklyn community for decades. Spearheading the campaign for historic district designation of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Claudette rallied her neighbors and made historic preservation meaningful for the people of the neighborhood. In the years since that successful campaign, Claudette has continued advocating for historic preservation, uplifting the history of traditionally underrepresented people, and centering them in the conversation about what we preserve and for whom.

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Excellence Awards, Voices of Preservation, People Saving PlacesKaty Peace2023 Excellence Awards, brooklyn