Conservancy Hosts Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards
DATE: April 2011
See the original article at The New York Landmarks Conservancy Moses Awards (expired link)
Boston Valley Terra Cotta is providing terra cotta for the continued restoration work at the Liberty Tower in New York City, one of the award recipients of this year’s Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards.
Conservancy Hosts Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards
Inside the beautifully-restored sanctuary of honoree, Church of St. Francis Xavier, nearly 500 people gathered to take part in the Conservancy’s 21st Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards on April 27.
The coveted awards, nicknamed the “Preservation Oscars,” laud outstanding preservation efforts by individuals and projects. They are named for Lucy Goldschmidt Moses, a dedicated New Yorker whose generosity benefited the City for more than 50 years.
“The awards are a celebration of outstanding restoration projects throughout the City as well as some extraordinary individuals,” said Peg Breen, president of the Conservancy.
“The time and care that went into completing these projects demonstrates New Yorkers’ commitment to preserving the entire range of the City’s historic architecture.”
Wint Aldrich, recently retired Deputy Commissioner for Historic Preservation at the New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation received the Preservation Leadership Award for presenting a consistent, knowledgeable voice for preservation throughout his nearly 40-year career in State Government. He was instrumental in local efforts to save the Tobacco Warehouse; restore Grand Central; place the entire MTA transit system on the National Register of Historic Places and was supportive of preservation initiatives on Governors and Roosevelt Islands.
“What successes we have had really have been the result of the citizenry. Historic preservation would be little more than a dead letter of the law without them. It is a public amenity, a community safeguard and a economic stimulus that people want and deserve,” Aldrich said.
Anne Van Ingen received the Public Leadership Award. She retired after 27 years at the New York State Council on the Arts as director of the Architecture, Planning and Design Program and Capital Projects Program. In these and many other capacities Anne demonstrated outstanding public leadership in preservation. She has been a dedicated and effective advocate and there is probably no preservation group in the State that did not know her and seek her support.
“I think it took a certain sense of humor and leap of faith to let me be entrepreneurial with the Council’s funds and let me support historic preservation, which is making New York state a better, more livable place for all of us and I am very appreciative,” Anne Van Ingen said.
This year’s vast range of project award recipients—from the New York Public Library to a modest building in the Bronx; historic religious properties from many eras; architecture that is sometimes grand and opulent—tell the story of New York. The honorees included: 614 Courtlandt Street, Belasco Theatre, Church of St. Francis Xavier, Knox Building, Liberty Tower, New York Public Library, Our Lady of the Rosary Mission, Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, PS 90 Condominium, Queen of Greene, St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, Surrogate’s Court-Hall of Records, and Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, Governors Island. Owners, managers, architects and restorers responsible for 12 outstanding preservation projects completed in 2010 accepted the awards.
