The Landmark Society of Western New York recently announced the 2019 Preservation Awards in a ceremony at Rochester City Hall. The awards are given to individuals and organizations in the nine-county area that have made outstanding efforts in the preservation of their homes, public buildings, historic properties, and landscapes.
The Barber Conable Award recognizes a large-scale rehabilitation of a historic building in our region completed within the past two years. This year’s recipient is Farmer’s Creekside Tavern and Inn in LeRoy. The handsome stone building was originally built in the 1820s, serving as a hat factory and private residence, prior to becoming a restaurant that was a major gathering place for residents and visitors. In 2004, a fire devastated the building, causing extensive damage that threatened the stability of the surviving structure. In 2007, Bill Farmer, founder of Catenary Construction, purchased the building and spent the next ten years rehabilitating it. His expertise as a masonry contractor and developer was critical to the success of the project, which posed numerous challenges, both structural and financial. Careful sorting of damaged building parts and materials allowed their re-use in the rehabilitation. The resulting four-level, 10,000-square-foot building blends the old with the new, with fine dining facilities, two bars, rooms for lodging, and a dramatic outdoor terrace with patio seating overlooking the creek.
The Award of Merit is for the sympathetic rehabilitation of a historic building or structure in our nine-county region completed within the past two years. The Free Style Mercantile and Café in Mumford is this year’s recipient. This 1931 commercial building was originally one of three, Tudor Revival-style service stations in Monroe County. Its challenging rehabilitation, as a retail shop and café was completed by Pavilion residents, Deborah and Russell Free, who acquired the long-vacant building, navigated zoning requirements, reinstated public utilities, removed extensive alterations, and restored original features, including the picturesque exterior and decorative stone flooring.
Stewardship Award was presented to Our Lady of Victory/St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Rochester. With official city, state, and federal landmark designation, this historic house of worship has served as an important anchor in the St. Paul/North Clinton area for over 150 years. Over the past two years, the congregation worked with Granada Liturgical Arts of Spain and SWBR Architects of Rochester to develop and complete a renovation of the sanctuary, which included structural repairs, restoration of missing architectural details, new artwork, and painted finishes.
The Historic Landscape Award recognizes and encourages the preservation, restoration, and stewardship of historically significant landscapes in our nine-county region. JoEllen Tufano and Steve Schantz received the award for the early-20th-century “sunken garden” at the corner of St. Paul Boulevard in Irondequoit, originally created as part of the estate developed in the 1910s-20s by art dealer William Bemish and his wife, Georgia, heir to the J.K. Post Drug Company. The garden is a mix of Arts & Crafts and Naturalistic landscape design, with additional whimsical touches. In the 1990s, the current owners began removing years of accumulated debris and underbrush, once again revealing the elaborate terraced gardens that had been largely lost to time. Although the identity of the garden designer has not yet been found, the garden is unique in our region and is one of its best-kept secrets.
The Historic Home Award is given to owners of private residences for their continued care of and commitment to the preservation of an architecturally significant house over a minimum of seven years. Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Reed received the award for the Drescher-Reed Estate on East Avenue in Brighton. The challenging restoration of “Twin Gables,” the original Bausch-Drescher house (1912), designed by Leon Stern, with its neighbor, the Baird House (1915), and the extensive gardens designed by Alling DeForest have been the focus of the current owners for over 15 years.
Paul Malo Award for Community Preservation Advocacy was presented to Dan and Barbara Hoffman who have been preservation advocates in Rochester’s Susan B. Anthony Preservation District for over four decades.
The Special Achievement Award recognizes accomplishments that have occurred over a lengthy period of time. For over four decades, the late Jean Czerkas conducted extensive research on Alling Stephen DeForest, Rochester’s premier, early 20th-century landscape architect, which resulted in a wider awareness of his work and the recognition of his achievements in the National Park Service’s seminal book, Pioneers of American Landscape Design. A former trustee of The Landmark Society, the Rochester Civic Garden Center and the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery, Czerkas also researched many of the “permanent residents” in the cemetery, including Frederick Douglass’ daughter, Rosetta Sprague, discovering previously unknown information about this family. In 2004, Czerkas was appointed to the Rochester and Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission. An intrepid detective, Czerkas, who died in September, devoted her time, talent, and extensive travels to locating important new material about Rochester’s people, places and the built environment.
A Special Citation provides recognition for projects that do not fit into other categories or recognizes outstanding individual or group accomplishments in the field of historic preservation. Three Special Citations were awarded this year.
The first was awarded to the restoration of Guard Tower Cupolas at the New York State Correctional Facility in Attica. This challenging project for the 1930s complex included extensive repairs of and improvements to the iconic prison towers, their roofs, and copper-clad cupolas. The cupolas were thoroughly documented, removed, restored off site, then returned to their highly visible locations, atop the correctional facility towers.
The second was awarded to the Thematic Inventory of the Architecture of James H. Johnson. The landmark study of the Rochester’s iconic, late-20th century architect catalogues his decades-long career. Sponsored by the Greece Historical Society, this project was completed by preservation consultant Gina DiBella, and Bero Architecture PLLC staff, Katie Eggers Comeau and Christopher Brandt, with funding from the Preservation League of New York State, The Landmark Society of Western New York, the Greece Historical Society, and the family of James H. Johnson.
The Greece Historical Society (GHS) received the third Special Citation. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the GHS has been an important preservation advocate in the town. Its major preservation projects include the establishment of a Town Preservation Commission, a Historic Resources Inventory of the town’s 101 most significant properties, and the recently completed “Thematic Inventory of the Architecture of James H. Johnson,” its most ambitious project, to date. In 1988, the Society acquired its present headquarters, the former Larkin-Beattie-Howe House, which was moved to the Town Hall campus where a museum exhibit hall was later added. GHS currently hosts a popular evening lecture series on local history, architecture, and preservation that draws large and enthusiastic audiences each month.
The Landmark Society of Western New York, Inc. is one of the oldest and most active preservation organizations in America. For information about The Landmark Society, visit www.landmarksociety.org.
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