Preservation Awards
Charlie Hewitt and Tom Watts
Excellence in Preservation Award
For restoration of the Bath House, 5-11 Coles Street. The circa 1903 Rennaisance Revival building served as the city's first public bath house for the growing Italian immigrant community.
The craftsmanship involved in this carefully
carried out restoration is evident in the brick and limestone facade, which has
been gently cleaned and properly re-mortared; and in the double-pane glass windows
and iron railings that grace the front and return the long-abandoned building to
its former glory. Inglese Architecture and Engineering, Architect of Record
Donahoe Brothers, Inc., General Contractor.
Joe and Ben LoPiccolo, Mushroom Development LLC
Excellence in Preservation Award
For restoration of 336 8th Street in Jersey City's, Hamilton Park Historic District. The developers, working with the office of the, Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission, turned this mid-19th century Italianate, row house into a signature corner property. The eye-popping result: a splendidly, restored clapboard structure coated in shades of yellow and gold.
Dennis Doran
Excellence in Preservation Award
For 55 Summit Avenue, a multi-story 19th century Victorian dwelling
in Jersey City's Bergen Hill district. In 2005 the house, which sits atop a grassy
elevation, suffered serious damage and defacement in a raging inferno. At the owner's
own expense, the double-turreted facade, columned porch and sloped roof were impeccably restored using replicated materials and accurate colors schemes. Using photographs, the once-scorched exterior was brought back despite doubts and insurmountable odds.
Thomas Fleming: Mysteries of My Father - An Irish-American Memoir
J. Owen Grundy History Award
Acclaimed historian and writer Thomas Fleming writes a compelling work of non-fiction that captures his Irish-American family history as it takes root in the Lafayette section of the city and swells into prominence on the steps of City Hall. The memoir, we soon learn however, is also a panoramic portrait of Democratic Machine politics in Jersey City. Mayor Frank Hague looms as large as the book's protagonist, Teddy Fleming--and in fact it is a personal gift from Hague to Teddy that reappears decades after both have died, in a distant forest, setting off a series of events leading up to the book itself.
Sam Pesin and Friends of Liberty State Park
Theodore Conrad Preservationist Award
Sam Pesin and The Friends of Liberty State Park have demonstrated their passion and commitment to what has become the country's most visited urban oasis: Liberty State Park, just east of the Lafayette neighborhood. Under the group's tireless watch, the green open space has been saved time and again from commercial and state sponsored development projects that would have encroached upon historic resources within its perimeters (the majestic Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, the cobbled bed of Audrey Zapp Drive, and the Morris Canal) and ruined unobstructed views of Ellis and Liberty islands.
Grace Lutheran Church
Preservation Initiative Award
Since 2003, the parish--housed in a Gothic and Old English chapel designed in 1904 by Jersey City architect Robert Morrison--has taken the initiative to form an active preservation committee that has sought landmark designation on the municipal, state and federal levels by hiring professional architectural consultants; established sold-out designation drives and a mail-in restoration endowment fund, raising enough money to completely restore the church's original Mudler-Hunter pipe organ; repaired a leaking roof, thereby preventing further damage to original timber and tin cielings; and self-published "Stained Glass Windows of Grace Lutheran Church," a walking tour guide that celebrates its collection of J & R Lamb Studios windows.
Reverend Robert Castle
Living Legend Award
During the 1960s, Reverent Robert Castle served as pastor of St. John's Episcopal Church in the Bergen Hill Section of New Jersey. Reverend Castle beared witness to the civil rights era that had highlights such as the great civil rights marches for racial equality, and also less glorious moments such as the urban race riots. Reverend Castle was able to lead this congregation through this time of change, and recognized that his church would have to minister not only to the traditional groups that had long attended the church, but to the growing minority community, in particular the African-American community, in Jersey City. He also realized that as pastor, he had to serve the community beyond the confines of the church itself. Reverend Castle became an outspoken and prominent activist, demanding dignity and equality for the poor and for racial minorities.