Leaders from the building and design industry recently gathered at the historic Peterloon Estate in Indian Hill to celebrate greatness in local architectural preservation efforts.
Hosted by Cincinnati Preservation, the annual Preservation Awards recognize excellence in historic construction work over the past year in nine categories ranging from sustainability to community impact.
Winners ranged from large architecture firms and institutions like University of Cincinnati to small woman-owned companies and individuals viewed as champions of preservation. They are all ensuring our collective history remains intact, inhabited and a celebrated part of our community’s future, noted Beth Johnson, the organization’s executive director.
“As the go-to resource for all things preservation, it’s important that Cincinnati Preservation recognizes outstanding accomplishments in historic preservation-happening right now-across Greater Cincinnati,” she continued.
Preserving ‘Excellence’ in Greater Cincinnati
Among the prizes handed out during the ceremony in May were the Preservation Excellence Awards, which focused on the successes of individual historic renovation projects.
MSP Design took home the Perseverance Excellence Award in Adaptive Reuse for its Probasco Auditorium project in the Clifton neighborhood. Cincinnati Preservation celebrated the design team’s ability to reimagine the historic Second Church of Christ Scientist site into a modern lecture hall for use by the University of Cincinnati.
The team “showed great restraint” in preserving the building’s original 1921 architecture, including the Greek Revival-style elements, Cincinnati Preservation noted in its awards brochure. Instead of extensive new construction, the project focused on repurposing existing spaces efficiently.
The Preservation Excellence Award in New Construction went to Orleans Development for its innovative Deagan Square concept in Covington. The mixed-use development brought life to the Pike Street Historic District by adding two apartment buildings and a beautified landscape to an adjacent existing structure from the 1930s.
Overall, the project added or updated a total of 25 residential apartments and a commercial storefront.
“Choosing a row house design helped to blend the building into a block with several zero-lot line buildings while having a modern steel awning with a bold colored front door added a modern sensibility to the façade,” Cincinnati Preservation wrote of the project.
In the Education category, Cincinnati Preservation honored the Covington Academy of Heritage Trades, a partnership between the city of Covington and Enzweiler Building Institute. The initiative invites local students to work side-by-side with skilled craftspeople on projects such as historic renovations.
A investment in buildings, neighborhoods
The other Perseverance Excellence Award winners were:
- Sustainability: Pepper Construction headquarters (Lockland) by emersion design
- Commercial Projects: Aglamesis Bro’s (Oakley) by RWA Architects
- Residential Projects: The Wedge Haus (Kennedy Heights) by Revival Designs
“This was an incredible event for anyone with even the faintest interest in architecture, the renovation of old buildings or preservation,” said Nicole Nichols of Revival Designs. She described it as “intoxicating” to be around so many talented professionals and activists who “care so deeply about their craft and the preservation of the architectural landscape in and around the Queen City.”
Nichols was responsible for bringing a Kennedy Heights home – playfully known as the Wedge Haus due to its exterior appearance – back to life. The ranch-style dwelling had fallen into a state of disrepair following the death of Cleota Wilbekins in 2017. Her late husband, Harvey, designed the home.
Beyond the renovation work, the Revival Designs project brought much needed energy into a pocket of Kennedy Heights that had lacked investment and improvements for a long time. Nichols said a goal was to fetch a resale price that would encourage other homeowners and investors to take on distressed homes in this area.
“I’m so incredibly proud of this project and grateful I was able to save it and preserve its architectural integrity,” Nichols said.
Working to preserve history, invest in community
Johnson described it as Cincinnati Preservation’s mission to empower and educate people about the value of preserving and saving Greater Cincinnati’s historic buildings, communities, landscapes and stories. The Preservation Awards are one way the nonprofit organization can highlight that by lifting up the people who are actively saving historic buildings at a high-quality level.
As such, Cincinnati Preservation also recognized several individuals and projects for their respective impact on local historic conservation efforts.
The Volunteer Award went to Chris Hanlin, a retired architect, for his work on CPA’s History of Black Sites and Underrepresented Communities Committee. The Impact Award went to Arcx Studio for its work on College Hill’s Mergard Lanes, a former community bowling alley constructed in 1930 in the Art Deco style. The multi-story building – vacant for many years before the renovation – is now home to 14 new affordable apartments and office space for the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation in the heart of the Hamilton Avenue Business District.
This year, Cincinnati Preservation also recognized what it called a “Preservation Champion” to Craig Niemi, the former executive director of the Cincinnati Observatory and its current facilities and collections manager. During his more than 20 years on staff tenure, he has focused on the maintenance of this National Historic Landmark in a manner consistent with the history and best practices.
As president of the Museum and Historic Sites group, Niemi has worked to ensure the Observatory will be part of the state’s year-long Ohio 250 bicentennial celebration.
Photos and information about the award-winning projects are available on the Cincinnati Preservation website.
“The impressive reach of this year’s winners, and nominees, goes to show how active our region is in preservation nationwide,” Johnson said.
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