Outstanding Restoration Projects To Receive New York Landmarks Conservancy's 2017 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award

The New York Landmarks Conservancy has announced the winners of the 2017 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards. Met Breuer, Park Avenue Armory and Ziehl/Starr Residence on the Upper East Side are among the projects that will be recognized at the May 11, 2017 Ceremony at The New York Public Library in Manhattan.

The Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards are the Conservancy’s highest honors for excellence in preservation. The coveted awards are named for Lucy G. Moses, a dedicated New Yorker whose generosity benefited the City for more than 50 years. The Awards recognize individual leadership and extraordinary preservation work. This work provides jobs, promotes tourism, maintains beloved institutions and protects the character of the City. The Conservancy is grateful for the support of the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, which makes the Awards possible.

“The Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards are a joyous celebration of the broad range of preservation projects in New York each year. They spotlight the City’s history and culture, as well as the economic vitality preservation provides,” said Peg Breen, President of The New York Landmarks Conservancy.

Met Breuer

A 2017 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award honors Met Breuer. Marcel Breuer's iconic 1966 building designed for the Whitney Museum has been restored and adapted as the Met Breuer, a new home for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's modern and contemporary art program, located at 945 Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

This once-controversial Brutalist edifice has now become an important part of its Upper East Side neighborhood. Now, nearly five decades later, it has undergone a rehabilitation that celebrates Breuer’s design intentions. The scope of work, from architects Beyer Blinder Belle, preserved the authentic patina of aging materials and the building's evolution. Signature attributes including concrete walls, bluestone floors, bronze fixtures, wood handrails, and lighting have been restored; and inappropriate or obsolete interventions removed.

To complement the restored interiors, a number of discreet new elements, all inspired by Breuer’s use of sculptural forms and natural materials, are integrated throughout the building, establishing the Met’s presence and introducing a contemporary tone. To accommodate a large number of visitors, planning for the lobby focused on enhancing both circulation and the visitor experience. Retail has been minimized and visitors are provided with free access throughout the lobby and lower level. Behind the galleries, interior systems were upgraded for museum use.

Park Avenue Armory

A 2017 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award honors the Park Avenue Armory. The re-opening of the elegant Veterans’ Room marks a milestone in the dramatic reclamation of the Park Avenue Armory, located at 643 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The 1861 Armory was built by the National Guard’s Seventh Regiment. Called the “Silk Stocking” regiment, it included prominent New Yorkers such as Vanderbilts, Van Rensselaers, Roosevelts, Livingstons and Harrimans. Built as a military facility and social club, the Armory’s reception rooms were designed by well-known artisans and architects.

Once nearly given up, the Armory is now a revitalized programming and arts space, which still houses a women’s’ shelter. The totality of this project is being honored, including work on the façade, Drill Hall, and other period rooms and the leadership of Rebecca Robertson and the Thompson family, who carry on the legacy of the late Wade Thompson.

The latest revelation is the Veterans’ Room. Associated Artists, a collaborative formed by Stanford White, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Candace Wheeler, designed the room in 1881. Decorative elements praise the age of chivalry with references to Celtic, Moorish and Japanese motifs. Heavy iron light fixtures and chainmail decorations are counterbalanced by the glow of turquoise Tiffany tiles at the fireplace, and magnificent leaded-glass window screens. Platt Byard Dovell White Architects was Architect of Record and Preservation Architect, collaborating with Herzog de Meuron, as Design Architects, for the restoration and renovation. Earlier, detrimental interventions have been replaced with treatments that respect the original design intent but recognize the contemporary nature of the room, which has been transformed into a state-of-the-art performance/recital space.

Ziehl/Starr Residence

A 2017 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award honors the Ziehl/Starr Residence. After the owners of this neo-Grec brownstone purchased it in 2013, they observed the results of a nearby façade restoration, and realized that their own house was in need of improvement. Their brownstone, in the Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District, on the Upper East Side, Manhattan, dates to 1878, but decades of alterations had stripped away original ornamentation, defining details, and historic character.

The building was one of a group of nine three-story-plus-cellar rowhouses designed by architect F.S Barus, but it bore little resemblance to historic photographs or other, more intact houses from the group. The façade was devoid of all decorative features and completely covered in stucco. .. Bringing the house back to its original appearance meant applying a new brownstone mortar that would replicate the historic texture, color, profile, and ornamental details.

RAND Engineering & Architecture, DPC designed and guided a scope of work that included the addition of historically accurate door enframements, window headers and sills, decorative paneling, and flower rondels. The grand stoop features a balustered railing with newel posts; and new window grilles and fencing grace the areaway. A handsome double-leaf door completes the project, setting a new standard on this block.

New York Landmarks Conservancy

The 2017 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards project recipients also include: 5 Beekman Hotel and Residences; Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion; Lenox Health Greenwich Village; Montauk Club in Brooklyn; The New York Public Library Rose Reading Room & Bill Blass Catalog Room and Gottesman Hall; Randolph Houses Phase 1; Residences at PS 186; St. Thomas Church and Parish House, and South Street Seaport Museum’s Wavertree. Ruth Pierpont, former Director of the New York State Historic Preservation Office, will receive the Preservation Leadership Award given to an outstanding individual in the field of historic preservation. Preservation Public Leadership Awards will be presented to The Honorable Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President, and The Honorable Daniel R. Garodnick, New York City Council Member, 4th District, and The Episcopal Diocese of New York Property Support Program will receive the Preservation Organization Award.

The New York Landmarks Conservancy has led the effort to preserve and protect New York City’s architectural legacy for over 40 years. Since its founding, the Conservancy has loaned and granted more than $50 million, which has leveraged more than $1 billion in 1,550 restoration projects throughout New York, revitalizing communities, providing economic stimulus and supporting local jobs. The Conservancy has also offered countless hours of pro bono technical advice to building owners, both nonprofit organizations and individuals. The Conservancy’s work has saved more than a thousand buildings across the City and State, protecting New York’s distinctive architectural heritage for residents and visitors alike today, and for future generations. For more information, please visit www.nylandmarks.org.

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Photo Credit

• Met Breuer, Photo Credit: Peter Aaron/OTTO
• Park Avenue Armory Veterans’ Room, Photo Credit: James Ewing
• Ziehl/Starr Residence, Photo Credit: RAND Engineering & Architecture, DPC