Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH), the historic preservation organization for the region, has opened nominations for its 2017 Preservation Awards. For over 20 years, these annual awards have recognized sensitive restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of historic structures, as well as individuals who have promoted historic preservation and community revitalization consistent with AARCH’s mission.
Projects of all sizes and scopes are eligible for consideration. The deadline for nominations is July 1, 2017. A celebration of the 2017 award winners will be on September 18, 2017, at a farm-to-table luncheon at the Nettle Meadow Farm, a 2016 AARCH Presevation Award recipient in the town of Thurman near Warrensburg. Continue reading
Of all the world’s cities, perhaps none is so defined by its Art Deco architecture as New York. Anthony W. Robins’ new book New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham’s Jazz Age Architecture (SUNY Press, 2017) leads readers step-by-step past the monuments of the 1920s and 30s that recast New York as the world’s modern metropolis.
The site of New York State’s oldest surviving theater, the Hudson Opera House has completed the final phase of a major restoration project begun in April of 2016. The re-opening of the historic theater is accompanied by a name change: the Hudson Opera House will be renamed Henry Hudson Hall. 
“It is the sense of the council that the standing of this city as a worldwide tourist center and world capital of business, culture and government cannot be maintained or enhanced by disregarding the historical and architectural heritage of the city and by countenancing the destruction of such cultural assets.” – New York City Council, April 6, 1965 
Though Olive Tjaden’s name is not known to most Long Islanders today, a mayor of Garden City in the 1930s reportedly suggested that the community be renamed Tjaden City, because she designed so many houses in the village.
A standard in the field since its publication in 1992, A History of Housing in New York City traces New York’s housing development from 1850 to the present in text and profuse illustrations.
The Brentwood Historical Society has made the preservation of the Modern Times School in Brentwood, Suffolk County, Long Island the primary mission of the group for the past five years.
The Copake Iron Works historic site in Taconic State Park has been designated a Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Site.
National Parks of New York Harbor’s Gateway National Recreation Area has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to lease Jacob Riis Beach facilities for adaptive reuse.