This Thursday the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy is holding their annual Preservation Awards Ceremony where they honor local companies and individuals for their role in historic preservation.
The event is Thursday, May 26th, 6-9 PM at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Journal Square.
Tickets are $35 and include: buffet dinner, beer, wine, coffee and dessert, slideshow and a tour of the theatre. Buy tickets here: 16th Annual Preservation Awards Ceremony tickets or at the door.
—
More details from their press release:
Sponsored by JCLC and Friends of the Loew’s. Join JCLC and FOL for its 16th year of recognizing local heroes of historic preservation – from bricks and mortar restoration to grassroots advocacy. $35 per ticket; includes buffet dinner, beer, wine, coffee and dessert, slideshow and a tour of the theatre. Purchase tickets via by clicking: http://bpt.me/2551188 or at the door. Take the PATH to Journal Square. Paid parking at Square Ramp Parking behind the theatre. Enter from Magnolia Avenue (via Tonnelle Avenue)
Excellence in Preservation Awards
This award recognizes the recent restoration, rehabilitation, or adaptive reuse, of a building, structure, or object which exemplifies a high regard for the resource’s historical integrity.
Jennifer Brown and Joseph Licavoli, for the meticulous work done over many years on 103 Fairview Avenue, a brightly-colored turn-of-the-century wood-framed Victorian house in the newly-established West Bergen-East Lincoln Historic District.
Christopher Columbus Drive LLC for the adaptive reuse of The Vito A. Lofts, 190 Christopher Columbus Drive, entailing the sensitive exterior restoration of a circa-1870 Industrial Romanesque Revival warehouse along the former Railroad Avenue. The building’s original brick fabric has been repointed across the entire front facade, rounded windows have been retained, and the intricate corbeling at the parapet level has been completely restored. We note that the building stands outside the adjacent Van Vorst Park Historic District; hence, the developers were not required to follow preservation guidelines. In this case, restoration was the guiding force behind the renewal of the largely disused edifice. Also recognizing: William Severino, architect of record and Harry Seymour, general contractor.
Dixon Leasing for the creative and careful restoration of the carriage house at 237B Montgomery Street. The original carriage door opening was restored with custom mahogany doors in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood’s architectural features but also adding detail that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Also recognizing: Nelson Benavides, architect of record and Coastal Points Construction, general contractor.
Bryant Bradshaw for the sensitive restoration of 113 Erie Street. Also recognizing Donahoe Brothers, general contractors.
Jersey City Legend Award
This award is given to a person who, through his or her life, has made a significant contribution to Jersey City’s culture, history, and identity.
Stan Krause is a Jersey City institution. As the owner and proprietor of Stan’s Square Records, since the early 1960s he has crossed paths with local acapella, rhythm and blues, soul, and doo wop groups. He was a producer of prominent, or soon-to-be prominent, groups including The Juliets and The Persuasions. His West Bergen Avenue store, a time capsule offering rare vinyl, eight track and cassette formats, is still operating and adorned with photos of famous musicians he knew and still knows. Stan is a walking encyclopedia of music and he continues to produce. He is a small business owner who knows, seemingly, everyone in Jersey City. He can spin yarns of a lost Jersey City, making the past relevant to the present day. Editors note: Stan sadly passed away on Friday at the age of 74.
J. Owen Grundy History Award
Named after the city’s late historian, this award recognizes work that chronicles, through a written or visual medium, the history of Jersey City.
Ron Semple will be honored for Black Tom: Terror on the Hudson, a tale of sabotage, subterfuge and political shenanigans set in Jersey City circa 1915. The book relates the German effort to blow up the world’s largest munitions depot–Black Tom, in Jersey City. Semple tells the stories of Jersey City’s immigrant groups and ambitious politicians and he vividly bring the city to life: dire conditions in the cold-water flats in the Horseshoe neighborhood; customs of the lace-curtain Irish in the Heights; intermarriage of the children of German, Irish and Italian immigrants; quotidian pastimes such as courting, working, and church on Sundays–and Jersey City history would not be complete without the rise of politician Frank Hague.
Ron Semple is a fifth-generation Jersey City native descended from Irish, Scottish, and Italian immigrants. He was educated at St. Peter’s Preparatory School and St. Peter’s College in Jersey City and Loyola University in New Orleans. After military service with the Marine Corps, he reported for the Hudson Dispatch, a morning newspaper headquartered in Union City and distributed throughout Hudson County. He also worked as a reporter for the Jersey Journal. At the age of 27 he was promoted to city editor. In 1965 he left Jersey City to travel and write. He was inspired to write this book after seeing an historic plaque in Liberty State Park commemorating the Black Tom explosion. 2016 is the centennial of the explosion.
Preservation Initiative
This award recognizes the extraordinary efforts of an individual or organization in promoting the protection of an historic resource.
To the West Bergen-Lincoln Park Neighborhood Coalition, Charlene Burke; and the West Side Community Alliance, Jodi Drennan, for the coalition effort to create the West Bergen-East Lincoln Park Historic District.
Theodore Conrad Preservationist Award
Named after the city’s late influential preservationist this award recognizes local grassroots groups and their historic preservation efforts.
To the Coalition to Save Liberty State Park
Sam Pesin, president, Friends of Liberty State Park
Greg Remaud, deputy director, NY/NJ Baykeeper
Under these groups’ tireless watch, the green, open space of Liberty State Park has been saved time and again from commercial, governmental, 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– as well as ruined the clear and magnificent views of Ellis and Liberty Islands.
Preservation Month Sponsors
Lord Abbett; Dixon Leasing; Zakalak Restoration Arts;Hopkins Group, LLC; Panepinto Properties; Mack-Cali; Christie Engineering; Building and Land Technology (BLT).
Awards Ceremony Food & Drink Sponsors: Komegashi; New Jersey Beer Company; Monteleone Bakery
[gmap height=”250px”]54 Journal Square Plaza, Jersey City, NJ 07306[/gmap]
Loew’s Theater – 54 Journal Square Plaza, Jersey City, NJ 07306
