Know A Great Erie County Historic Preservation Project?

Erin Phillips

A scene from 2022's Greater Erie Awards hosted by Mound Grove Golf Course, who was also an awardee for their stewardship of their family's heritage property in Waterford. If you know of a great historic preservation project within Erie County, nominate them for a Greater Erie Award before the deadline on Friday, July 7.

The Board of Directors at Preservation Erie, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the historic built environment and character of Erie, is gearing up for their 11th annual Greater Erie Awards. These awards are presented each year "to individuals, businesses, or organizations that are exceptional stewards of the physical and cultural landscape that is Greater Erie." 

The Greater Erie Awards are presented to a variety of honorees – from a smaller scale, grassroots preservation projects (for example, one of last year's awardees Full Circle Winery in Girard, who has restored and adaptively reused the former Battles Bank building for their winery and bar), or a large-scale, city-wide restoration with many moving parts (like 2021's recipient, the Historic Erie Preservation Trust and Tom Hagen for their multi-million dollar restorations along West Sixth Street and State Street). Awards are also given for outstanding educational efforts (like last year's recipient Hurry Hill Farm and Maple Syrup Museum, for their efforts to preserve the region's maple heritage through educational programming). 

Preservation Erie Board President Melinda Meyer comments, "So often, the loss of local history and meaningful places makes headlines (as it should). The Greater Erie Awards are an opportunity to spotlight the hard work and dedication to preservation happening across the county by individual property owners, businesses, organizations, and even local governments. It's a celebration of those who care for buildings, landscapes, and other resources for the benefit of the whole community."

But the Board of Directors' reach can only extend so far, so they are calling upon the community to be their eyes throughout the city and county and nominate any structure, project, or educational effort that might be worthy. There are a few criteria, but anyone with an idea in mind should feel free to nominate. 

There are four categories for which a person, place, building, or educational program can be nominated:

1. Preservation Excellence, which includes buildings or spaces that are at least 50 years old, which have been conserved and stabilized in a manner that honors the individual property (think previous winners of this award like the Warner Theatre, PACA, and HANDS).
2. Adaptive Reuse, which could include a building or space that is at least 50 years old, that has been renovated "to allow a thoughtful or community-enhancing reuse that respects the historic character of the site" (think previous winners of this award like The Shop at 19th and Chestnut, the E-CAT building, and Ruiz Barber Shop).
3. Design Excellence, which includes newer structures that have been thoughtfully considered to fit into the existing historic landscape or buildings that use Green Energy best practices (think of a previous winner of this award like Velocity Network, Inc.)
4. Education and Advocacy, which acknowledges the work of local creators, educators, writers or other non-building related entities who help to raise awareness of historic preservation (think previous winners like Parker Beardsley, a local Eagle Scout whose project involved cleaning and restoring gravestones in North East, or Impact Corry for their work in adding the Corry Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places).

If you know of a great preservation project that deserves recognition, the folks at Preservation Erie would love to hear from you. Follow this link to fill out the form on their website. The nomination deadline has been extended to this Friday, July 7. The Greater Erie Awards ceremony is scheduled for mid-September and will include a dinner reception with a keynote speaker along with a presentation of all of the projects for which honorees will be awarded and will sure to be a night of great celebration of all those who care about preserving Erie's historic heritage. 

Erin Phillips is the secretary of the Board of Directors for Preservation Erie. She can be reached at erin@eriereader.com