33rd Annual Preservation Awards Ceremony

April 24, 2010 - Milledgeville - The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation presented 19 awards recognizing the best of preservation in Georgia during its 33rd annual Preservation Awards ceremony in Rome earlier this month. The HealthSciencesBuilding and ParksMemorialBuilding at GeorgiaCollege and StateUniversity was recognized for “Excellence in Rehabilitation” during the ceremonies.

The project, which was celebrated with a ribbon cutting last October, included the remodeling of the existing HealthScienceBuilding and the ParksNursingBuilding and a 63,190-square-foot expansion.

Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission provided project and construction management on the $8.7 million project, which renovated a historic building into an instructional building with specialty labs, classrooms and faculty offices for nursing, music therapy and kinesiology students.

Students enter the recently renovated building through the beautiful facade of the main entrance. “The outside facade is very much historically accurate, and that is important to the goals of our campus,” said Sandra Gangstead, Dean of the College of Health Sciences.

To preserve the historic integrity of the 73-year-old building the windows received special treatment. “The original windows were transported offsite for refurbishment and brought back and reinstalled,” said Mark Bowen, GeorgiaCollege project manager.

The project, completed last spring, unites the health sciences programs. Widened corridors and updated classrooms better meet the needs of the health sciences programs and their students. 

Construction workers removed the first-floor pool and excavated the space creating a second floor. Double doors open into a nursing lab complete with a nurses’ station and 30 hospital beds. Music therapy offices and classrooms have replaced outdated locker rooms. Wide corridors have replaced the former second floor maze. And the third floor’s former gymnasium has been incorporated into the current design. The original hardwood flooring has been repaired and maintained to provide a welcome contrast to the carpeted first two floors.

Faculty offices on the third floor provide students easy access to professors and room for the programs to expand. Additional administrative and faculty offices are located in sister building Parks Memorial Hall, also newly renovated.

Beveled glass on faculty doors and transoms at the top of doors keep the feel of the original history in Parks Memorial Hall. Originally the infirmary of the college, the building now offers health sciences spaces.

Other Preservation Awards

The Dunlevie House in Allenhurst, Ga. received the Marguerite Williams Award, presented annually to the project that has had the greatest impact on preservation in the state. The vernacular style house also received an award in the Excellence in Rehabilitation category.

Through a partnership between the D.C. Miller Trust and the Georgia Land Trust, the Dunlevie House was rehabilitated into the Jan and Dennis A. Waters, Jr. Family Education and WelcomingCenter, where the house and surrounding 1,500 acres of protected wetlands and wildlife area, are used as an educational and nature center.  The site hosts local church groups, garden clubs, environmental programs, and 4-H groups.

The Trust also presented five awards for Excellence in Restoration, ten awards for Excellence in Rehabilitation, and two for Preservation Service.

The Trust also presented the Camille W. Yow Volunteer of the Year Award to Susan Starr; and the Mary Gregory Jewett Award for Lifetime Preservation Service was given posthumously to architect Lane Greene.

The Excellence in Restoration winners were the Ossabaw Island Boarding House, DeSoto Theatre in Rome, Arnold Hall in Savannah, the Andrew Low House in Savannah, and Grady Hospital's Goddard Chapel in Atlanta.

Other Excellence in Rehabilitation winners were: Dunlevie House, Allenhurst; Plumfield, Columbus; Madison Town Park Cottage, Madison; MLK, Jr. Federal Building, Atlanta; Bartow County Courthouse, Cartersville; Brawner Hall, Smyrna; Newnan Carnegie Library, Newnan; Oglethorpe School at Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta; and the Smith-Benning House, Atlanta.

Michael Purser of the Rosebud Company was recognized with a Preservation Service Award for his lifelong dedication to restoring historic wood floors in buildings and residences throughout Georgia.

A collaborative effort between New South Associates, the Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Natural Resources, the Georgia Transmission Corporation, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and several architectural consulting firms was recognized with a Preservation Service Award for the publication "The Ranch House in Georgia: Guidelines for Evaluation," a guide that recognizes the Ranch House in Georgia as a significant architectural style and provides guidelines for determining it's eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places.

"This year's winners represent a tremendous dedication to restoring and revitalizing Georgia's historic buildings and communities," said Mark C. McDonald, president of The Georgia Trust.  "We are proud to honor such deserving projects and individuals."

For more than 30 years, the Trust has recognized preservation projects and individuals in the state who have made significant contributions to the field of historic preservation. Awards are presented on the basis of the contributions of the person or project to the community and/or state and on compliance to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

GSFIC Construction Management Team

• Project Manager – Andrew Morton
• Project Executive – Ann Littlejohn
• Contract Compliance Specialist – Chris Bell
• Regional Quality Assurance Manager – Don Centers
• Design Manager – Ronald Kern