12 landmarks to be honored Oct. 6

The Boston Preservation Alliance will recognize a dozen properties at its annual achievement awards ceremony, to be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, at the Paramount Center, 550 Washington St.

The awards are as varied as the properties, which include recreational and cultural spaces, iconic monuments, rehabilitated and restored industrial buildings and residential or mixed-use developments.

The alliance, a 33-year-old non-profit organization, makes these awards to celebrate the positive impact historic preservation has in the city, preserving Boston’s architectural heritage.

The Modern Theatre

Just two of the award recipients have a residential component. Atlantic Wharf, the city’s first green skyscraper, will be recognized in the category of integration of preservation and new construction.

Developed by Boston Properties, the 31-story tower at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Congress Street comprises retail space, offices and apartments. The original limestone and cast iron storefronts were preserved, and a seven-story glass atrium between the Russia and Graphic Arts buildings was created to serve as an entry to the development.

At the edge of the Neponset River is the Watermill Lofts in Dorchester Lower Mills, developed by Winn Development.

Comprising 17 luxury lofts, this mill building was the last to be redeveloped within the Baker Chocolate complex. The project will be recognized for rehabilitating an historic industrial space.

Watermill Lofts

The Metropolitan Waterworks Museum, developed by E.A. Fish as part of the four-building condominium development of the former Chestnut Hill Waterworks, will be given an award for the rehabilitation of an historic industrial space.

The high service pumping station, designed by Arthur Vinal and built in 1888, houses the museum along with three massive steam engines. The museum depicts the story of one of the country’s first metropolitan water systems.

Also receiving this award will be the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School, located at 1415 Hyde Park Ave. in Hyde Park. The school campus once was the foundry and warehouses of the former American Tool & Manufacturing Company, built between 1889 and 1923.

It was revamped for the school, which had been housed in a former office building at 250 Stuart St., just outside Park Square. The school now has larger classrooms, a library, a gymnasium, cafeteria and playing grounds.

Ninety Smith Street - Basilica Court will receive a neighborhood preservation award.

Atlantic Wharf

The building, redeveloped by Weston Associates, was the Mission School that had been vacant for many years. 

Built of Roxbury puddingstone and red brick in 1889, its exterior was completely restored to reflect its historic character while the interior was transformed to office space for the Harvard School of Public Health. Material was salvaged from another building in the Mission Church complex for this project.

From secular to sacred, the alliance turned its attention to a restoration project at the Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church in West Roxbury, where the church restored five its precious Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows.

Altogether the church has seven Tiffany windows, which represent all the major periods of his designs and workmanship.

The “Landscape Triptych” and two flanking jewel medallion windows, designed for the church by Agnes Northrup, were returned to their original glory, in time for the congregation’s 300th anniversary next year.

Jack Cushen of Studio Restorations Inc., along with Julie L. Sloan, stained glass conservator, undertook the work to reinforce the joints, replace mortar and add protective glazing.

Tiffany windows

Two iconic city monuments will receive awards in different categories. The Jamaica Plain Civil War Monument at the intersection of Centre and South streets will receive an award for the extensive conservation efforts of an historic neighborhood landmark.

Designed by W.W. Lumis and erected in 1871, the marble and granite monument honors Civil War heroes and mortally wounded soldiers from West Roxbury (Jamaica Plain was part of West Roxbury until 1874). Daedalus Inc. worked with the city’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events and the Boston Art Commission to complete the work.

The other monument is the Brewer Fountain on Boston Common, near Park and Tremont streets. Its award is in the category of rehabilitation by a public agency. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department and the Friends of the Public Garden spearheaded the project.

The bronze fountain was completely restored along with the granite elements, and a modern fountain system was installed.

Boston merchant Gardner Brewer purchased the fountain in 1868; it was cast from a fountain displayed earlier at the Paris Exposition.

“New parkland added to Boston’s open space” is a category that is recognizing the Fan Pier Public Green, a former parking lot.

The Brewer Fountain

Created by the Fallon Company, the greenspace will provide an open view amid offices, research and development buildings, residences and hotels when the 21-acre waterfront site is completed.

The Georges Island Visitor Center will be honored for its rehabilitation and restoration of a landmark that is important to Boston’s maritime heritage.

One of the 34 Boston Harbor Islands, Georges Island is the site of the five-sided Fort Warren, built between 1833 and 1869, which defended the harbor from the Civil War through World War II.

At water’s edge, an old mine storage building was refurbished for a visitor center and a new shade shelter was added next to it. The facility provides an interpretation of the history of the fort and the island.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Boston Harbor Island Alliance partnered to fund the work.

Another building with rich history is the Modern Theatre on Washington Street, which will be recognized in the category of integration of preservation and new construction.

Designed in 1876 by Levi Newcomb, it was a carpet warehouse before Clarence Blackall added its marble façade and converted the building in 1913 into a movie theater. By 1920, it became the first movie house to show “talkies.”

It closed its doors in 1981, but after Suffolk University acquired it in 2008, the building was extensively renovated for a state-of-the-art theater and the construction of new student housing on the top 10 floors.

Lastly, the striking addition to the Museum of Fine Arts, designed by Foster + Partners, will be honored for new construction in harmony with Boston’s built environment.

First located in Copley Square in 1876, the museum moved to Huntington Avenue in 1909 in a Beaux Arts building. The modern glass and granite addition, which houses the Art of the Americas Wing, comprises more than 50 new galleries, a new auditorium, classrooms and offices.

The granite is from Deer Isle, which is the same stone as in the older building.

Tickets for sale

Tickets to the award ceremony are $50 each and may be obtained by visiting www.bostonpreservation.org or by calling Christine Piontek, membership and programs manager at 617-367-2458 or sending an email to cpiontek@bostonpreservation.org.

PhoBOpresTHEATER_0910

A $42 million renovation and construction project of the Modern Theater at 525 Washington St. by Suffolk University will be recognized by the Boston Preservation Alliance Oct. 6. See page 18.

COURTESY PHOTO / PETER VANDERWERKER

PhoBOpresATLWF_0910

The $550 million mixed-use development at Atlantic Wharf at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Congress Street will be honored for integrating preservation with new construction.

COURTESY PHOTO / ANTON GRASSL / ESTO

PhoBOpresMILL_0910

An award for rehabilitation of an historic industrial space will be given to Winn Development, led by the Architectural Team Inc., which created 17 luxury lofts at Watermill Lofts, the last remaining mill building at the Baker Chocolate complex on the Neponset River.

COURTESY PHOTO / ANDY RYAN

PhoBOpresWATERWK_0910

The Metropolitan Waterworks Museum, developed by E.A. Fish and led by Gund Partnership and Building Conservation Associates, will be recognized in the category of rehabilitation of an historic industrial space. The building was part of the Chestnut Hill waterworks complex, which was redeveloped for luxury housing.

COURTESY PHOTO / LINDA ROSENTHAL AND THE WATERWORKS MUSEUM

PhoBOpresWIND_0910

The restoration of five Tiffany stained glass windows at the Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church in West Roxbury will be honored in the category of rehabilitation/restoration of a religious property. “The Landscape Triptych,” along with two jewel medallion, was especially designed by Agnes Northrup for the church.

COURTESY PHOTO / JULIE SLOAN

PhoBOpresBREWER_0910

The Brewer Fountain on Boston Common will receive an award for rehabilitation by a public agency. The restoration project included installing new plumbing for the fountain system. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department and the Friends of the Public Garden spearheaded the project.

COURTESY PHOTO / BOSTON PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT

PhoBOpresJPmonu_0910

The Jamaica Plain Civil War Monument will receive an award for the extensive conservation undertaken in this historic neighborhood landmark.

COURTESY PHOTO / BOSTON ART COMMISSION

PhoBOpresGEOISL_0910

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation will receive an award for rehabilitating the mine storage building on Georges Island, which will serve as a visitor center with displays documenting the island and Fort Warren’s history. A shade shelter also was constructed.

COURTESY PHOTO / CHRISTOPHER RIPMAN

PhoBOpresFANPIER_0910

The new 1.5-acre Fan Pier Public Green, developed by the Fallon Company, will be recognized as “new parkland added to the city’s open space.”

COURTESY PHOTO / RICHARD BURCK ASSOCIATES

PhoBOpresRENAIS_0910

The Boston Renaissance Charter Public School will be honored in the category of rehabilitation of an historic industrial space. The Hyde Park campus comprises the foundry and warehouses of the former American Tool & Manufacturing Company, which was built between 1889 and 1923.

COURTESY PHOTO / ANTON GRASSL / ESTO

PhoBOpres90SMITH_0910

The vacant Mission School at 90 Smith St. in Mission Hill, constructed of Roxbury puddingstone and red brick, has been converted to office space for the Harvard School of Public Health. It will receive an award for neighborhood preservation.

COURTESY PHOTO / CHRIS JOHNSON ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY