Category: Preservation Awards

Alt Homestead Wins Preservation Leadership Award by Preservation Buffalo Niagara

It is time to announce the winners of the 2024 Preservation Awards!

We have twelve awardees this year that span across preservation advocacy, preservation craft, residential restoration, commercial restoration, emerging preservation leaders, lifetime achievement, and more. We will be highlighting each of the awardees over the next few weeks – to entice you to attend our award ceremony on Thursday, May 30th at the Buffalo History Museum. You can get your tickets here. 

Preservation Leadership: Alt Homestead in Grand Island, NY

We are excited to announce our “Preservation Leadership” Award which goes to Alt Homestead, led by Nicole Gerber and Dave Reilly. We also must say a huge thank you to Windkanter Construction for bringing this project home.

From the nomination: The Alt family is one of Grand Island’s first settler farming families on land that was earlier populated by the Haudenosaunee, the Neutral Nation, and the Wenrohronon people. The Alt Farm and Homestead dates to the mid-1800s when the Alt family migrated from Germany.  The farm has been an agricultural location since the 1870s. Its agricultural history includes serving as the site of an apple orchard, a cattle farm, a dairy farm, a haying field, and has been farmed for various crops. Philip Alt purchased the property and created a farm that has been passed down through the family to the present day (six generations of the Alt family). The remaining property includes a historic farmhouse, Grand Island Schoolhouse #8, a historic icehouse, a barn built in the 1870s, sheds that at one time belonged to the Grand Island Highway Department, and an original plank construction garden shed.

For photos & details, we have included a presentation provided to us by Nicole & Dave here:

Alt Homestead Renovations

(Continued) The land is now protected as the Alt Nature Preserve through the recent establishment of a conservation easement with the WNY Land Conservancy. The property is approximately thirty-six acres in the center of Grand Island and is one of the few remaining farmsteads in the community. The property includes approximately ten acres of forested land that meets the ecological definition of a unique Wet Oak- Hickory Forest Ecosystem. Approximately twenty-three acres is a meadow and home to several NYS-threatened bird species.

Grand Island Schoolhouse #8 is on the Alt Preserve. It is an original one-room school used by Island children in the late 1800s-early 1900s. It was purchased by George H. Alt, Sr. in 1917 for $188.90 and relocated to the farm. The building became the original Alt Chevrolet – the first Chevrolet dealership on the Niagara Frontier – and was the service garage for Alt Chevrolet. After its use as a service garage and repair shop, the building was used for storage until its restoration in 2022-2023.

The building itself is a “plank house” construction, meaning there was no wood frame skeleton. The renovations, which included new flooring and restoration of the ceiling and beams, were critical for maintaining the integrity of the building. Markings on the planks in the schoolhouse indicate pitsaws (1600s to 1750s), up-and-down mill cuts (1700s to 1860), and circular blades (after 1840).

The schoolhouse was renovated using architectural designs by Kathleen M. Kinan to serve as the Alt Nature Center under the management of the environmental non-profit Citizen Coalition for Wildlife and Environment. All renovation work was completed by Marty Willett and his team at Windkanter Construction. In the process of the rehabilitation work, the writing on the walls that denotes repair jobs and car owners was saved and protected. Earlier chalk writing from the schoolhouse days is also visible on the walls and protected.

Schoolhouse #8 was renovated to return it to its educational roots as a nature center. It now serves as the Alt Nature Center, a space for historical and environmental education; for teaching and training about ecological gardening, native plants, and habitat protection; and to serve as an information center for free public access to the trails on the Alt Nature Preserve. The Center functions to highlight the preservation of Grand Island’s farming history and heritage and to educate on the importance of protecting habitat. To enhance the historical quality of the space, the furniture and decorations in the Nature Center are repurposed from antique and thrift stores with a commitment to sustainable reuse.

During the time of the schoolhouse project, Windkanter Construction was also renovating the historic Alt Barn. The Alt Barn was restored as part of the larger effort to preserve the history of the Alt Farm and Homestead. The Alt Barn was built in the late 1800’s and at some later date was lifted onto a concrete foundation. It was one of the first structures built on the farmstead.

The Alt Barn was used for dairy cows and meat cattle on the ground level and for storing hay in the loft. Hay was brought in by large bundles (and later in bales) on a wagon, lifted into the loft with the hay grapple hook which ran on a track at the peak (the track and grapple hook in the Alt barn are still intact!). The grapple hook was attached to a rope that ran to a pulley at the top of the barn and then down to an eye hook in the floor. When placed over hay a rope is pulled and the grapple hooks dig into the hay and allow for hoisting into and out of the barn.

The barn restoration efforts included replacing the external boards and facing on the South, East, and West sides. Corner posts were reinforced, and a foundational corner was poured with concrete, which required lifting the southeast corner of the barn. The original barn boards and beams from the Alt barn were repurposed for the interior of the Alt Nature Center. The west and east original barn boards had Maltese Crosses at the peaks of the barn; these have been built into the wallboards above the entry door and on the bathroom door. The step into the main room is an American Chestnut beam that was also located in the barn.

All these renovations have been funded, to date, by Nicole Alt Gerber, a sixth-generation Alt to live on the homestead.  Her commitment, with her husband Dave Reilly, is to preserve the history of the farm while enabling public access and environmental education. The longer-term plan to preserve the history and buildings involves educational signage along nature trails that explains the agricultural history of Grand Island. Alt family photos and farm journals have been saved and are on display in the Alt Nature Center to explain farm life in Western New York in the early 1900s.

With a commitment to education and preservation, in 2023 the Alt Farm was featured in Grand Island’s History Day as a tour site. Throughout the planning and renovation phases of the barn and schoolhouse, the Grand Island Historic Preservation Advisory Board has been engaged in the process as well. This includes tours of the site before, during, and after renovations, and a presentation of the history of the Alt Farm to Grand Island Historic Preservation Advisory Board members that explains the intent of supporting the legacy of the Alt family regarding the homestead and farm through the Nature Center and Nature Preserve.  The Grand Island Historic Preservation Advisory Board has included the Alt Farm in its list of historic home designations. Support from the Board has also been expressed through a letter from Chair June Crawford, who states “enthusiastic support for both projects. The CCWE is one of the most exciting and beneficial historic, cultural, and natural developments on our island.”

The Alt Nature Preserve has recently served as a location for Erie Community College students to research types of bluebird boxes and their success rate for attracting bluebirds, tree swallows, and other species of interest. Students presented their work and their recommendations for native plants to support wildlife at the Alt Nature Center. Elementary school classes have visited for experiential learning about plants, animals, and habitats. The WNY Native Plant Collaborative held its monthly meeting in the Alt Nature Center at the end of June 2023. The Alt Farm is an annual site in the Grand Island Garden Walk, at which people from across WNY can walk and see the native plant gardens and historical buildings. The University at Buffalo’s Native American Studies Program has been invited to use the property and Alt Nature Center for their courses and research. And Niagara University’s environmental student organization, NU CARES, has been invited to participate in internships and hold meetings on-site. The center will be open, free of charge, to any environmental organization whose mission is consistent with protecting and preserving ecological integrity and sustainability.

This is all possible because of the combined restoration vision and efforts of Kathleen M. Kinan, architect; Marty Willett and Windkanter Construction, Citizen Coalition for Wildlife and Environment, and Nicole Alt Gerber and family.

In addition to the farmstead and buildings being an important piece of Grand Island’s farming history, the Alt family also contributed to the development and establishment of Island and regional organizations, projects, and businesses.

  • George Alt Sr. is listed in the Erie County book, “Our County and Its People” (Truman C. White) which notes the family history, starting with the arrival and work of Philip Alt, and lists the accomplishments of George Alt Sr.
  • Both George Alt Sr. and George Alt Jr. were active in Grand Island town politics, were members of various boards and local organizations, and were founding members of the Grand Island Farmers Alliance and Grand Island Fire Company
  • Along with farming, the Alt family operated a general store and established Alt Chevrolet

The goal is to create, preserve, and share the Alt farm and land with the community so that people can learn about history and nature, view the original farmstead buildings and rehabilitated schoolhouse, and enjoy the outdoors with the gardens and trails. The public has already been able to experience the Alt farm through numerous ways:

Big big thanks to everyone involved in this project! This is an excellent example of leadership in WNY.

See you on Thursday, May 30th!

Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House Wins Preservation Craft Award by Preservation Buffalo Niagara

It is time to announce the winners of the 2024 Preservation Awards!

We have 12 awardees this year that span across advocacy, craft, residential restoration, commercial restoration, emerging preservation leadership, lifetime achievement, and more. We will be highlighting each of the awardees over the next few weeks – to entice you to attend our award ceremony on May 30th at the Buffalo History Museum. Come and celebrate the preservation wins with us! You can get your tickets here. 

Preservation Craft: Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House: Exterior Art Environment Preservation, Preservation Craft, Niagara County

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Prophet Isaiah Robertson was a self-taught carpenter and artist from Jamaica, who moved to Niagara Falls in 2004. When he first came to the United States, he started in the construction business by renovating and reselling houses and was eventually approached by Mount Erie Baptist Church to finish the walls in a section of their church. Prophet Isaiah instead advocated for his vision for space, which included intricate wood carvings. Thus began his artistic career in Niagara Falls, which was then amplified at his home at 1308 Ontario Avenue.

A deeply religious person, Prophet Isaiah dedicated his home to representing his prophecies artistically, through wooden cutouts, painted murals, intricate rock formations, and a 25-foot tall wooden cross and altarpiece at the head of his driveway. Wood was his primary material, as it represented both his profession and had religious symbolism. Prophet Isaiah did not consider himself an artist, stating that the “Spirit took over and moved his hands.” He worked with no plans or sketches, and would simply build, paint, and create as his spirit moved him, which frequently included painting over his prior designs and creating new pieces.

Upon Prophet Isaiah’s passing in 2020, the Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House became a preservation project for the Kohler Foundation in 2021. Since the 1970s, the preservation of art environments and self-taught artists has been a major focus of the Foundation. They have been widely regarded as at the forefront of the self-taught art movements, and have received many awards for their preservation work, including the Sally Hardy Eager Historic Preservation Achievement Award and the 2003 Wisconsin Governor’s Award. The Kohler Foundation has gifted several art environments to local organizations, like the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, ensuring the art will be cared for in perpetuity and be accessible to the public.

Shortly after taking on the property, the Kohler Foundation took immediate action to preserve the exterior art environment and conserve the artist residence. This included building a partnership with the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, who became the steward of the property and artist’s residence in 2023. One of the first steps was to contract with B.R. Howard and Associates, who led the effort to preserve the various components of the exterior art pieces as much as possible, and to replicate those pieces which had been damaged beyond repair. These replications were made out of materials better equipped to withstand the harsh winters of Niagara Falls and were created to perfectly mirror the original pieces. Using an extremely meticulous process that involved hundreds of photographs, precise measurements, drone footage, and model recreations of the site, the team at B.R. Howard and Associates were able to perfectly replicate the exterior art at the site, down to the slight imperfections from the artist and individual brushstrokes on the backs of art pieces.

The entirety of the exterior art environment was documented, measured, and photographed before being disassembled and brought to B.R. Howard’s facility in Pennsylvania. There, they processed thousands of pieces, including wooden pieces, rocks, silk flowers, and glass candles. For the pieces they could conserve, they did, matching colors and repairing as necessary. For the pieces that could not be conserved, they created exact replicas, including matching the symbols, sizes, shapes, and colors meticulously. This process involved an exacting process that meant creating pieces that were “perfectly imperfect” – as Prophet Isaiah was an artist that worked without plans and utilized scrap materials, many of the art pieces included angles that were slightly off-center, brushstrokes that were not perfectly contained, and designs that did not perfectly match on either side. Undaunted, the team at B.R. Howard utilized their photographs, measurements, and scale models to recreate each piece as Prophet Isaiah had left it.

The re-installation process was equally painstaking, as original drone photos using grids are referenced to perfectly position the returning art to its original locations. Additional work was also done to secure the art in its original location and ensure that winter storms or damaging winds would not adversely affect the site. There was on-site work as well during the re-installation process; while many of the replicated pieces were hand-painted at their facility, final touches and additional hand-painting were done on-site. The re-installation was completed in October of 2023.

In addition to assisting with the preservation and replication of the exterior art pieces, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area has led the construction and renovation efforts for this artist residence since 2022. After securing several permits, a variety of repairs and improvements were made to the site, including a new roof, new windows, and the installation of an ADA-compliant ramp to improve accessibility. Importantly, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area also installed on-site security in early 2023, which has allowed for remote monitoring of the site. Work has also been done to equip the site for public tours and other programs, including the installation of the internet, the creation of an operational site plan, and the development of community programming.

The Niagara Falls National Heritage Area has dedicated its resources to the preservation and revitalization of the North End of Niagara Falls and the Highland Community for over five years. The North End of Niagara Falls has been decimated by urban renewal efforts, the demolition of the built environment, and the decay of the Main Street Business District. The Highland Community, the traditional hub of the Black community in Niagara Falls, has been similarly affected by urban blight, leading to demolished structures, diminishing businesses, and vacant lots. It is critically important that these two areas are targeted for preservation and revitalization efforts, as the population ages and the memories of when these areas were vibrant centers of Niagara Falls life dwindles. Toward that end, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area has sought to preserve these memories and revitalize these spaces by engaging with thorough hands-on community engagement, public art installations, and restoring iconic landmarks.

Through all of our projects, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area positions community involvement, expertise and needs at the forefront and takes a collaborative approach to developing experiences that are woven together with the past, present and future of our communities. As the stewards of the Prophet Isaiah Second Coming House, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area is dedicated to preserving this unique art environment, and creating a community-driven heritage center, wherein visitors and locals alike can not only learn about art environments, art preservation, and Prophet Isaiah Robertson, but also come together to celebrate the Highland Community.

Additional information can be found on the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area’s website:

https://www.discoverniagara.org/prophet-isaiah-second-coming-house

Congrats to the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area for their passion and dedication to this project. We are grateful for you and your efforts, truly! Please keep up the good work and let us know how we can help. Watch more on this effort here!

 

Lifetime Preservation Achievement: Ed Healy of Visit Buffalo Niagara

It is time to announce the winners of the 2024 Preservation Awards!

We have 12 awardees this year that span across preservation advocacy, preservation craft, residential restoration, commercial restoration, emerging preservation leaders, lifetime achievement, and more. We will be highlighting each of the awardees over the next few weeks – to entice you to attend our award ceremony on Thursday, May 30th at the Buffalo History Museum. You can get your tickets here. 

Lifetime Preservation Achievement

We are starting with announcing our Lifetime Preservation Achievement Award which will be going to the one and only, Ed Healy at Visit Buffalo Niagara!

Throughout his life and career, Edward Healy has been a champion of Buffalo and its beautiful, historic buildings. Professionally, Ed has worked, and succeeded, in establishing Buffalo and Erie County as a destination for cultural and architectural tourism for more than 20 years. We included a highlight reel of his work below – just so you can take in the amount of work he and his team have done.

A note from Bernice, our Executive Director:

Ed is someone everyone seems to know and love. His entire life has been focused on telling Buffalo’s story – a story that is founded on preservation and our remarkable historic architecture. Back in 2010, Ed helped to launch the Buffalo: This Place Matters video which focuses on the legacy that we have inherited at a time where not everyone seemed to realize what historic gems we had.

Ed and his team focus on local: local shops, local restaurants, local historic sites and beyond to create an experience that has put Buffalo and Niagara Falls on the map as a destination to visit. He took the lead with bringing the National Trust for Historic Preservation to Buffalo – a conference that personally changed the trajectory of my life and so many others who used the conference as a launch pad for their careers. People started to truly believe in Buffalo as a result of that conference! Ed directed the effort in the video Buffalo: America’s Best Designed City with John Paget which highlighted our historic city in so many ways.  I believe this video really helped to change the minds of people who did not believe in Buffalo. The good news is, the hard work is paying off! We see over 600 million dollars that come to Erie County for heritage tourism and almost 25% of all tourists coming for two things: family and architecture.

May we all be as fortunate as Ed to look back on our lives and see such a positive impact from our efforts.

One of our favorite recent articles that shows the passion Ed feels for our community can be found here: https://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/the-rebirth-of-buffalo/

Here are some of Ed’s achievements and highlights throughout his career:

  • Worked to bring the National Trust for Historic Preservation Annual Conference to Buffalo in 2011, which arguably sparked Buffalo’s recent resurgence and increased attention to our architecture. During the conference, Visit Buffalo Niagara even trained cab drivers on the historic details of Buffalo’s historic buildings to make sure they were equipped to discuss and point out these places to attendees. You can read about its impact here. 
  • Ed and Visit Buffalo Niagara helped to bring the Congress for New Urbanism to Buffalo in 2013.
  • Served as Executive producer on John Paget’s short film, Buffalo: America’s Best Designed City, which was released in 2014. You can watch it here. 
  • Established a marketing campaign, The Unexpected Buffalo, which rolled out in 2017 and called attention to Buffalo’s overlooked aspects, including architecture and Buffalo’s unique brand of restoration and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. The campaign won an ESTO Award in 2018.
  • Worked to pitch and host hundreds of travel writers, architecture critics, and preservation journalists to write and highlight stories of Buffalo’s architecture, design, adaptive reuse, and resurgence.
  • Serves as board member of the Lipsey Architecture Center.
  • An avid photographer whose work has been featured in CEPA Gallery exhibits. A majority of Ed’s photography focuses on Buffalo architecture and buildings.
  • During Ed’s tenure at VBN, Buffalo has been named one of the National Trust’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations, America’s Friendliest City by the readers of Travel & Leisure magazine, one of 52 Places to Go in 2018 by The New York Times, a Top Ten Value Destination for 2020 by Lonely Planet, one of the Best Places to Travel in 2021 by Travel & Leisure magazine, and, most recently, one of the top 22 places to travel to in 2022 by Architectural Digest. The “Unexpected Buffalo” advertising campaign developed and implemented by my team was named the Best Branding and Integrated Marketing Campaign in the nation at the U.S. Travel Association’s ESTO Conference in August 2018 in the $1 million to $2.5 million budget category

Congrats to you Ed! This is an award we cannot wait to present to  you and your family and friends on May 30th. Well deserved, truly!

From Ed’s bio on Linkedin: Ed Healy is the Vice President of Marketing for Visit Buffalo Niagara where he is responsible for VBN’s destination marketing strategies. Ed’s portfolio includes overseeing all marketing communications, including the production of an annual touring guide, web sites, e-newsletters, social media, videos, podcasts and consumer advertising, as well as media and public relations. 

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2024 Preservation Awards Announcement

It is time to announce the winners of the 2024 Preservation Awards!

We have 12 awardees this year that span across WNY in preservation advocacy, preservation craft, residential restoration, commercial restoration, emerging preservation leadership, lifetime achievement, and so much more. Each awardee was nominated directly by the community and was reviewed and selected by the PBN Nominating Committee. You can also see our past winners from 2023 here and you can read about our criteria and awards details here.  

This slideshow below is a teaser for you! We will be highlighting the stories of each one of the awardees over the next few weeks – to entice you to attend our award ceremony on May 30th at the Buffalo History Museum.  Our awardees span across WNY and are doing the hard work – putting the blood, sweat, and tears into leading by example. Because the celebrations are too few and stress is so high, must take time to celebrate and express gratitude. Come and celebrate the preservation wins with us!  You can get your tickets here. 

To all our winners – thank you. You’re doing great work and we all appreciate you. WNY is better because of your dedication and love for your work. We cannot wait to celebrate with you on May 30th at the Buffalo History Museum!

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