An Annual Report and a 2020 Year-in-Review
Let’s be honest, no one was sad to say goodbye to 2020. Since last March, people have made tremendous sacrifices, many of us have lost friends and family, people have lost jobs, and beloved local shops and restaurants have closed. But still, things moved forward and we moved along with them. As we look ahead to 2021, we wanted to look back at 2020 — some good things did happen! Here is a roundup of monthly highlights from 2020, plus you can take a look through our Annual Report covering FY 2019-2020 (our fiscal year begins in July, which is not uncommon for nonprofits, but can be slightly confusing. The report gets written several months after the end of the fiscal year since that’s when we have the most accurate financial statements to share, which is why we are just sharing it now).
January
Nikola Tesla worked at the Wardenclyffe Laboratory in Shoreham on Long Island between 1902 and 1906. The long-vacant building was designed by architects McKim, Mead & White to Tesla’s specifications. The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe will use the historic laboratory as part of an upcoming science and education center inspired by Tesla’s inventions and ideas. A $4,000 Technical Assistance Grant will fund a building condition survey that will serve as the first step in rehabilitating this important historic structure.
At the start of 2020 we were able to announce the recipients of the 2019 Technical Assistance Grants. We awarded over $40,000 to 11 projects in 11 counties. The TAG program is a partnership between the New York State Council on the Arts and the Preservation League. Generous additional support for our 2019 grant round was provided by the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area for projects occurring in the National Heritage Area. Click here to learn about all the 2019 TAG-funded projects.
February
Two particularly noteworthy highlights from February: In the beginning of the month, we announced our biennial Seven to Save list of endangered historic sites; and at the end of the month, we hosted our annual Advocacy Day at the NYS Capitol — one of our last in-person events before COVID lockdown.
March
Through a partnership with Lori Zabar and the Zabar Family Foundation the League is able to award three annual scholarships of $1,000 each to the best and brightest preservation students from around the state. The 2020 Zabar Scholars were Claire Cancilla, Erin Murphy, and Sarah Tietje-Mietz. You can read more about them in our March announcement right here.
April
From left: Whallonsburg Grange Hall, Essex County; Historic Saranac Lake Trudeau Home, Franklin County; The Adirondack Experience, Hamilton County; Oneida Community Mansion House, Oneida County
In 2020, the League was able to award its first-ever capital grants thanks to the Northeast Heritage Economy Program, a four state collaborative program between the League, the Preservation Trust of Vermont, Maine Preservation, and the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, supported by the Regional Forest Economy Partnership initiative of the Northern Border Regional Commission. Read more about the four projects supported by the League here.
May
May is Preservation Month, so to celebrate we decided to take a look back through our archives to highlight various projects the League has been involved with over the years. We shared a different historic site every day in May over on our Instagram page.
June
By June, we had fully committed to the webinar lifestyle. Since we could no longer host our pop-up office hours or tax credit workshops in person, we moved them to Zoom — and we’re continuing to offer technical services webinars virtually, if you’re into that sort of thing.
July
Relive our tour of the Seven to Save-listed Hudson-Athens Lighthouse! Or check out some blog content about this icon of the Hudson River.
August
In August we focused on SANS (Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest & Ninevah Subdivisions), a historically African American vacation community on Long Island and one of our Seven to Save sites. We hosted a webinar panel discussion on why SANS is so important, its place in the context of other historically African American beach communities, what its unique challenges are, and what is being done to protect it. We also launched our Preservation Book Club in conjunction with our SANS spotlight, reading Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor as our first pick.
September
Thanks to funding from the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation, work got underway to create a comprehensive database of extant historic opera houses throughout the state (Opera Houses were one of our 2018-2019 Seven to Save sites). You check out the finished map here, and if you know of one that’s missing, please let us know!
October
In October, recipients of our 2020 NYSCA-funded Preserve New York grants were announced. The map above shows how how much ground these grants cover (also plotted are 2019 TAG, Gratz Fund, Northeast Heritage Economy Program grants, and Seven to Save sites). In total, 19 applicants in 15 counties received support totaling $193,390.
November
After reconfiguring our annual Awards program as a virtual event, we celebrated our Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards in November. Over the course of the month, we highlighted each of the nine winners through our blog and social media. You can learn about the 2020 winners here. The Excellence Awards program was possible thanks to the Arthur F. and Alive E. Adams Charitable Foundation, with additional support provided by Lothrop Associates LLP | Robert A. Gabalski, AIA, Partner & Alex Stojkovic, Architectural Designer.
December
We closed out the year by gathering with colleagues from across New York State through the (Virtual) Statewide Preservation Conference. The League was honored as always to partner with our colleagues at The Landmark Society of Western New York, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, and Preservation Association of Central New York to present the 2020 conference. The Landmark Society did a fantastic job transitioning the conference into a virtual format, with excellent presentations spread out over two days. The two-day opening plenary on Identifying and Tackling Implicit Bias in Preservation was a highlight, as was the panel “The NYS Canal System: Still Shaping New York’s Economy,” organized by our Vice President for Policy & Preservation Erin Tobin.