The 2021 Pillar Awards: A Virtual Celebration
Did you miss the live event? Or maybe you want to see it again? Here’s the recording of the full program!
The annual Pillar of New York Awards has always provided the League with a chance to gather with our supporters and celebrate individuals who have taken extraordinary action to protect, preserve, and promote New York’s historic sites and landscapes. Since 1992, the League has had the great privilege of recognizing dozens of New Yorkers (individuals, organizations, and corporations) whose dedication to our shared cultural heritage has had a profound impact on cities, towns, and villages across the state. This year the League was thrilled to recognize Hermes Mallea, MCR/Morse Development, and PBDW Architects as Pillars of New York.
In 2020, the League made the decision to postpone the Pillar Awards, and this year they were transitioned to a virtual event. We still gathered and celebrated, but this time it was from the comfort and safety of our own homes. And while we did miss seeing everyone in their most festive attire at the Rainbow Room in New York City, this change allowed us to welcome attendees from all over the state.
As host for the evening’s program, League Board Chair Frank Sanchis introduced videos showcasing this year’s Pillar Award winners. Viewers got a glimpse into the incredible work of each winner while hearing from them directly about how they view the importance of preservation in what they do. Hermes Mallea touched on how his love of Cuban architecture informed his professional trajectory in New York. Tyler Morse talked about the importance he felt in carrying the ethos of 1962 into the present while restoring Eero Saarinen’s masterpiece TWA Flight Center. And PBDW Principals Ray Dovell, Sam White, and Anne Holford-Smith led viewers through several projects that married restoration with innovation to create spaces that both honored their history and brought them into the 21st century.
Focusing on the League’s statewide work was another highlight of the virtual event program. League President Jay DiLorenzo spoke about some of the projects the League has been involved with, the partnerships we have formed, and introduced individuals who spoke about their own experience with the League. Attendees heard from Mary-Nell Bockman and Andy Buchanan of the Whallonsburg Grange in Essex County— a project that received one of the League’s first-ever capital grants through the Northeast Heritage Economy Program. Briana and Devin Mahoney, founders of Uptown Theatre for Creative Arts in Utica, talked about the crucial role their grant from the League’s Donald Stephen Gratz Preservation Services Fund has played in their journey in bringing their site back to active use. Angela Wambugu Cobb from Bronx Community College spoke about the importance of having the Stanford White-designed Gould Memorial Library included on the League’s 2016-2017 Seven to Save list — and the leverage it provided in helping them to restore that New York City landmark. Additional testimonials took viewers into even more corners of the state, hearing from Sarah Tietje-Mietz, a 2020 League Zabar Scholar and Director of Hilltop House in Cazenovia, Jeff Anzevino of Scenic Hudson (a recent Preserve New York grant recipient), President of the Rapp Road Historical Association Beverly Bardequez (a League Seven to Save site in Albany), Ken Lustbader, one of the project directors of the Excellence Award-winning NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, New York State Senator José M. Serrano, a great advocate for preservation, and Architect, Preservationist, and League Trustee Angel Ayón.
Seeing the people behind the projects, and hearing their stories about how much of a difference the League has made to their work, helped inspire those in attendance to generously support the League’s statewide efforts during the text-to-give portion of the evening. Current Board Chair Frank Sanchis was joined live by past Chairs Paul Provost and Anne Van Ingen to thank donors in real-time as their pledges came through. Over $20,000 was raised just in the short time Frank, Paul, and Anne were on screen, with many of those donations accompanied by lovely messages of support. It is this generosity that makes the League’s work possible — THANK YOU to everyone who donated!
This year’s virtual event allowed the League to add a silent auction component, which will remain live through Saturday, May 1. From a curated tour of Crystal Bridges accompanied by an overnight stay at the 21C Museum Hotel Bentonville to a staycation at the TWA Hotel, the auction is full of one-of-a-kind tours, experiences, and items that are sure to appeal to any proponent of preservation.
From start to finish, this year’s Pillar Awards were a true celebration. Hermes Mallea, Tyler Morse and MCR, and PBDW Architects are truly deserving of the Pillar of New York title. The preservationists featured through testimonials embody the variety of projects the League strives to support. And everyone who tuned in, donated, bid on silent auction items, and generally engages with and supports the League, truly made the event a success. The Pillar Awards are the League’s largest fundraiser of the year, and thanks to you, we have raised over $330,000 so far!
From everyone at the League, thank you so much for your steadfast support. The work the League does is only possible because of you!
The 2021 Pillars of New York
Architect Hermes Mallea is a well-known tastemaker and partner in M(GROUP), a New York design firm founded with Carey Maloney. He studied at the University of Miami's School of Architecture and Columbia University's Graduate School of Historic Preservation. The firm's work with historic buildings in New York and the Hudson River Valley has led to his advocacy for historic preservation in the region (pictured above is the living room of a guesthouse M(GROUP) built on a historic property in Westchester County). Mr. Mallea has a deep connection to Cuba and its society, culture, and creativity. He lectures about the island's architectural patrimony and has curated exhibitions on historic family life. He is the author of three books: Havana Living Today: Cuban Home Style Now, Great Houses of Havana, and Escape: The Heyday of Caribbean Glamour.
Led by founder Tyler Morse, MCR is the fifth-largest hotel owner-operator in the United States. The company's sensitive redevelopment of Eero Saarinen's landmark 1962 TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport is garnering significant praise. thanks to MCR's careful restoration and stewardship of this historic property, Saarinen's masterpiece has taken flight once again as the heart of the TWA Hotel (the hotel’s restored lobby is pictured above, photo by David Mitchell). The hotel offers 512 midcentury modern guestrooms, an authentic Solari split-flap departures board in the iconic Sunken Lounge, immersive museum exhibits, restaurants, and a 1958 Lockheed Constellation airplane transformed into a cocktail lounge.
PBDW Architects is known for work that explores the interplay between new and old. They specialize in creating new designs in historic contexts and have a special reputation for the design of contemporary additions to historic buildings, as well as for their adaptive reuse and restoration. Notable projects include Park Avenue Armory (the Veterans Room pictured above), New York Historical Society, Louis Armstrong House Museum, and the Green-Wood Cemetery. Currently the firm is restoring (and lifting) the landmark Palace Theatre and converting an abandoned power station on the Gowanus Canal into incubator spaces for arts and manufacturing.
