Preservation Awards

Guess who won this years Residential Preservation award?

Give up?

Well, it was me! It was an honor just to be nominated. I’m usually not the type of person to get too excited about this sort of thing. Namely, because I’m not the type of person who usually wins this sort of thing. Aside from the blog, I really don’t put myself out there that much. Regardless, I did get excited and I am thrilled to win it.

At first I thought they were giving me The Plague, but then I read the notice again and realized it was a plaque. In retrospect, the plague would have been an odd thing to give someone for winning an award. I thought maybe they were trying to put the whole thing in to historical context. The plague has a kind of old-world feel to it, don’t you think.



Anyway, it was a plaque and the plaque is very nice. I’m not sure what I will do with it at this point. Knowing me, I’ll probably end up hiding it in a wall cavity for future homeowners to find. This place is going to be a field day for whomever does the next major remodle or restoration.

The awards are handed out by the Eureka Heritage Society. There are 6 categories and they handed out 8 awards. Two different residential awards and two different community building awards were handed out. Here are this year’s recipients.

Commercial Building Preservation Award
Binne/Becker Partnership

Community Building Preservation Award
The Arkley Center for the Performing Arts
The Federal Building

Adaptive Reuse Preservation Award
Niki Delson & Ron Kokish

Residential Preservation Award
James Madsen
Greg Petch

Preservationist of the Year Award
Leslie Heald

Special Award
June Beal (Posthumously)



The ceremony was held at The Eureka Woman’s Club on J Street. I’ve always liked the building, and I’ve never been in it before, so that was fun. I had a good time and it was very nice to be recognized like that. It is a bit of a renewal. I got a call from Kathy Dillion of The Times Standard (local newspaper). She writes the monthly Restore & Preserve insert. A few years ago my house was in Restore & Preserve. This was when I was in the middle of the kitchen remodel. The house was really in a rough state at that time, and now that I think about it, it was an odd choice for me to agree to it. At the time Kathy and I spoke about her coming back in a few years to do an “After” piece on the house. That is what her phone call was about. I called her back and left a voice mail and told her I wasn’t quite there yet. Maybe next year.