The Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC) was an award-winner last month.
At the 18th Annual Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards, the New York Landmarks Conservancy honored the JPAC “for its adaptive reuse of a religious property.”
Originally built as a church in 1858-9, the Jamaica Performing Arts Center will now house flexible performing arts spaces, a conference center for community use and an outdoor performance space.
Named after philanthropist Lucy G. Moses, the coveted awards laud outstanding preservation efforts by individuals and projects. Ruth Abram received the Preservation Leadership Award for founding and guiding the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and for her efforts to preserve the character of the Lower East Side. Former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye received the Public Leadership Award for restoring historic courthouses throughout the state.
Owners, managers, architects and restorers responsible for nine outstanding preservation projects completed in 2008 accepted the awards.
This year’s project award recipients were:
• 62 East Eighty-Third Street
• 295 East Eighth Street
• American Irish Historical Society
• The Cathedral of St. John the Divine
• Jamaica Performing Arts Center
• Longacre Theatre
• Moynihan Station
• Poly Prep Lower School
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
“The awards are a celebration of outstanding restoration projects throughout the city as well as some extraordinary individuals,” said Peg Breen, President of the New York Landmarks Conservancy. “The time and care that went into completing these projects demonstrates New Yorkers’ commitment to preserving the entire range of the city’s architecture.”
