With all the new construction that has taken place in the past several years,Davisstillhas more history to preserve than meets the eye.
On Monday, the Historic Resources Management Commission announced their nominees for their annual preservation appreciation awards.The nominees will be presented tothe Davis City Council in May in honor of National Historic Preservation month.
The nominees include Richard Berteaux, architect, UC Davis professor emeritus and former commissioner,whohas done volunteer work, historic preservation and reuse projects including the Davis Civic Center Gymnasium,the Third and A project Grieve-Asbill House and the Hattie Weber Museum.The Sierra Railroad Company nominated the A.J. Plant House located at221FirstSt.,and the Old North Davis Neighborhood Association nominated the Craftsman Bungalow located at 643 F St.
Five qualifications were listed as nomination criteria on the application, including projects with a significant impact on preservation or the built environment in Davis, sustained contributions to historic preservations, a volunteer who has made preservation efforts, projects that preserve,restore or reuse historic property faithful to its architectural character and new construction strongly complimentary to its historic neighborhood character.
“It’s a good thing. It’s acknowledgment of people doing their best to preserve,and in this case preserving home sensitivity,to preserve historic value and integrity,” said Ike Njoku,planner and historical resources manager of thecommunitydevelopment department.“The goal in a nutshell is to award those who’ve done outstanding preservation efforts.The essence of this is the preservation of these resources.“
The historic preservation awards were originally intended to be an annual event but were last implemented in2003.This will be the first set of awards in five years to berecognized before City Council.
“[The awards were] intended to be an annual event but it wasn’t,” Njoku said. “Rand[Herbert] was instrumental in bringing this back and making sure this award process continues.“
Herbert,HRMC chair,said the city has been active about making preservation decisions and the commission received strong nominees this year.
“The awards either recognize a particularly good historic preservation restoration type project or they can recognize a volunteer who has spent a lot of time on historic preservation,” Herbert said. “They also honor adaptive reuse.Thoseare the three we have this year.… It just happens to be that there are three really good ones.“
Herbertsaid Berteaux was a strong nominee this yearbecause of his great efforts in preservation and volunteer work.
“He’s been involved in a lot of preservation projects in town for reuse,and he worked really hard for the commission as an architect and that was really valuable,” Herbert said. “Having someone with that particular experience was really valuable – a combination of volunteer and professional.“
The City Council will announce whenitwill award the nominees of thepreservation appreciation awards in May.The HRMC is currently acceptingapplications for commissioners.
ANN KIM can be reached atcity@californiaaggie.com.
