Preservation Foundation Presents Awards

Preservation Foundation President George Kegley announces awards.

Catawba's jubilant Christy Gabbard accepts award.

Big Lick Junction designer Lucas Thornton gets award.

Lisa Soltis of Roanoke City and Kay Dunkley of VT chat

Some of the usual suspects and a few newcomers are among the winners of the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation's Preservation Award winners. On the flip side, Carilion Clinic was cited with a Golden Bulldozer Award for the destruction of the 10-story, 60-year-old Carlton Terrace Building in downtown Roanoke.

The Carlton Terrace was built in 1949-1950 for $2.5 million and was most recently occupied by the Jefferson College of Health Sciences. Carilion moved that school into its Community Hospital.

The winners included:

• Big Lick Junction/Community School
• Meridium
• Catawba Sustainable Communithy
• Patrick Henry Hotel
• City Market Building
• Salem Historical Society Museum
• Gazebo at Lake Spring Park in Salem
• A Book on the Deyerle family builders by Michael Pulice

The Patrick Henry, Catawba Community and Carlton Terrace-Reed Building had been listed previously as endangered sites by the Preservation Foundation.

Big Lick Junction was built in 1925 as a three-story dry goods distribution warehouse downtown. Community School--employing Lucas Thornton, son of founder Linda Thornton, as its builder--renovated the building for its use recently.

President George Kegley presents Golden Bulldozer Award

Meridium renovated a nearby building for use as its world headquarters. The software company is in a building that has often been at the center of attention because of the bizarre color it was painted in the past.

The Catawba Sustainability Center (part of Virginia Tech) is using 400 acres for environmental practices research. A community group helped secure the land and buildings for preservation and for use.

Ed Walker's renovation of the Patrick Henry Hotel is just the latest in a string of downtown renovations that have brought considerable acclaim to him and those who have worked closely with him. This is his second straight preservation award.

Roanoke's City Market Building renovation--though controversial from the standpoint of the city using an out of town architectural firm--is the latest effort to preserve the building, built in 1921 after the original building burned.

Salem's museum is a former home in downtown Salem, built in 1845 and the new renovation has been hailed for its green features. Lake Spring Park's gazebo, near the museum, was damaged by a truck last year, but renovated and restored to its 1909 beauty.

Michael Pulice wrote Nineteenth Century Brick Architecture in the Roanoke Valley and Beyond: Discovering the True Legacy of the Deyerle Builders.