At a ceremony held at the Cohoes Music Hall on December 8, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Carol Ash announced the recipients of the 2009 New York State Historic Preservation Awards.

“The Historic Preservation Awards honor the efforts and achievement of individuals, organizations and municipalities that make significant contributions to historic preservation objectives throughout New York State,” Ash said. “The range of awards this year reflects the deep commitment and strong partnerships across the state that have made preservation an important tool for economic development. We are pleased to see that several projects involved the creation of affordable housing units, including one project that developed affordable senior housing units.”


Park Lane Apartments at Sea View, Former Nurses’ Residence of Sea View Hospital in Staten Island was recognized for an outstanding adaptive use project and commitment to community revitalization. The Arker Companies and The Domain Companies developed the former dormitory into affordable senior housing units with the help of Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits. Other project partners were Building Conservation Associates and Hugo S. Subotovsky, Architects, LLC. The Sea View hospital campus was constructed from 1913 to 1938 for the treatment of tuberculosis, and it was the site of clinical trials that led to the cure for the disease.

The project was the first historic structure to be funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s affordable green design initiative program.


The State Historic Preservation Awards were established in 1980 to honor excellence in the protection and rejuvenation of New York’s historic and cultural resources. Projects included several buildings adapted or rehabilitated for affordable housing and one that created affordable work spaces for small manufacturers.

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), which is part of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, helps communities identify, recognize, and preserve their historic resources, and incorporate them into local improvement and economic development activities. The SHPO administers several programs including the state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credit program, state historic preservation grants, the Certified Local Government program, and the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places, which are the official lists of properties significant in the history, architecture, and archeology of the state and nation.