Historic Preservation Awards Ceremony
The Richmond Historic Preservation Advisory Committee and
National Park Service invite you to attend the HISTORIC PRESERVATION AWARDS CEREMONY honoring those in the community who have aided in preserving Richmond's history. Congratulations to all those who will be honored!

Monday, May 24th, 5-7 p.m.
Richmond City Council Chambers
440 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond
Click here for event details and those being honored.

Richmond historic awards are for more than buildings

By Chris Treadway
Posted: 05/17/2010 06:44:09 PM PDT
Updated: 05/17/2010 06:44:09 PM PDT

A varied mix of projects will be honored as winners of this year's Richmond Historic Preservation Awards, including books, an exhibit, a restoration project, oral histories and a building rehabilitation.
The third annual awards ceremony will take place from 5-7 p.m. May 24 in the Richmond City Council Chambers, 440 Civic Center Plaza. The ceremony also marks National Preservation Month; this year's theme is "Old is the New Green."
"When you think of preservation you think of buildings," said Sandi Genser-Maack of the Richmond Historic Preservation Advisory Committee, "but we don't have many buildings. We have people, we have publications, we have exhibits, which to me is exciting."
The list of honorees includes Dr. Rachael Stryker and students in her Public Interest Ethnography class at Mills College for compiling "A Home of Our Own: The Stories of Atchison Village's Longtime Residents."
Stryker, an assistant professor of anthropology at the Oakland college, had 15 students interview 12 residents of the village, built in 1941 as one of the city's earliest wartime housing developments.
Atchison is now on the National Register of Historic Places and part of the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park; it is also one of the nation's oldest cooperative communities. The interviews preserve the perspectives and experiences of the community's longtime residents.
Two books and their authors, "Point Faithful: A 100-Year History of the First United Methodist Church, Point Richmond, California" by Mildred Dornan and "Richmond Tales: Lost Secrets of the Iron Triangle" by Summer Brenner, will be honored. Dornan is a faithful historian of Point Richmond and her family has a long history in the area.
Brenner's popular work, which makes local history accessible to younger readers, grew from the "Where We're From" Oral History Project.
Richmond is also acknowledging the El Cerrito Historical Society with an award for the exhibition and book by society member Tom Panas on the Japanese nurseries that were part of both cities for most of the 20th century.
Lest you think buildings are completely ignored, the committee is honoring the city and Community Economic Development Director Steve Duran for the Civic Center revitalization project and building owner Mark Howe and Andrew Butt of architecture firm Interactive Resources Inc. for the rehabilitation of 201 West Richmond Ave., the former Bank of Richmond building in Point Richmond.
A special Home Front Award given by the National Park Service will go to Tom Debly, director of Kaiser Permanente Heritage Resources, for "Initiatives to Create and Support the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park."
The awards ceremony, which is open to the public, will be followed by a reception across the Civic Center Plaza in the lobby of the Memorial Auditorium lobby that will be catered by the Contra Costa College Culinary Department and have a no-host bar.