historic preservation

• Gotham needs to do a better job of protecting its historic buildings .
• Local buyers not uniform in attitudes towards green apartments.
• Panel discusses benefits of investing in green real estate even in down economy.
• More tenant trouble for Harry Macklowe at LEED Gold hopeful 510 Madison Avenue.
• Brooklyn Health House at 93 Nevins Street revealed .
• F.D.I.C.
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There are only four Frank Lloyd Wright -designed houses in the state of New Jersey. One of them- located in Millstone, in Somerset County and dating from 1954- was purchased by architects Lawrence and Sharon Tarantino back in 1988. The couple’s restoration work on the house was recently featured in the New York Times after the house won a merit award for preservation in the AIA-New Jersey’s 2008 design competition. In addition to restoring the house’s kitchen pursuant to Wright’s plans (the original kitchen was destroyed in 1999 by Hurricane Floyd), the Tarantinos also installed a historic barn from Vermont on the property that will serve as a design studio.

Boston-based Anna Beha Architects ("ABA") has designed a renovation and expansion of Princeton University's Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding, whose building dates from 1901 and was formerly one of the school's eating clubs. The project recently broke ground and contemplates a 5080-square-foot addition to the original, Italianate-style base building, which will house 18,8000 square feet of programming, office, and classroom space. The architect's challenge was to reclaim the building's original design, which it discovered through researching the university's archives had been buried by a series of poorly executed previous renvovations. ABA was charged with creating useable outdoor space, as well as visible entry points into the structure, which it accomplished by emphasizing the building's original hipped roof and overhanging cornice. The Center is located at 58 Prospect Avenue and, upon completion next summer, will feature upgraded HVAC, electrical, and fire safety systems.