R.E.M. receives Phinizy Spalding Award

On Monday, June 7, the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation awarded the Phinizy Spalding Preservation Award, its most prestigious, to R.E.M.  Phinizy Spalding was a fixture in historic preservation in Athens for over two decades. A noted and loved history professor at the University of Georgia, his influence is, in small measure, reflected by the 4 awards the Heritage Foundation bestowed upon him…starting in 1972 with a Community Service Award and then, over the next 25 years, three more awards for restoration, rehabilitation and, most notably, his role in saving the Seney-Stovall Chapel.

Read the full article on REM and see a new video commissioned by ACHF here.

Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation Annual Meeting

ACHF held its 2010 Annual Meeting and Preservation Awards on Monday, June 7, at the historic Morton Theatre as part of the Morton’s Centennial Celebration. Joyce Reifsteck, Special Events Coordinator for the Morton Theatre Centennial Celebration, welcomed the 150 member crowd and recounted the Heritage Foundation’s 1976 Tour of Homes which featured a performance at the then abandoned Morton to draw attention to the historic theatre’s condition.

Read the full article and see pictures from the event here.

2010 Preservation Awards

The highlight of the 2010 Annual Meeting was, as always, the presentation of awards.  This year the ceremony was kicked off by a special presentation of a new award, the Jeanné M. Downs Community Spirit Award, by Church-Waddel-Brumby House Museum Chair Laura Straehla and member John Waters. Jeanne Down’s daughter, Linda Downs Easterlin, accepted the award.

President-elect Jennifer Lewis, also Chair of the Preservation Awards Committee, then presented the 2010 Preservation Awards.

See all the Award-winners and reception photos here.