Preservation Awards

Preserve Chattanooga seeks to recognize people and projects for the outstanding rehabilitation, restoration, preservation, adaptive reuse and/or long-term stewardship of historically significant places in Chattanooga and Hamilton County.

OUR AWARD CATEGORIES:

PRESERVATION MERIT

A Preservation Merit Award recognizes an outstanding rehabilitation, restoration, preservation, and/or adaptive reuse of an architecturally significant building, structure, or site.

PRESERVATION STEWARDSHIP

A Preservation Stewardship Award recognizes those who have ensured the ongoing preservation of a historic building, structure, or site through long-term care and continuous ownership for a minimum of five (5) years. Any individual, family, organization, government agency, or business involved in long-term care and stewardship are eligible.

RISING STAR

Our Rising Star Award recognizes the efforts of a person 30 or younger who has made a substantial impact within the field of preservation in Chattanooga.

NOMINATION FORM

Nominate a place or person for a Preservation Award by starting with the form below. We’ll be back in touch with more information. Applications are accepted at any time throughout the year.

2023 Merit Award - Collier Construction for Mill Town Water Tower Restoration

  • The water tower is visible for miles from those traveling through Chattanooga from the interstate. It was covered in graffiti and disrepair for decades, a sign of our city's industrial past and our current blight. The water tower restoration was the first of a multi-phase redevelopment we call Mill Town. The entire tower had to be enclosed during the lead-based paint remediation and resurfacing. Now the beautiful tower serves our city as a beacon to our forward progress and the hope for a new and vibrant future for some of our cities most forgotten communities.

  • Collier Construction

    Tower Services, LLC

    PPG

    Widgets & Stone

    James Parham, American Pride Electric Co., LLC

2023 Stewardship Award - Nancy Poston for the J.H. Warner House

  • Nancy has spent the past ten years meticulously restoring the Warner home's exterior and interior, along with its carriage house. The carriage house, which had been subdivided and sold from the original house, was later purchased by Nancy to link the two buildings back together as they were historically. When it comes to restoration, Nancy never misses a detail down to recreating every missing piece of carved woodwork designs and rebuilding the the carriage house's large limestone retaining wall to the exact standards and methods used historically. As one of Preserve Chattanooga's first projects in 1978, this award would come full circle for Nancy to be awarded for her continued stewardship of the Warner Home. If you ask anyone in Fort Wood, they will tell you that Nancy is not only a steward of her home, but is a steward of preservation, and the importance of preserving architecture and history.

  • The J.H. Warner House facade is protected by a Preserve Chattanooga easement.

2023 Stewardship Award - Garnet Chapin for Grey Rocks

  • Built in 1915 by Mrs. Napoleon Lodor, Grey Rocks remained in the original family’s possession until 2016, when it fell into disrepair and became bank-owned after the last heir, James Thomas Williams III, passed away. In 2018, Bank of America held an auction to liquidate the property. At the auction, historic preservationist and architect Garnet Chapin outbid more than half a dozen other parties, one of which intended to demolish the house and construct three condominiums on the site. Thankfully, Garnet's intention was to protect the site and restore the house and grounds to their former beauty, and that is exactly what he has done. Not only has Garnet rescued this house from certain destruction; he has kept a 1915 home that was largely intact just as it was for all his guests to experience.