The New York Landmarks Conservancy on Tuesday announced the winners of the 2025 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards, the organization’s highest honor recognizing excellence in historic preservation.
This year’s recipients of the awards, which highlights architectural preservation and heritage, include several significant Brooklyn sites, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza, 7 South Portland Ave., 1450 Pacific St., and the New York City Housing Authority’s Exodus and Dance Frieze at Kingsborough Houses, according to a press release.
The awards ceremony will take place on April 22 at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan, drawing an audience of more than 500 preservationists, architects and city officials.
“The ‘Lucy’s’ celebrate amazing preservation projects from throughout the city that might otherwise remain unheralded,” said Peg Breen, president of The New York Landmarks Conservancy. “It’s a lively evening showcasing the vision, determination and love people have for their historic properties.”
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge underwent a five-year restoration, a project overseen by the NYC Department of Transportation. It included extensive conservation efforts on the bridge’s granite, limestone and brick structures. Using a combination of traditional and modern techniques, restoration specialists repaired cracks, repainted masonry, and cleaned historic surfaces. The bridge now shines brighter at night with a new LED lighting system, further enhancing its status as one of the city’s most recognized landmarks.
Grand Army Plaza’s Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch
Another Brooklyn landmark receiving recognition is the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza. Originally dedicated in 1892, the arch commemorates Union soldiers lost in the Civil War. The restoration, led by NYC Parks and the Prospect Park Alliance, included structural stabilization, cleaning, and the installation of new drainage and ventilation systems. The work also uncovered long-hidden bronze elements and reinforced the arch’s quadriga sculpture, setting the stage for future public access and programming.
7 South Portland Ave.
This impressive 1876 mansion in Fort Greene anchors the block with a richly detailed symmetrical façade, robust iron railings and a slate mansard roof. But the shareholders of this eight-unit co-op faced problems familiar to many homeowners: years of deferred maintenance and repairs left their home in poor condition, with a deteriorating façade, a worn mansard covered with protective mesh, damaged ironwork, and inadequate windows. The brownstone underwent a complete façade and window restoration, spearheaded by Easton Architects.
1450 Pacific St.
1450 Pacific is an 1882 villa with neo-Grec and Italianate details. It features an elaborate, wraparound wood porch, three-sided oriel windows and a dramatic wood cornice. All of these elements, along with the brick façade, were deteriorated and sometimes failing when Komaru Enterprises and nc2 Architecture LLC, and a team of professionals began to work. They transformed the building, improving the exterior, and converting the two-story, single-family house into two, full-floor duplex homes. First, the structure was stabilized, and bricks restored and repointed. Wood elements at the cornice and porch were repaired or replaced to exactly match the original. Twenty original wood windows were removed, restored, and reglazed with insulated glass units and reinstalled. Windows that couldn’t be restored were replaced with new wood windows that match their predecessors.
NYCHA: Exodus and Dance Frieze, Kingsborough Houses
This majestic frieze by noted Black and LGBT sculptor Richmond Barthé was created under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration. It dates to 1939 and was intended for placement at the Harlem River Houses, but was installed at Kingsborough Houses when it opened in 1941. The cast stone frieze depicts stylized Biblical imagery and African dance figures. By 2018, it had suffered extreme deterioration, with open joints, hairline cracks, large holes, and graffiti. Public attention to this plight led to Federal, City Council, and grant funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to finance a scope of work. Ronnette Riley Architect and EverGreene Architectural Arts collaborated on the project to restore the frieze, re-set it at a new supportive wall and upgrade the lighting. Remaining funds will be used for an interpretation and education program.
