NAPA COUNTY LANDMARKS CELEBRATES 30TH YEAR,
HANDS OUT LATEST AWARDS
Saturday, June 12, 2004
By SUSAN POWERS KENNELLY
Special to the Register
Napa County Landmarks celebrated its 30th year of preserving the architectural and cultural heritage of Napa as it announced its Awards of Merit for Excellence in Historic Preservation in May.
A total of nine award recipients were cited, including a winery, a farm, a chapel, a theater and a magazine.
Leslie Rudd, was named "Preservationist of the Year," Landmarks' highest honor, for his commitment to preservation issues. Two of the projects in which he was involved were also award winners: The Edge Hill Distillery 209, built in the late 19 th century, for restoration of an existing historic building, and the Still House at Greystone, the former site of the Christian Brothers Winery in St. Helena, for adaptive reuse of an historic building. The Still House now serves as the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America.
Also honored for restoration is the Schuppert House, at the corner of Vallejo and Brown streets in downtown Napa. Owner Erik Nickel himself did the restoration work on this 1875 Italianate Victorian. His work is seen as an impetus for the preservation renaissance now taking hold in the historic St. John's District.
Two dissimilar projects won for rehabilitation or adaptive reuse. The first, the Brown Family Estate off Sage Canyon Road, boasts a beautiful family home rescued from a derelict ruin. The old 1859 green sandstone and redwood barn has also been revived. These antique structures retain their architectural integrity and continue their agricultural purposes as a farmhouse and winery.
In town, the rehabilitation of the Napa Valley Opera House was cited not only for its architectural fidelity but also for the steadfast commitment it represents to reestablish a major cultural resource and to aid in the revitalization of Main Street. John Whitridge III, founder of Napa County Landmarks and Tom Thornley, past president of Landmarks, were among the leaders of this project.
A new category of Cultural Landscapes was introduced this year. The Hoffman Farm on Silverado Trail is perhaps the last non-grapegrowing agricultural area in the Valley, with structures and plantings that bring back to life the world of 19 th century agriculture.
The Faith Chapel of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church is an outdoor place of prayer and meditation, enhanced by careful landscape planning, set among redwoods and cedars.
The final award for cultural resources and preservation planning was given to the Napa Valley Museum for its new publication "Napa Valley History Art Environment."
The event, which benefited Landmarks Preservation Action Fund, was held at Edge Hill Winery in St. Helena. Napa County Landmarks is Napa Valley's nonprofit historic preservation organization. Membership is open to all. For further information please contact (707) 255-1836.