1999 Preservation Awards
Academy of Music
Philadelphia, PA
AWARD for the lengthy and meticulous restoration to its Victorian splendor of this oldest opera house (1859) in continuous operation in the United States.
Philadelphia’s Academy of Music is both a celebrated historical landmark and a current focus of cultural life in the city. Opened in 1857, the Academy is the oldest grand opera house in the United States still used for its original purpose.
A multi-million-dollar renovation commenced in 1994. The six-phase project involves major structural work, backstage theatrical modernization, and improvements to audience services that are designed to take the Academy of music into the 21st century as one of the foremost performing arts centers in the world.
Website: Academy of Music
Stockyard Exchange Building
South St. Paul, MN
COMMENDATION : “No handsomer live stock Exchange is to be found in the West than this one at South St. Paul,” the South St. Paul Reporter noted in 1887 after the Stockyard Exchange Building opened. Built by the recently formed Union Stockyards Company, the Exchange Building housed commission firms and other businesses associated with the adjacent stockyards, which became the largest stockyards in the United States.·
Initially, the building served other functions as well: the town’s first post office occupied it, the city council presided before the construction of the city hall in 1890, and the city’s first bank, Stockyards National Bank, held space.
Architect Charles A. Reed designed the Exchange Building. Reed graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before coming to St. Paul in 1881 where he later went into partnership with A. H. Stern. Reed and Stern gained national prominence primarily through their design of railroad stations which surmounted 100 in the United States.
Website: DakotaHistory.org