BBB & The Fitch Fellows
BBB has an ongoing relationship with the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation. As an architect, preservationist, and former Director of Historic Preservation at BBB, the contributions of the late Dr. Fitch to the fields of architecture, planning, and preservation provide inspiration to the Foundation’s Fellows. Today BBB continues to support Dr. Fitch’s mission, led by BBB’s Managing Partner and Chairman of the Fitch Foundation, Fred Bland.
In the spirit of carrying out the mission of James Marston Fitch, the Fitch Foundation will host The Second James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation Symposium in October, 2014. For it’s 25th Anniversary, the Foundation will present The Accidental Preservationist: Artists, Artisians, Outliers & the Future of Historic Preservation, a symposium to explore the influence of various modern-day, non-traditional practitioners of historic preservation.
About the Fitch Foundation
The Fitch Foundation was established in recognition of Dr. James Marston Fitch’s unique contribution to the field of historic preservation in the United States. An internationally-renowned advocate of the built environment, Dr. Fitch founded the Preservation Program at Columbia University and later served as the first Director of Historic Preservation at BBB.
The Foundation’s mission is to advance the study and the practice of the preservation of historic and architectural heritage in the United States through research grant programs, including the Richard L. Blinder Award, established in memory of Richard Blinder, a Founding Partner of BBB and champion of the creative integration of preservation and innovation. BBB has provided financial support to the Foundation since its inception.
The 2014 Fellows
On June 16, 2014, Frederick Bland, Managing Partner of BBB and Chairman of the Fitch Foundation, hosted a reception and lecture in celebration of the Foundation’s newly-elected 2014 Fitch Fellows. The year’s Fellows reflect the geographical diversity and range of subject in American historic preservation today. The evening featured a lecture by James O’Day, recipient of the 2012 Samuel H. Kress Mid-Career Fellowship for his project Edward Godfrey Lawson: Continuum of Classicism.
Adrian Scott Fine, Fitch Mid-Career Fellow
“Picking Up the Pieces: Preserving Urban Renewal’s Modern Legacy”
Adrian Scott Fine’s project will explore the debate now taking shape across the country about what to do with the modern era buildings and landscapes of the controversial period of Urban Renewal during the 1960s and 70s. Adrian Scott Fine will provide a basis for better understanding these places and how to approach them through a preservation perspective.
Beatriz del Cueto, Fitch Mid-Career Freestyle Fellowship
“Concrete Block and Hydraulic Cement Floor Tile in the Tropics”
Beatriz del Cueto’s project will survey the use of highly ornamental concrete block and cement floor tile and mosaics used in tropical architecture during the early 20th century. Structures from this period that have survived are mostly neglected, and ultimately demolished for lack of historic relevance or as a result of ever-changing architectural tastes. The project will focus on Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Rebecca Ward, Richard L. Blinder Award for Architecture Fellow
“Reinventing the Broadway Theatre in Cape Girardeau, Missouri”
Rebecca Ward will conduct a site assessment and create an action plan for the now vacant Broadway Theater, a historic 1921 vaudeville theater. Rebecca Ward will engage the local community in their vision for the theater, creating a major catalytic impact on the downtown’s revitalization. Rebecca Ward’s project will serve to promote the building’s reuse while serving as a guide for other small towns in their efforts to save empty downtown theatre buildings.
Amanda Schachter & Alexander Levi, Richard L. Blinder Award for Architecture Fellow
“Bronx River Right-of-Way: Reclaiming Cass Gilbert’s Westchester Avenue Station for the Waterfront Part II: 2013-2014”
Recipients of the 2011 Blinder Award, Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi will expand on their project studying the reuse and rehabilitation of the Westchester Avenue Train Station in the Bronx. Previously, Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi envisioned a scenario to transform the abandoned station into a gateway, beacon, and intermodal node for the park, neighborhood, greenway, and river. The second Blinder Award will help bring their vision closer to reality with the support of a feasibility study for the station.
