The annual Heritage Awards have brought public awareness to New Rochelle’s long and distinctive history by highlighting local properties with historical or architectural significance. In the few years since they were begun by the Heritage Task Force, these awards have bestowed a handsome plaque on 25 sites including last year’s recipients: the Soldier’s Monument at the intersection of Main and Huguenot Streets, which was erected in 1895 and 1896; the Leonard Talner Building on Main Street, a well-preserved example of the Art Deco style of New Rochelle’s boom years in the 1920s; and the Daniel Webster Magnet Elementary School, built in 1930 and designed to reflect the style of the surrounding homes in the then-newly-developed Glenwood Lake neighborhood.
Nominations are now being accepted through January 10 for the 2012 awards in the following categories:
- Residences older than 50 years
- Stellar restoration, residence
- Stellar restoration, adaptive reuse
- Home of nationally prominent individual
- Significant architect or architectural style
- Landscape or landscape feature (eg. cemeteries, stone walls, signs; excepting gardens)
- Public or quasi-public structures (eg. house of worship, home of an organization, etc. ) that are significant to New Rochelle’s history
You can find out more information about the awards and nominate a property by downloading the official guidelines and application form from the City’s website.