SUNY Broome’s Culinary & Event Center Receives a 2021 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award
This award from the Preservation League of NYS recognizes the best in the field of historic preservation
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Binghamton, NY, 11/16/21 — SUNY Broome’s Culinary & Event Center has been named one of this year’s Excellence in Historic Preservation award winners. Since 1984, the Preservation League’s statewide awards program has highlighted projects, organizations, publications, and individuals that exemplify best practices in historic preservation and recognize the people who are using historic preservation to build stronger neighborhoods, create local jobs, provide affordable housing, open our eyes to overlooked history, and save the places that are special to all of us.
Additional information about the 2021 Excellence Award winners, including interviews, videos, and more, can be found on our website: https://www.preservenys.org/excellence-awards
“Since the very beginning, community colleges have been democracy’s college, a place where anyone could pursue knowledge and education, not just a special few,” said Dr. Kevin Drumm, President of SUNY Broome Community College. “This means that in addition to keeping the historic building intact, the SUNY Broome Culinary & Event Center is successfully preserving the building’s essential mission as the people’s college – a place of learning open to all.”
The Beaux Arts-style Carnegie Library opened in downtown Binghamton in 1904 and was home to the city’s library for 96 years. The building remained vacant from 2000-2016, falling into a state of disrepair. Thanks to a meticulous restoration, this historic building is serving an educational purpose once again as SUNY Broome’s state-of-the-art Culinary & Event Center. In addition to technologically advanced culinary, hospitality, and event amenities, many historic details have been painstakingly restored, including elaborate plaster and ceiling ornamentation, swirling ironwork, and original tile floors.
“Despite years of vacancy, Binghamton’s Carnegie Library remained a landmark for the community,” said Preservation League President Jay DiLorenzo. “In rehabilitating this historic space, SUNY Broome has preserved an important piece of the city’s history while making it relevant and functional for its modern use.”
The SUNY Broome Culinary & Event Center project was funded thanks in part to state and federal Historic Tax Credits, New Market Tax Credits, SUNY Community College Capital Funds, NYS Municipal Facilities Program, and an Empire State Development Corp. grant.
The SUNY Broome Culinary & Event Center project team included: SUNY Broome Community College – Dr. Kevin Drumm, President, Michael Sullivan, Vice President for Administrative and Financial Affairs, David Ligeikis, Director of Facilities Management, Professor Rey Wojdat, Former Chair of Hospitality Programs Department, Dr. Penny Haynes, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Beth Mollen, Former Associate Vice President and Dean of Business & Professional Studies.
Our shared cultural history grounds us and helps us better understand who we are as New Yorkers and as Americans. The 10 projects honored this year are strikingly different, but they all remind us that preservation is about people as much as it is about our built environment. The Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards program is integral and essential to the work of the League. This year’s award recipients represent the very best of what the League stands for and supports in historic preservation.
2021 Awardees:
- Clinton Avenue Historic Apartments | Albany, Albany County
- Proctors Collaborative: Capital Repertory Theatre + Universal Preservation Hall | Albany, Albany County + Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County
- SUNY Broome Culinary & Event Center | Binghamton, Broome County
- Arbor Gerard Block and the Carroll Street Warehouse Rehabilitation Project | Elmira, Chemung County
- Steven Engelhart | Keeseville, Clinton County
- Preservation Buffalo Niagara | Buffalo, Erie County
- Whitcomb’s Garage Adaptive Reuse Project | Whallonsburg, Essex County
- Green-Wood’s Historic Chapel | Brooklyn, Kings County
- Central Presbyterian Church Exterior Restoration | Manhattan, New York County
- @syracusehistory (Instagram by David Haas) | Syracuse, Onondaga County
The 2021 Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards are sponsored by the Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation.
About the Preservation League of New York State
The Preservation League of NYS was founded in 1974 and serves as the only statewide nonprofit focused on historic preservation in New York. The League invests in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth, and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. We lead advocacy, economic development, and education programs across the state.
Connect with us at preservenys.org, facebook.com/preservenys, twitter.com/preservenys, and instagram.com/preservenys.
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