Innovative Approaches to Historic Preservation

with Ann Beha, Stephen Byrns & Calder Loth

Designers use creativity and innovation to preserve and update America’s aging buildings and landscapes for 21st-century needs. They address myriad questions about historic properties including shifts in interpretation, the degree to which we may adapt them, the integration of new materials, and responses to environmental criteria, not to mention evolving building codes and changes to urban, rural, suburban, or exurban contexts.

On June 10, 2025, the ICAA was pleased to partner with the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation for presentations and a panel discussion exploring key issues in historic preservation through three projects: the Grolier Club’s exhibition galleries in New York City, the “dynamic preservation” and reconstruction of the Menokin house museum in Virginia, and the restoration of the formal landscape at Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers. Moderated by Benjamin Prosky, president of the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation, and held at the newly restored Grolier Club, the presentations and panel discussed critical decisions made under constraints and why, in some cases, combinations of preservation, renovation and new design proved more suitable than restoration.

This is the second event in The Richard H. Jenrette Preservation Series established in partnership with the ICAA and made possible through a grant from the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation.

Ann Beha, Founder of Ann Beha Architects, leads a national and international practice best known for championing preservation and adaptive use in dialogue with contemporary design. Ann’s work invites us to renew and reconsider our existing buildings and resources, expanding the impact and identity of civic, educational, and cultural settings. Her 40-year practice delivered planning and design projects at MIT, Harvard, Yale, the Boston Symphony and the Boston Athenaeum, the US Embassies in Paris, Manila, and Athens, the Smithsonian Institution, and numerous academic, community-based and cultural organizations. Ann has designed exhibitions for museums and special collections nationally, and led the renovation of the Grolier Club’s exhibition hall.

ABA, now Annum Architects, has been honored by the American Institute of Architects and its chapters, and Ann has received the Boston Society of Architects’ Honor Award, the Women in Design Award of Excellence, and the inaugural Award of Honor from the US Department of State, Overseas Building Operations. Ann is Senior Collaborating Architect at annum, and as an independent architect, working with young and emerging firms to explore new approaches to planning, design, and historic resources.

Ann’s Master of Architecture degree is from MIT; she holds a BA from Wellesley College and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Ann serves on Harvard’s Campus Design Advisory Council, has been Distinguished Visiting Professor of Design at City College of New York and the Robert A M Stern Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale University.

Stephen F. Byrns founded the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy in 2011 and is its president. A graduate of Princeton and Columbia Universities, Byrns was a founding partner of BKSK Architects, a successful architectural firm in New York City that was established in 1985.

Byrns was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to serve as a Landmarks Preservation Commissioner on the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission from 2004-10. He served on the Board of Wave Hill from 2000-2010.

Byrns lived in Yonkers in the 1990’s, when he discovered Untermyer Park and Gardens. He revisited it in 2010 when told that the fountains had been turned on after decades of disuse. The more he learned about Samuel Untermyer’s garden, the more he was convinced that a conservancy should be established to work with the City of Yonkers to make it once again one of the greatest gardens in America.

A Board of Directors was established, and Marco Polo Stufano, the retired founding Director of Horticulture at Wave Hill, was engaged to be the Conservancy’s horticultural advisor. Sufficient funds were raised to hire Timothy Tilghman to be its first horticulturist in 2011 and there is currently a staff of 11 horticulturists at the garden. Byrns started full-time work at the Conservancy in early 2016.

Recognition of the Conservancy’s efforts has been swift and widespread, with significant coverage from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart Living, Elle Decor and other publications. National awards have been presented, including the Garden Club of America, Institute for Classical Architecture & Art, Foundation for Landscape Studies and the Victorian Society of America.

Calder Loth is the retried Senior Architectural Historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources where he still works part time. Calder serves on preservation advisory committees for the University of Virginia, Preservation Virginia, and the Historic Richmond Foundation among others. He is also a member of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Council of Advisors, Vice President of the Center for Palladian Studies in America, and an honorary trustee of the Menokin Foundation. His awards include the Secretary of the Interior’s Preservation Award for service to state preservation programs, the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Board of Directors Honor Award, and the Virginia AIA Honor Award for contributions to the understanding of Virginia’s built environment.

His publications include The Virginia Landmarks Register, Virginia Landmarks of Black History, the Making of Virginia Architecture, and Lost Virginia, as well as numerous published and blog articles relating to traditional and classical architecture. Ten of his ICAA video lectures, are available on YouTube.

Thank you also to our generous sponsors:
Lead Annual Public Programs Sponsor: RINCK
Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Dell Mitchell Architects
Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Hyde Park Mouldings