News and Media

Published: May 12, 2011


SAVANNAH, Georgia - Historic Savannah Foundation, a leading preservation organization committed to protecting the city's heritage, has awarded the Savannah College of Art and Design with one of its esteemed 2011 Preservation Awards. The award recognizes individuals and organizations demonstrating excellence in historic preservation. SCAD's rehabilitation of the Clarence Thomas Center for Historic Preservation garnered the award.

Historic Savannah Foundation Preservation Awards recognize outstanding local projects completed within the last three years. These juried awards are judged for the success they have achieved in the preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and interpretation of architectural and cultural heritage. The general evaluation criteria include quality, degree of difficulty and the ultimate positive impact the project has on the surrounding community.

"These awards are very competitive and recognize the gold standard of preservation work," said Daniel Carey, president and CEO of Historic Savannah Foundation. "They also offer an opportunity to inform the public about what to emulate. We put forth these winners as examples to follow so that other projects aspire to this high standard."

In January 2010, SCAD opened its historic preservation department's new home, the Clarence Thomas Center for Historic Preservation. The center stands adjacent to the site of the St. Benedict the Moor church and grammar school which Savannah native and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas attended as a child. The church and school were staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who came to Savannah in the early 20th century to work with the African-American community. Their adjacent convent, constructed in 1908, closed nearly 40 years ago, but not before Justice Thomas acquired many of his earliest ideas and beliefs about justice, equality and the importance of education from the sisters.

SCAD purchased the dilapidated property in the 1990s and fully restored the Greek Revival-style structure to serve as the home of its world-renowned historic preservation program. The facility includes an intimate lecture hall, formerly the convent chapel, in which talks by prominent scholars and preservationists take place. The building also contains a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory and separate restoration workshop, drafting classrooms, lecture classrooms and exhibition spaces for SCAD artwork and architectural artifacts. SCAD's Clarence Thomas Center for Historic Preservation also houses the university's outreach programs in historic preservation, where students and faculty work to advance the restoration, adaptive reuse and sustainability of historic buildings-both nationally and internationally.

At SCAD, historic preservation addresses history and technology, as well as social issues and economic aspects. Within dedicated conservation science facilities, students benefit from historic preservation lab spaces and learn methods of restoration and the practical and economic considerations involved in rehabilitating and reusing historic structures and sites.

For 30 years, SCAD has been recognized as a leader in the field of historic preservation education and practice, with more than 100 historic buildings rehabilitated in the United States, France and Hong Kong. The university has received a National Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, multiple preservation awards from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and Historic Savannah Foundation, and has been recognized for its work in historic preservation from the National Park Service, International Downtown Association and others. Many of the university's buildings are of such esteemed architectural and historical significance as to be on the National Register of Historic Places. Woven throughout the fabric of Savannah, SCAD facilities include many historic buildings that have been rehabilitated by the university for contemporary use and for the benefit of SCAD students. This unique "recycled" urban campus is an ideal setting for the study of historic preservation and has become a model for preservationists worldwide.

About Historic Savannah Foundation
Historic Savannah Foundation is a non-profit historic preservation organization supported by a strong and dedicated membership. The foundation was established in 1955 in order to save the 1820 Isaiah Davenport House from demolition. From this initial project, Historic Savannah Foundation launched a Revolving Fund that has since saved 350 buildings and counting. The mission of Historic Savannah Foundation is to preserve and protect Savannah's heritage through advocacy, education and community involvement.