2024 AARCH Preservation Awards

For nearly 30 years, our annual awards program has recognized sensitive restoration, rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic structures that are consistent with our mission of long-term stewardship.  The awards honor the organizations, businesses, and individuals who, through these projects, make the Adirondacks better places to live, work, and visit.

 

To learn about this year's awardees, visit our website.

 

We will honor this year’s awardees at War Cannon Spirits, a rare 200-year-old mill that owner Paul Besignano reimagined as a unique place for people to gather with good food and drink while celebrating the community’s history. At the core of this building lies a mill built by Job Howe in the 1820s. It harnessed the power of the Putnam Creek as a grist and lumber mill until it was repurposed as the Crown Point Agway store in 1957, which subsequently became Porter’s Mill Hardware & Feed from 2000 to 2008. Paul Besignano saved the mill from demolition when he acquired it in 2016 and set about stabilizing the structure with the help of noted regional architect, the late Nils Luderowski. The team spent over seven years rehabilitating the structure with respect to its vernacular construction and ensuring that any changes were sensitive to the original building. War Cannon Spirits exemplifies the spirit of our preservation awards and we are proud to partner with them this year.