Village Preservation Society Honors Its Winners

The Village Preservation Society of East Hampton celebrated the winners of the 2025 Historic Preservation Award at its historic preservation award ceremony on September 20.

The society created the Historic Preservation Award to honor and promote significant preservation, rehabilitation, restoration or reconstruction projects and activities that contribute to the historic character of East Hampton and surrounding communities. In particular, the society recognizes the efforts and expense involved in preserving structures that are integral to a sense of place and are often otherwise unprotected by historic district status or regulations.

“The restoration of these buildings is a valuable community asset that needs to be celebrated,” remarked Executive Director Kathleen Cunningham. “We are so fortunate to live where our sense of place is relatively unchanged and these restoration projects ensure that will continue into the future.”

At the recommendation of Historic Preservation Committee member Paul Goldberger, this year, the society inaugurated a historic preservation award in a commercial category honoring Cindy and Mark Udell, owners of London Jewelers, for their restoration of Odd Fellows Hall, now Rolex. Accepting the award was London Jeweler COO Olivier Nourani.

Four other awards were also presented: one for a public project and three for private homes. The award in the public category recognized the restoration of the Eastville Community Historical Society headquarters in Sag Harbor. Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, executive director and chief curator, accepted the award on behalf of the organization and spoke about how the building, a Sears and Roebuck catalogue house arrived on the train, when Sag Harbor still had a railroad.

Patricia Duff and Richard Cohen were honored for their restoration of the Dr. Frederick K. Hollister Cottage, 1913, at Lily Pond Lane. Duff and Cohen spoke about the process of restoration and acknowledged the wonderful nature of historic restoration work. Dedicated to historic preservation and with respect for the environment, the house has a neutral carbon footprint.

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino were honored for their restoration of the Captain Thomas Wickham House, c. 1775, at Main Street. Their award was accepted by their architect, Tessa Crespo, and interior designer, Christina Tonkin Noble of CT Interiors. Also involved in the restoration were Marcus Borowsky, project manager for Hummel Associates, and April Taylor, CFO and project manager for CT Interiors. During construction, an old well was discovered beneath the original kitchen floor, which remains and now can be seen through glass flooring placed above it.

Louisa Rose was honored for her restoration of The Samuel Green Mulford House c. 1795, also on Main Street. Her father, Andrew Rose, was once an owner of the house. His daughter is the fourth generation to own the house, and noted how benign neglect actually saves some of the older, historic features of such homes.

In particular, these two recent renovations on East Hampton’s Main Street illustrate the ongoing care and careful preservation initiatives that are taking place along its most important thoroughfare, ensuring that the historic nature of the village is maintained, noted the press release.

After the awards were presented, a talk in the form of a Q&A took place between society Trustee Joseph B. Rose and Anthony C. Wood, author of “Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Secret Love, and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero.”

“All of us have watched sadly as we’ve seen charming old buildings razed to make way for much less architecturally appealing structures. Historic properties anchor the character of the village and, unfortunately, not all such buildings fall within the protections of designated historic districts,” said Historic Preservation Committee Chairwoman Georgia deHavenon. “The VPS sees this award as an opportunity to help shape public awareness of how important historic character is to our sense of place.”

“Today we honor the efforts of self-identified historic preservationists, whose time, energy and resources have been poured into projects that have a distinct and unique benefit to each of us as residents and as property owners,” David H. Brown, the society’s chairman, said in his opening remarks. “We thank our award winners for recognizing the value of these buildings to both the history of the individuals who occupied them before us and the greater gift of preserving important parts of our history for our community. My family has been in East Hampton since the 1600s and it is a special place. And, what makes it special are these particular characteristics — these buildings — which reflect our identity and sense of place and manifest the vision and tenacity of the original settlers. We see the VPS Historic Preservation award as an opportunity to help promote this community value on the local level and we thank our honorees for valuing this irreplaceable asset.”