A recent Village 14 post reported that the Nathaniel Allen House had just won Preservation Massahusett’s Tsongas Award for the beautiful reconstruction that the newton Cultural Alliance did on this history-filled building.
Now the Allen House has also been nominated as a candidate for Preservation Mass’s People’s Choice Award. This one is decided by votes from the public. If you like what they’ve done and want to support Newton’s historic preservation, cast a vote for the Allen House here – https://www.preservationmass.org/peoples-preservation-choice
I voted for the home team but the two in Leominster look spectacular. I hope we do as well with the Armory in a few years!
The Allen House restoration project needs only 17 votes to tie with the People’s Choice current leading vote collector, the Carter School Apartments preservation project in Leominster. (2278-2261). No other projects even come close in the voting. Ask your friends to vote for this well executed restoration in our midst.
I believe you can also vote once/day. So keep on voting for the Allen House!
Thanks, Jerry, for posting this. All of us at the Allen Center are extraordinarily proud of this award as well as the completion of Newton’s new home for arts and culture.
If you are emailing friends about the Allen House award, please feel free to send the link to the Allen Center brochure:
https://www.flipsnack.com/NewtonCulturalAlliance/nathaniel-allen-center-hi0bmnxwb1/full-view.html
I don’t know how fair the criteria are for “The People’s Choice” award if people can vote multiple times. The score today (after I voted for the second time) was 3976 votes for the Carter School Apartments in Leominster to 3484 votes for the Nathaniel Allen House. Does anyone know what this award would mean in furthering the use/re-use of the Allen House? Should we sit, like robots, and vote repeatedly for some useful reason other than bragging rights?
Fair question, Sallee. While there is no monetary award that comes with either the Tsongas Award or the People’s Choice Award, if you read our brochure, you will see that the Newton Cultural Alliance is in the middle of a renewed capital campaign to pay for the renovation and conversion of the Allen Center that was stalled by COVID restrictions. Part of our capital campaign is publicizing the new home for arts and culture in Newton and the mission and purpose of the NCA. We are very hopeful that COVID restrictions on public gatherings outside will be lifted by Summer and lifted for indoor performances by Fall as more people in Massachusetts get vaccinated. There is a great deal of pent up demand for performances, events and other uses that will allow us to cover our operative expenses and, we hope, help to retire the debt on our building. But until then, we feel that the more people know and care about the Allen Center the more likely we will succeed in raising the funds we need to open the Allen Center to the public.
The Nathaniel Allen House is in third place as of 2:35 PM, May 6. Newton’s entry has about 800 votes fewer than the Leominster entry. Time to call out the troops!
I voted again today (legal to do so). Here is the tally which indicates a poor third place for the Allen House, after the Mayflower II and the Leominster Apartments. Get your voting lever ready to add to an Allen House win. As Ted indicated above, it buys PR prestige that can generate necessary funding!
SUMMARY
No Response 45
Carter School Apartments, Leominster 10169
Fitchburg City Hall 476
George Walter Smith Art Museum, Springfield 335
Jenkins Block Building, Whitman 7
Mayflower II, Plymouth 12630
Nathaniel T. Allen House, West Newton 8373
Oliver Wendell Holmes Library at Phillips Academy 104
Reed Toy Factory, Leominster 81
St. Gabriel’s, Brighton 9436