Top Prize Awarded to Drawing of Historic Virginia Landmark

November 24, 2019 - The Library of Congress and the National Park Service (NPS) have announced that the 2019 Leicester B. Holland Prize will be presented to an architectural team at Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., led by Christopher Howard, an assistant professor of architecture and planning. The prize honors an outstanding historic building, structure or landscape drawing.

(Left) Top prize drawing by architectural team at Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., led by Christopher Howard. Features the Old Dominion Bank Building, now known as the Athenaeum, built in 1851 in Alexandria, Virginia.

The top prize went to a drawing featuring the Old Dominion Bank Building, now known as the Athenaeum, built in 1851 in Alexandria, Virginia. The Athenaeum is a unique civic structure and among the finest examples of Greek Revival design in the heart of Old Town Alexandria. The historic site has been a bank, a hospital, an apothecary storehouse, a church, a performance hall and a museum. The building has only had minor restorations to its structure since it was built 168 years ago.

The winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a certificate of recognition. Preservation Architect, the online newsletter of the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Resources Committee, will publish the winning drawing.

Honorable mention was awarded to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and its team, Kyra Lomas and Ashley Wilson, for a survey drawing showcasing one of two bandstands at the U.S. Soldiers Home in Washington, D.C. Classical revival in design, the two structures were originally constructed in 1903 for recreational and formal purposes, such as funerals, parades, dignitary visits and public performances.

The Leicester B. Holland Prize recognizes the best single-sheet, measured drawing of a historic building, site or structure prepared to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) or the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). It is an annual competition administered by the Heritage Documentation Programs of the National Park Service.   The competition’s jury recommends winners to a special program, the Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, which supports the prize through the Paul Rudolph Trust. For information on how to participate in the Holland Prize competition, visit the NPS official contest website.

The Holland Prize is intended to increase awareness, knowledge and appreciation of historic sites, structures and landscapes throughout the United States, and to encourage the submission of drawings by professionals and students. All the drawings accepted for the competition will be added to the permanent HABS, HAER and HALS Collection in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Images of Holland Prize drawings can be found at this Library website. 

The prize honors Leicester B. Holland (1882-1952), who was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); chairman of the AIA’s Committee on Historic Buildings; head of the Fine Arts Division of the Library of Congress and first curator of the HABS collection; a co-founder of the HABS program in the 1930s; and the first chair of the HABS advisory board.

The Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering is a program in the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress. It was established by a bequest from the distinguished American architect Paul Rudolph, who was a proponent of the art of architectural drawing. The program sponsors activities and publications to engage the public with the Library’s rich collections. For more information, visit loc.gov/rr/print/adecenter/adecent.html.

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Source: LOC