Four Epsilon Projects Honored with 2024 Historic Preservation Awards
June 28th, 2024
We are honored to announce that four of Epsilon’s client projects have been honored with 2024 historic preservation awards. These projects highlight our ongoing commitment to preserving the Commonwealth’s architectural heritage while seamlessly integrating modern functionality.
34 East Springfield Street in Boston’s South End received the Mayor Thomas M. Menino Legacy Award from Preservation Massachusetts. This award recognizes projects that are transformative and catalytic, fostering community engagement, creating partnerships, and revitalizing the best elements of the past for future generations.
The Lower Basin Barracks on Boston’s Esplanade was awarded The Paul & Niki Tsongas Award, the highest honor from Preservation Massachusetts. This accolade is reserved for those who demonstrate an exceptional dedication to historic preservation in Massachusetts. This project was also recognized in 2023 receiving the prestigious Officer Station Design Gold Award in the Law Enforcement Facilities III Category.
Both The Forest River Bathhouse & Pool in Salem and Frost Terrace in Cambridge were honored with Robert H. Kuehn, Jr Awards. These awards celebrate projects that exemplify collaborative partnerships and innovative approaches to rehabilitation and adaptive reuse.
These award-winning projects serve as models for future preservation efforts, showcasing how historic character can be skillfully blended with contemporary design. Epsilon was honored to support these clients by securing state and federal historic preservation tax credits, along with providing other essential services.
Additional details on each award winner follow. Congratulations!
34 East Springfield Street
34 East Springfield Street has received a 2024 Mayor Thomas M. Menino Legacy Award from Preservation Massachusetts. The project converted a long-vacant, four-unit property into five affordable one-bedroom apartments designed specifically for veterans. In addition to providing much-needed housing, this effort revitalized a historic building that had stood empty for 11 years, showcasing adaptive reuse in historic preservation and bringing renewed vibrancy to the neighborhood.
Lower Basin Barracks
The Lower Basin Barracks received a 2024 Preservation Massachusetts Paul & Niki Tsongas Award, its highest honor. It was also recognized in 2023 receiving the prestigious Officer Station Design Gold Award in the Law Enforcement Facilities III Category. The project involved the rehabilitation & expansion of the Upper Basin Barracks, preserving its historic character while modernizing the building to meet current functional needs. It also created a public green space that now serves as a welcoming gateway to Boston’s Esplanade. The expansion includes a public lobby, restroom, a versatile community room, and restored historic features, such as a new insulated roof, façade restoration, energy-efficient glazing, and interior renovations that provided office spaces, a detention area, a fitness area, and locker rooms.
The Forest River Bathhouse & Pool
The Forest River Bathhouse & Pool received a 2024 Robert H. Kuehn, Jr Award from Preservation Massachusetts. The project restored the historic bathhouse, transforming it into the fully accessible Forest River Outdoor Recreation & Nature Center. The restoration preserved key architectural features, including the exterior stucco, corner quoins, roof parapet, pool entrance, and north entrance gates, ensuring that the building’s historic character continues to enrich the community.
Frost Terrace
Frost Terrace received a 2024 Robert H. Kuehn, Jr Award from Preservation Massachusetts. The project involved three historic houses, each containing four apartments, alongside a modern addition with 28 units. To better align with the streetscape, the main house was carefully relocated 15 feet west and 8 feet north. The complex offers residents private green space, a community room, EV chargers, a laundry room, and on-site management, blending historic charm with modern amenities.
About The Experts
Douglas Kelleher, Principal and Manager, Historic Preservation Group is a leader in the field of historic preservation planning with over 30 years of experience in the public and private sectors. He served as Principal for this project. Mr. Kelleher’s prior experience includes numerous years as a Preservation Planner with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. He specializes in providing public and private sector clients with strategic consulting for complex real estate projects involving historic resources for compliance with local, state, and federal historic preservation regulations. Widely recognized as a leader in the preservation community, his well-established expertise is a cornerstone of Epsilon’s historic resources and historic tax credit practice.
Brian Lever is an Associate at Epsilon and has over 20 years of experience in architectural history and preservation planning. He has experience in implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and related local, state, and federal environmental laws, regulations, and guidelines affecting historic resources. Additionally, Mr. Lever has expertise in state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits and formerly was the Senior Preservation Planner for the City of Newton.
Erin Doherty is a Senior Preservation Planner at Epsilon with over 10 years of professional experience in cultural resource management and historic preservation planning. Having spent much of her career in the public sector including years of experience at the Massachusetts Historical Commission and Boston Landmarks Commission, she has an intimate familiarity with environmental laws, regulations, and guidelines affecting historic resources at the local, state, and federal levels. Ms. Doherty has extensive experience in state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credit applications.
Brielly McGlauflinis a Project Preservation Planner at Epsilon. Ms. McGlauflin has assisted in numerous historic tax credit rehabilitation projects throughout Massachusetts and New England and has more than 10 years of professional experience in cultural resource management and historic preservation planning. She works with environmental laws, regulations, and guidelines affecting historic resources at the local, state, and federal levels.