The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Giving some recognition
New award honors preservation and restoration efforts
By Sue G. Collins, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 15, 2007
Inspired by the renovation of her 1894 Saline home and the transformation of the historic home across the street owned by Calesta and Chad Harrison, Terri Sibo-Koenig created a new award to recognize others who contribute to the preservation and revitalization of Saline's historic properties.
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Sibo-Koenig and her husband, Ron Koenig, spent years painstakingly restoring their home on South Ann Arbor Street from the foundation to the roof and just about everything in between, carefully choosing materials and doing much of the work themselves.
A few years later, they watched the house the street undergo a magical transformation after the Harrisons bought it and, among other major projects, ripped down siding, hand-crafted new window frames and sills and restored the home with period features to bring it back with historical accuracy and beauty.
"Watching the amount of work Calesta and Chad did to bring the house back was amazing. The process inspired me to want to publicly acknowledge people who preserve, restore or rehabilitate a building in our community," said Sibo-Koenig, who is a Saline City Council trustee.
So, she created the Pride of Saline Historic Preservation Award to honor preservation, restoration and rehabilitation efforts in the city of Saline. The annual award focuses on exterior project and properties throughout the city, not just in the established historic districts in five categories: residential restoration commercial/non-residential restoration, new construction, residential rehabilitation, commercial/non-residential rehabilitation and stewardship.
The new construction award is for sensitive design and careful construction of a new structure that has a direct relational impact on surrounding historic properties or for an addition or major change to an existing historic property.
The Stewardship Award will be given for consistent maintenance of a historic property or impeccable workmanship on a historic property by a contractor.
Sibo-Koenig presented her idea to the Saline Historic District Commission and the Saline Area Historical Society, and both agreed to support the award.
The historic commission allocated $500 for publicity materials, including a brochure that Sibo-Koenig wrote and designed. Other Saline business sponsors that have climbed on board are The UPS Store and Bridgewater Lumber.
Nomination forms are available at Saline City Hall and Saline District Library, and are being accepted through May 1. All nominees will be recognized with lawn signs to be posted throughout May, National Historic Preservation Month, as designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
"This is a very low-cost, high-impact award project and I really believe it will give us the opportunity to honor those who are working to sustain the historic beauty of our community," Sibo-Koenig said.
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