Ontario County Organization Wins Technical Assistance Grant

Related Media

Built in 1879, Valentown Hall stands at 267 High Street in Victor.

ALBANY, NY (09/04/2013)(readMedia)-- The Preservation League of New York State has awarded a Technical Assistance Grant to a group directly engaged in the stewardship and public use of a historic building in Ontario County. A $2,950 grant to the Victor Historical Society will support the cost of a Building Conditions Survey of Valentown Hall, located at 267 High Street in Victor.

Built in 1879, Valentown Hall appears unique in New York State and an early national example of an establishment with individual retail spaces within a common interior core design, enabling consumers to visit all shops once inside. Originally, the three-story wood-frame building offered a general store, a cobbler's shop and other businesses on the first floor, service spaces on the second floor, and a ballroom on the top floor. However, a much-anticipated railroad line failed to reach Victor, and Levi Valentine's visionary project went into foreclosure in 1892.

In 1940, Valentown became a museum housing antiquarian J. Sheldon Fisher's private collection, operated in part by the Victor Historical Society. This group is now addressing a host of building and collection issues while offering tours and special programs. TAG funds will support the cost of a building conditions survey to address deferred maintenance and restoration challenges. Bero Architecture of Rochester complete the study, which will help the historical society in its stewardship of this landmark.

"The Victor Historical Society is finally moving forward with an evaluation of our historic Valentown Hall," Kathryn White, President. "This much-appreciated funding and recognition by the Preservation League and NYSCA is the foundation for our future in the community."

The Preservation League of New York State launched the Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program in 2012 to support discrete projects that preserve New York State's cultural and historic resources. Grants of up to $3,000 are available to not-for-profit arts and cultural groups and municipalities managing historic sites, museums, arts facilities and other culturally important institutions that are located in historic buildings and structures open to the public.

"In a very competitive grant round, applicants sought funds for technical studies to be carried out by preservation and design professionals which included building conditions surveys, engineering and structural analyses, and feasibility and reuse studies," said Tania Werbizky, the League's Regional Director of Technical and Grant Programs in western New York. "The Preservation League is delighted to help advance the efforts of the Victor Historical Society with this grant."

Guidelines for application for the second of two grant rounds in 2013 are now available on the League's website. Applications must be received by September 16, 2013. A total of $11,553 is available statewide for the fall funding cycle, and funded work must be completed by the end of the calendar year. Each grant recipient must provide a $500 match and the cost of the project may not exceed $3,500.

The Preservation League of New York State is a private, not-for-profit organization that works to protect and enhance the Empire State's historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods. The Technical Assistance Grant Program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

"The TAG program builds on the record of excellence the League has established with the similarly NYSCA-funded Preserve New York Grant program," said Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League. "Our TAG program fills a significant funding gap. It is tailored to provide support to worthy projects in New York that may be ineligible for grants from other sources, or may not have the scope or scale to compete at regional and national levels."

The following received TAG support in the first funding round of 2013: Montgomery County (2): Friends of Fort Plain; Mohawk Valley Collective; New York County: Lilac Preservation Project, New York; Niagara County (2): Heritage of Hope and Service, Inc., Niagara Falls; Tonawandas' Council for the Arts, North Tonawanda; Oneida County: Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, Utica; Ontario County: Victor Historical Society, Victor; Orleans County: Cobblestone Society, Albion; Saratoga County: Universal Preservation Hall, Saratoga Springs; Schoharie County: Town of Jefferson; Steuben County: Save the Lyon Commission, Inc., Bath, Suffolk County: Eastville Community Historical Society, Sag Harbor; Washington County: Whitehall Skene Manor Preservation, Inc., Whitehall.

For more information on the League's Technical Assistance Grant program, please call 518-462-5658 or visit the League's website at www.preservenys.org.