R&F Honored by Friends of Historic Kingston
April 21st, 2009 by Richard
The mission of Friends of Historic Kingston is to preserve the architectural heritage of Kingston. This heritage includes the 17th century Dutch bluestone buildings and the 19thcentury churches, houses, and factory buildings from the city’s canal and industrial era. Many of the factories and houses were built with the red brick manufactured locally at plants along the Hudson River.
R&F’s building is a great example of these red brick factory buildings. It was built in the 1890s by Standard Oil and later housed plumbing supply, oil filtration, and electronics businesses. When we bought the building in 2005, it was in a sad state of decay. The masonry was crumbling, severe mold infected much of the interior, dropped ceilings were falling apart, floor boards were rotting, the heating and cooling systems were ancient, etc. Any of you who’ve ever bought a handyman special, knows the story.
When we renovated, we ripped out the drop ceilings to reveal the roof beams, scraped through paint layers to reveal the original colors, repartitioned the rooms to create gallery, production, workshop, and office spaces, upgraded the utilities, etc. In short, we brought this gem of a building back to its former glory.
In recognition of our work, Friends of Historic Kingston honored us at their annual meeting with a preservation award. We were very proud to receive it, because we see it as a collaboration between the arts community and the historic preservationists to make the Kingston area all the more attractive to artists seeking affordable and less pressured areas in which to settle.
Break room
The Gallery at R&F
Workshop Room
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