Historic Macon recognized significant achievements in preservation Thursday night with its 2024 Preservation Awards.

The awards were part of the foundation’s annual meeting, which drew more than 125 people to the offices of Tier 2 Technologies in a late 19th century industrial building off Riverside Drive. The meeting also featured highlights from the organization’s fiscal year, presentation of incoming trustees and events scheduled in May for National Preservation Month.

Historic Macon presented 10 awards in all, honoring those who have been instrumental in preservation and restoration achievements both recently and over a lifetime.

Here are the 2024 winners:

Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration Award: Residential

2795 Hillandale Circle, David and Sondralyn Thompson. The Thompsons  acquired their home in 2018 and began to synthesize the look throughout. They reconfigured the entryway, relocated the kitchen and removed dated finishes, accentuating the original materials and spirit of 20th century modernism.

Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration Award: Commercial, mixed-use or multifamily building

• Churchills on Cherry, 557 Cherry St., Bruce and Nicholas Riggins

Historic Macon served as the preservation tax-credit consultant on this renovation. Custom finishes and refinished floors  transformed a neglected space into a trendy bar. A former stage is now a glass-walled smoking lounge overlooking Cherry Street, complete with Chesterfield sofas.

•  555 First Street, Iyabo and Dr. Oyekunle Muraina 

The Murainas rehabilitated a vacant historic house that most recently served as office space for a real estate firm with the help of tax-credit work from Historic Macon. They replaced rotted doric columns on the porch and repaired tall windows on the primary face. Across First Street from Dr. Oyekunle’s existing practice, Macon Lung Center, the renovated building will soon hold several beds for patients to undergo sleep studies.

• 504 Second Street, Randy and Sherry Goss 

504 Second Street stood vacant for almost 30 years until Randy and Sherry Goss took on its restoration. They converted the upper two floors into their new home. The lower floor contains a commercial space that once was home to the Exchange Pharmacy. The handsome brick edifice is graced with stone window lintels, 16 historic wood windows and a graduated brick cornice. The conversion retained five of eight fireplaces, and the floors are made of re-milled reclaimed lumber. 

Revitalization Award (Recognizes projects that have made an exceptional contribution to the community and/or a pioneering investment in historic districts that need revitalization.)

Billingslea Commons, Virgil Adams and Bryan Adams

This project helped bring investment, attention and commercial activity to a stretch of the former Cotton Avenue near the site of the now demolished Tremont Temple Baptist Church. Once Macon’s epicenter of Black-owned enterprise, the block fell silent and then fell into disrepair. Owners Virgil Adams and Bryan Adams reversed that trend with the repair and reuse of four contiguous buildings at 811 through 843 Forsyth Street, now known as Billingslea Commons. The buildings — once empty storefronts and unsanitary apartments — now contain gleaming residences above new downtown businesses. Historic Macon provided tax credit consulting services.

The Katherine Carmichael Oliver Stewardship Award (Recognizes long-term ownership, maintenance and care for historic properties.)

• Woodruff House, 988 Bond St., Mercer University

The Woodruff House has been a property of Mercer University since the 1980s. Before that it housed Stratford Academy, but was originally built as a grand Greek revival mansion. Leslie Underwood and John Patterson spearheaded Mercer’s recent interior renovation, replacing dated furniture and finishes as well as artwork. 

• Family Living Sites, Macon Housing Authority

The project behind this award is the largest in scale, involving dozens of buildings across three campuses. The Macon Housing Authority made substantial investments in its building fleet at Murphey Homes, Mounts Homes, and Davis Homes. Mike Austin and Kathleen Matthews were the project leads for MHA. Each of the trio of housing developments received exterior maintenance and some facelifts, as well as thorough interior renovations. 

Maryel Ramsey Battin Award: Sue Coggins (For service to Historic Macon and its mission)

Sue Coggins is a committed volunteer for Historic Macon’s Flea Market who helps keep the holiday section well organized and stocked with treasures for Easter, Halloween, Christmas and more. Sue has remained a faithful volunteer at the warehouse on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when the crew gathers for months in advance of the spring and fall sales to organize and price donations. 

Jenny Thurston Award, Roscoe Ross (for lifetime achievement in historic preservation)

Roscoe Ross is a second-generation brick mason who has repaired and rebuilt gates, walls, walkways, stairs and more throughout Macon. At Rose Hill Cemetery, his most visible recent project was to repair an arched entrance after it was damaged by a motor vehicle. His skill carries on that tradition of careful workmanship.

Thad E. Murphey President’s Choice Award: Hemlock Lofts (Given to the most important preservation effort of the year) 

Hemlock Lofts at 805 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. is an example of the kind of commitment and vision that is driving revitalization in downtown Macon. The former garage of a now demolished Coca-Cola bottling plant, the building languished until Dr. Quyen Luu took on the challenge of breathing new life into it, with the help of Historic Macon as a tax-credit consultant. It took more than five years, but today Hemlock Lofts is leasing unique and stylish apartments.