The Landmark Society’s 2014 Preservation Awards will be presented this year at a special event on Sunday, November 16 at 3:00 p.m. in Rochester’s historic City Hall, the spectacular Richardsonian Romanesque landmark located downtown at 30 Church Street. The Awards are given each year to individuals and organizations in our nine-county area who have made outstanding efforts in the preservation of their homes, historic properties, and landscapes. In anticipation of the upcoming Awards Ceremony we will be featuring some of this year’s award winners.

The Special Achievement Award recognizes accomplishments that have occurred over a lengthy period of time.

Jean France

Image courtesy of the Landmark Society

Architectural historian, preservation consultant, educator, researcher, lecturer, author, and advocate for  our historic built environment, Jean France has been an enthusiastic and effective community leader for over six decades. A native of Cleveland, this Oberlin College alumna arrived in Rochester during the era of the Federal Urban Renewal programs, when the importance of our historic architecture was not recognized and many important buildings were lost.

Over the next decades, Jean’s exceptional outreach through a variety of activities would help to change those community attitudes. Her extensive knowledge of American architecture was shared through classes she taught at the University of Rochester for over three decades, as well as her long-time service as a trustee and committee member of The Landmark Society of Western New York. She has written extensively about local architecture and historic preservation for CITY newspaper and other publications. Jean’s  study of the Arts-and Crafts movement, in particular architects Claude Bragdon and Harvey Ellis, has been a focus of  her research and writing since the 1960’s.

For over a decade, Jean organized the Memorial Art Gallery’s popular “Architecture, the Art We Live In” lecture series, where noted speakers presented engaging programs about the built environment. Jean’s expertise in architecture and design has benefited communities such as Rochester, Perinton, and Pittsford, where she served as consultant to their municipal preservation boards. She was the founding chair of the Town of Perinton’s Historic Preservation Commission. Most recently, she was a principal consultant for the restoration of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Edward Boynton House on East Boulevard in Rochester. An individual with a passion for architecture and the built environment, Jean France has been a tireless advocate for this community’s historic resources for over six decades.