CALAIS – The American Institute of Architects, Vermont Chapter (AIAVT) announced the recipients of its 2025 Excellence in Architecture Design Awards at its annual meeting, December 4, 2025. Seven projects were chosen by a jury for demonstrating “excellence in design” from thirty entries submitted by AIA member architects. Two projects also won “Peers Choice Awards,, as voted on by AIAVT members at the annual meeting.
photo by Curtis B. Johnson
The merit Award in the Historic Preservation / Adaptive Re-Use / Rehabilitation category went to R. Edwards & Co. of Montpelier for Memorial Hall in North Calais.
The project involved the full historic rehabilitation of the previously condemned 3,400-square-foot two-story assembly use building from 1885. A contributing structure in the National Register-listed North Calais Village Historic District, the building, built as a Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) meeting hall in 1885, sits on a promontory overlooking Mirror Lake in north-central Vermont.
The project team was tasked with fully rehabilitating the seasonal use building, while also providing much-needed accessibility upgrades (especially important for the second-floor assembly space), to provide new restrooms, modernize the kitchen, and, most especially, replicate and reconstruct the old two-story covered porch which was taken down in the 1980s.
The existing foundation was repaired and partially replaced, and the first-floor structure, falling apart and covered in mold, was replaced entirely, which involved lifting the entire building approximately six feet in the air, where it sat on cribbing for months while the foundation and first-floor structural work were completed.
Funding for the work was provided by both state and federal historic preservation funding sources, so care was needed to comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
The jury wrote, “This project stood out as the most compelling example among the historic preservation entries.” They noted its thoughtful response to challenging constraints, saying, “The design skillfully balances restoration and adaptive reuse, remaining faithful to the building’s original architectural character while introducing new life and purpose.”
The jurors, all members of AIA Savannah, included Greg Skinner, AIA, Hannah Brown, AIA, Lavontae Decius, Associate AIA, Sophia Rodriquez, Associate AIA, and Steven G. Stowers, AIA.
