The Sailing Museum is Awarded the Doris Duke Award

The Sailing Museum, which celebrates the sport of sailing through dynamic exhibitions and is home to the National Sailing Hall of Fame, announced today the receipt of a Doris Duke Historic Preservation Award from the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) and the City of Newport.

The award honors recipients for exemplary projects of historic preservation in the city of Newport. In its 17th year of presenting these awards, the Newport Restoration Foundation sought to highlight innovative approaches to preservation, including new technologies and materials, creative or adaptive reuse, and excellence in climate change adaptation and similarly progressive elements. 

The Sailing Museum received this award for the adaptive reuse of the historic Newport Armory, built in 1894. The project, undertaken in collaboration with the City of Newport and contractor Kirby Perkins, transformed the Armory into a multi-use public and private space in the heart of Thames Street. The project included timely exterior repairs to preserve the building while updating the interior to be a welcoming public space. 

“We are incredibly honored to receive this award and the recognition of the hard work that went into renovating and restoring this space,” said Ashley Householder, Executive Director. “We are proud to call Newport the home of The Sailing Museum and the National Sailing Hall of Fame. We feel this honor truly highlights our commitment to working with the city to preserve the vital history that connects us all.”

The Doris Duke Preservation Awards are a collaboration of the Newport Restoration Foundation and the City of Newport. The awards celebrate individuals for preservation, restoration and rehabilitation projects as well as educational activities that help protect the historic sites, landscapes and overall character of Newport County. The awards are juried by representatives from the NRF, the City and individuals involved in local preservation practice. 

To learn more about the Doris Duke Preservation Awards and the other recipients from this year, or to learn more about the NRF, please visit newportrestoration.org.  

For more information on The Sailing Museum please visit thesailingmuseum.org. To learn more about the National Sailing Hall of Fame, please visit nshof.org. 

Image credit: Annabelle Hendersøn