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2019-2020 Park & Trail Partnership Program Grant Successes!

A 2019-2020 Park and Trail Partnership Program grant from Parks & Trails NY (PTNY) enabled CVPA to plot a course to a sustainable future for The Point, an 80-acre estate with more than 20,000 square feet of developable space.  The $41,000 project looked at the data, documents, expertise and other resources CVPA will need to restore the site, including the Calvert Vaux-designed Hoyt mansion and landscape, as well as four early 20thcentury farm buildings, gentleman’s farm, historic Warren Truss bridge, carriage roads and river views iconic in the development of American Picturesque.

A project of this scale will require major public, foundation and private donor support. Proposals to such supporters require clear strategies to achieve ongoing uses that can sustain the site and an organization with the capacity to manage the planning, restorations and site redeployment.

  • Historic preservation architecture firm Jan Hird Pokorny Associates updated site and facility conditions, reviewed existing studies and outlined a phased capital plan for The Point.
  • Hone Strategic LLC evaluated Board capacity for planning/implementing capital projects and readiness to undertake the extensive business development that will be needed. Hone also outlined steps to determine the site’s feasibility for prospective uses.
  • Pro bono landscape consultants Nelson Byrd Wolz Landscape Architects (NBW) outlined steps to restore Calvert Vaux’s picturesque landscape vision for the site.  NBW reviewed documents related to the landscape history of the site, hosted a phone conference with the Center for Cultural Landscape Preservation, recommended that CVPA prepare a Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) and outlined tasks, timeline and budget for doing so. 
  • TR Revella Hamilton gathered research toward the first step outlined by NBW.
  • Marketing professionals from Ditto Design, Pixel Experiment and Sprinklr helped CVPA establish communications infrastructure to build public support for the projected 10-year project. David Byars, author of Our Time at Fox Hollow Farm, book designer and Managing Editor of Vogue magazine designed outdoor information panels for display at The Point.
  • Our PTNY grant-funded project built a Restoration & Sustainable Reuse Action Team (RSRA Team) with members from NYS Parks and the CVPA Board, including architects, landscape architects preservationists and professional project managers.
  • CVPA is working on an interactive online notebook that will be available for download for those who want to follow or participate in the project. A volunteer to help develop content for this “notebook” and load our extensive collection of documents to it would be an exciting addition to the Team! If you’d like to help, please volunteer! 
  • Together with Board members Pieter Estersohn and Brian Lange, Stephen Larke at Sprinklr and Dairo Chamorro at Pixel Experiment designed new branding that is exciting and period-appropriate and began to implement a new website. Brian is chairing a new Marketing & Communications Team to develop and implement a communications plan for CVPA that will include a regular eNews and extended social media. Sign up to volunteer to help with marketing and/or communications. 
  • A key goal of our PTNY grant was to build partnerships:

Supported by a grant from Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation, we are working with Central Park Conservancy, Olana, Wilderstein, The Garden Conservancy and others to plan a Calvert Vaux Symposium for May 2022. CVPA Board member Pieter Estersohn is chairing the Symposium. Sign up to volunteer to help with the 2021 Symposium.

We have had discussions with the organizations noted above, the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association and others about development of an American Landscape History Trail. 

We supported Scenic Hudson’s development of a Cultural Resource Survey (CRS) for historic Dutchess County bridges over the railroad tracks, including the Warren Truss bridge serving The Point’s original carriage entry from Old Route 9. Read more here. With the CRS as documentation, CVPA is now developing funding for a Historic Structures Report, the next step toward restoring the bridge.  

  • Along the way, we leveraged the momentum created by our PTNY grant project to produce a second Hudson Valley Historic Architecture & Landscape Design Photography Exhibition that we hope to make an annual event and we stabilized the South Portico at The Point’s Hoyt Mansion.

CVPA is poised for a great year in 2021. Please support our work if you can!

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Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance!

 

About Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance

Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance (CVPA) works to restore and find sustainable uses for the Vaux-designed Hoyt House and landscape at The Point in Staatsburg, NY, as well as the site’s 19th-century barn complex and gentleman’s farm. We work to expand awareness of the pivotal role played by Vaux in American architecture and landscape design, and to make The Point a place where his work can be experienced and enjoyed. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CVPA serves the Mid Hudson economy by developing sustainable uses for The Point’s many structures, drawing visitors to Mills Norrie Park, and creating greater appreciation for the many exciting Vaux resources throughout the region. We serve all Americans by helping to forge a more complete narrative of our nation’s cultural history.