Providence – April 25, 2007 – On April 14, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission held its 22nd Annual Statewide Historic Preservation Conference and named Touro Synagogue in Newport as one of its project award winners.
The project award, which honors the restoration of local landmarks, was given to Touro Synagogue and Shawmut Design and Construction “for their painstaking restoration of the oldest synagogue in North America.”
The 4,200 square foot restoration project took Shawmut seven months to complete and included the removal and off-site restoration of the existing windows, the hand-repair of thousands of bricks, and the installation and concealment of modern requirements such as a rain gutter network hidden beneath a fragile slate roof and a fire safety system in the ceiling.
The challenges associated with the restoration of this 240-year-old building included its location in a residential neighborhood, the continuation of informational tours during the project, and the construction restrictions resulting from the building’s designation as a National Historic Site and its listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Touro needed a construction management firm that could serve as much as a partner as it would a contractor to get this complex project off the ground,” said Michael Balaban, former CEO of The Touro Synagogue Foundation. “Touro’s mission of promoting religious freedom, diversity and education is centuries old, but it is also a current member of a thriving community. Shawmut understands how to be sensitive not only to our physical structure and local congregation, but also to the people of our immediate surrounding environments in Newport.”
Shawmut, which specializes in performing challenging renovation and restoration projects, has completed preservation work at some of New England’s most well-known historical institutions including Trinity Church in the City of Boston, the Museum of Afro-American History’s African Meeting House, and Harvard University’s Sever Hall.
