Preservation Awards

Preservation Award plaque

Celebrating Cambridge! 

The Cambridge Preservation Awards Program, inaugurated by the Historical Commission in 1997, celebrates outstanding projects and notable individuals who conserve and protect the city’s architecture and history. Awards are presented each year for projects completed within the previous calendar year. May is National Preservation Month. This year's theme relates to the 250th anniversary of the Revolution and is, "All People are Created Equal."

Seven project categories are eligible for Cambridge Preservation Awards: restoration, rehabilitation, adaptive use, neighborhood conservation, landscape preservation, archaeology, and education/outreach. Award winners are selected based on the following criteria:

  • historical and architectural significance of the property,
  • exceptional quality of the project,
  • extent to which the project contributed to the preservation of the property,
  • impact of the project on the preservation of the city’s historic resources
View a slideshow of this year's (2026) Preservation Awards program. View the recorded awards program here, using this passcode: jqcp%?=1

Congratulations to this year's winners:

Cambridge Preservation Awards
Adams House (1760-1932), Harvard University
Michael Norton house (1847), 85 Brattle Street
Lesley University South Campus (1875), 99 Brattle Street
Lowell Memorial Park (1904), 204 Brattle Street
Eliphalet Davis house (1841), 137-139 Cherry Street
Cambridge Electric Light Co. store (1936), 23 Church Street
James and Joseph Caller house (1868), 23-25 Ellery Street
Archibald C. Gove house (1885), 29 Maple Avenue
Wadsworth House (1726), Harvard University
Porter Square Theater (1927), 2000 Massachusetts Avenue
Thayer & Hubbard houses (1844, 1862), 9 -11 Mt. Auburn Street
St. Mary’s Convent - Dan’s Place (1907), 116 Norfolk Street
Engineering Sciences Lab (1964), Harvard University
Samuel Ashburner house (1866), 26 Trowbridge Street
Anthony Beckwith, Individual Recognition
Kathleen Fox, Individual Recognition
Kathleen “Kit” Rawlins, Individual Recognition 

For information on the Massachusetts Historical Commission's preservation awards program, click here.