Lifetime Achievement Award: The Ortners
Without
Evelyn and
Everett Ortner, there may very well have been no brownstone renaissance in Brooklyn (and, as one reader wrote to remind us, no Brownstoner.com!). Starting in the early 1960s, when they bought a brownstone on Berkeley Place (for $32,500!), the couple used a combination of charm and street smarts to preserve the architectural fabric of their neighborhood while building a strong activist community, among other things founding the Brownstone Revival Committee in 1968. Since then, they have served in leadership roles of Preservation Volunteers, the Victorian Society of America, D.C.-based Preservation Action, the Brooklyn Historical Society, BAM, the Brooklyn Museum and the Park Slope Civic Council. While Evelyn passed away in 2006, Everett, 89, continues to be deeply involved with Brooklyn preservation and community organizations. For a longer list of achievements, click
here.
http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2008/10/lifetime-achiev/