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    © James Ewing / OTTO
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    © James Ewing / OTTO
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    © James Ewing / OTTO
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    © James Ewing / OTTO

Park Avenue Armory, Veterans Room

New York, New York

Architect: Herzog & de Meuron / Platt Byard Dovell White
Completion: 2017

The Veterans Room at the Park Avenue Armory, completed in 1881 by the team of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, Candace Wheeler and Samuel Colman, represented a mélange of styles from Greek and Celtic to Japanese and Persian. The New York Times declared the room was “undoubtedly the most magnificent apartment of its kind in this country.” Over the time, the Veterans Room’s wood and ironwork, carvings, mosaic tile and stained glass windows had become shabby and fallen into disrepair.. Inadequate lighting obscured the magnificence of the space.

FMS collaborated with Herzog & de Meuron in the restoration process. A smart electric upgrade was performed: small LED lights below elegant prism glass pieces replace gaslight, refracting light in a way that mimics the subtle materiality of the original gas, and highlights all the important architectural details, while bringing to life the Veterans Room’s original glory.

2017 IALD Special Citation for Inventive and Sensitive Reimagination of Historic Gas Luminaires
2017 IESNY Lumen Award of Excellence
2017 IES Illumination Award of Merit
2017 Interior Restoration Award from the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts
2017 Palladio Award from Traditional Building Magazine
2017 The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s – Lucy G. Moses Award in Historic Preservation