Santa Barbara has been named one of 16 winners of the 2023 Preservation Design Awards by the California Preservation Foundation (CPF), recognizing the best in historic preservation, restoration, adaptive reuse, and rehabilitation.

The Santa Barbara African American and Black Historic Context Statement is being honored for work done in the ‘cultural resource studies and reports’ category.

Santa Barbara city staff is preparing designations for places identified in the Historic Context Statement and expanding its historic preservation program in recognition of the need for more complete, inclusive representation of communities.

Preservation Design Awards winners demonstrate innovative responses to historic preservation in both the built and unbuilt realms of our heritage, prioritize equity and access, and open the possibilities of historic preservation in new, broad and inclusive ways, CPF explained.

As the foundation for identifying, interpreting and designating historic places reflecting the city’s African American and Black history, a unique collaboration of social justice leaders and historic preservation specialists produced the Santa Barbara African American and Black Historic Context Statement.

The document highlights the many contributions of African American and Black people in Santa Barbara, beginning in the Spanish and Mexican periods through the postwar fight for civil rights.

It identifies historic buildings and sites of importance to the community that can now be designated and protected as historic resources.

The project demonstrates how the built history of a community is one way to recognize the contributions and achievements of Black leaders, cultural bearers, and institution builders. It adds the voices and stories of an underserved, and often overlooked, community to Santa Barbara’s rich history.

Each project is an exemplar of preservation excellence, and joins more than 600 projects recognized with a Preservation Design Award since 1983, according to CPF.

Winning projects are selected by a jury of top professionals who have furthered, to a notable degree, the purposes of preservation consistent with CPF’s mission.

CPF exists to ensure the rich diversity of California’s historic resources are identified, protected and celebrated for their history and for their valuable role in California’s economy, environment and quality of life.

Incorporated in 1978, CPF has grown from a small band of advocates to a statewide network of more than 18,000 members and supporters. The foundation provides training to some 1,500 individuals annually, responds to hundreds of requests for assistance each year, and is at the forefront of preservation advocacy from the state legislature to city halls across California.

For more, visit californiapreservation.org/awards.