Betty Dillard
bdillard@bizpress.net
Fort Worth’s iconic Ridglea Theater took center stage at Historic Fort Worth Inc.’s annual Preservation Awards, presented Sept. 26 at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. Jerry Shults, Dallas businessman and owner of the historic 1950 Ridglea Theater, located at 6025 Camp Bowie Blvd., received a Preservation Project Award for the theater’s rescue and extensive two-year restoration. Shults also brought home a Preservation Achievement Award for his vision, determination and success in restoring the 20,000-square-foot West Side movie house while Ridglea manager and showman Richard Van Zandt picked up an achievement award for his belief in the theater’s future and keeping the building in use during challenging circumstances.
Additional Preservation Project Award winners include: Molly McCook and Richard King, owners of Ellerbe Fine Foods (c.1920), 1501 West Magnolia Ave., for their creative adaptation of a former auto shop; Joanne and Nathan Weber, owners of the T&P Tavern (c.1931), 221 W. Lancaster Ave., for their restoration of the tavern; and the stewards of St. Peters Catholic Church (c.1918) in Lindsay, Texas, for the restoration of a German Romanesque Revival Church. Elizabeth Louden, director of historic preservation at Texas Tech University’s School of Architecture, received a Preservation Achievement Award for her selection of endangered buildings in Fort Worth as Preservation Studio sites for her graduate architecture students. During the awards event, Louden discussed student projects in Fort Worth at Heritage Park Plaza, Fort Worth Public Market, TXU Power Plant and the Ellis Pecan Co.
Also receiving an achievement award was George Bristol for his contributions to the National Parks Foundation, his founding of the Texas Conservation Coalition and for his book On Parks and Politics. Gwen and Jim Harper won the Residential Rehabilitation Award for the restoration of their home, located in the city’s first neighborhood at 760 Samuels Ave. Built about 1885, the residence is one of the last examples of housing stock in the neighborhood. The house was placed on HFW’s endangered list in 2010 and is known as the Getzendanner House.