The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America has chosen John Simpson to receive its most prestigious architecture prize, the Ross Award, an acknowledgment of the British architect’s sensitive contributions to Paternoster Square in London and the Queen’s Gallery at Buckminster Palace, among many other projects. Simpson has also earned plaudits for two New York projects, the Carhart Mansion, completed in 2005, and the ongoing conversion of the former Stanhope Hotel. “Recognition of his brilliance in the United States is long overdue,” says jury chairman Allan Greenberg.
Additional awards to be given in May include those for painting, to royal watercolorist Alexander Creswell; for history and writing, to Mark Alan Hewitt, educator and author; for stewardship, to the Committee to Save the City, Charleston, S.C.; and for education, to Charleston’s American College of the Building Arts, founded to teach artisan skills that were in short supply after Hurricane Hugo.