U.VA. TO RECEIVE AIA HONOR AWARD
 FOR ITS HISTORIC BUILDINGS RESTORATION PROGRAM

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 10 -- The University of Virginia
has been chosen to receive a major award from the American Institute
of Architects for its program to preserve and restore Thomas
Jefferson's "academical village," the historic center of the
University.
	Six organizations around the country and two individuals
have been selected to receive a 1995 Institute Honor Award for
distinguished achievements that benefit the environment and the
architectural profession.  The awards will be conferred during the
AIA national convention in Atlanta May 5-8.
	In addition to U.Va., which was the only university
selected, recipients are Japanese architectural educator Yoichi
Ando; artist Albert Paley of Rochester, N.Y.; the American Society
of Architectural Perspectivists, Boston; the Art Institute of
Chicago's department of architecture; Friends of Post Office Square,
Boston; the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colo.; and
Urban Arts Inc. of Boston. 
	U.Va.'s program to preserve and restore the historic heart
of the University Grounds "should be recognized as a role model for
institutions with historic buildings complexes," the AIA jury said
in its citation.  "The school's leadership has taken an intelligent
and comprehensive approach to achieve this restoration, doing the
research, selecting highly qualified professionals, securing
adequate funding and even using the restoration process as a
teaching tool." 
	The University's ambitious efforts to restore its
Jeffersonian buildings were begun in 1984 with the creation of the
Jeffersonian Restoration Advisory Board by the Board of Visitors and
a special fund-raising campaign to support research and restoration
work.  J. Murray Howard, University curator and architect for the
Academical Village, has overseen the continuing preservation and
restoration process, and numerous classes led by faculty from the
School of Architecture have participated in the program.
	 The University's historic buildings were named to the
prestigious World Heritage List in 1987, one of fewer than 400
international places on that register and only 18 in the United
States.
	U.Va.'s preservation efforts constitute "a program of
stewardship unique among American institutions of higher education,
public or private," said M. Stanley Krause, president of the
Virginia AIA, in making the nomination.  The University is "steward
of the most important public architectural ensemble in America," he
said, adding that award demonstrates the need for public support of
such historical legacies.
	U.Va., he said, "serves as a model to its sister
institutions," and such a "rich sequence of educational offerings,
using a world-rank historical place as a laboratory under the
direction of a full-time curatorial architect, is available only at
this University."
	U.Va. President John T. Casteen III said "the University's
effort to preserve and restore Mr. Jefferson's Academical Village
has been a ten-year collaboration of faculty, students, alumni and
friends."
	The 1995 AIA Institute Honors jury was chaired by architect
Cesar Pelli of New Haven, who received the AIA's 1995 Gold Medal
award.
	A major exhibition, "Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village:
The Creation of an Architectural Masterpiece, 1817-26" is currently
being presented at The Octagon, the museum of the AIA Foundation in
Washington, D.C., through April 16.  The exhibition was curated by
U.Va. architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson.
###
February 9, 1995
	For additional information about the AIA awards contact Pete
McCall at the AIA at (202) 626-7465.

	J. Murray Howard may be reached at (804) 982-5829 or
924-6015.

	Richard Guy Wilson may be reached at (804) 924-3715