Alexandria Beautification Commission Honors 2019 Award Winners

On October 16, 2019, the Alexandria Beautification Commission held its annual Beautification Awards ceremony at the Lyceum in Old Town Alexandria. The event honored residents, businesses, and organizations for their exceptional contributions to the beautification of the city of Alexandria through landscaping, architecture and sustainable design.

Commission chair, Kathryn Chiasson, spoke about the process of selecting this year’s award winners. “Tonight’s ceremony is the culmination of a process that began in early spring when we began soliciting nominations from the public.” From those nominations, in addition to the Commission’s nominations, “we selected our winners here tonight.” She continued, “Over the past few years we have increased our commitment to sustainability in beautification, looking for properties that meet our definition of beautification: ‘improvements to a community encompassing landscaping, architecture, and sustainable environmental practices creating a healthier community and higher quality of life.’ We’re excited for you to see the efforts big and small happening across our community today.”

Commissioner Joseph Crowell, served as the evening’s emcee and announced the winners. Mayor Justin Wilson and members of City Council presented the winners with their award certificates. Mayor Wilson remarked that Alexandria continually ranks high on many lists as a top place to live and work, in large part due to community participation and the Commission’s beautification efforts.

Joan Honeyman, ASLA, owner of Jordan Honeyman Landscape Design and adjunct professor of Sustainable Landscape Design at George Washington University, delivered the keynote address. Ms. Honeyman spoke about the recent renovation of the Ramsay House garden at the Alexandria Visitors Center, one of the oldest buildings in historic Old Town, “into a more usable and more beautiful civic amenity.” Holding true to the past and the future, the concept was two-fold: to respect the historic content of the space; and to create a functional, beautiful and resilient contemporary garden space for visitors and residents.

Ms. Honeyman also spoke about the power of village participation, which she defined as “people coming together in a mindful and supportive manner to get something done,” as it related to the renovation project. She concluded by inviting everyone to visit the Ramsay House garden “to see what’s possible when a village comes together to get things done and to discover and delight in the beauty and resilience of the city of Alexandria.”

Awards were given in the categories of: Excellence in Architecture, Excellence in Sustainable Design, Green Practices in Beautification, Residential Beautification, Community Beautification, and Commercial Beautification. A new award category, Excellence in Planning and Design, was added this year “for a large project that benefits the community as a whole by creating a more livable city.” Christina Mazurkevich, Commissioner and real estate agent, explained, “It was important for us to recognize the King Street Corridor Initiative for its tremendous impact on the city of Alexandria. We decided that the beautiful transformation of the waterfront and the historic retail corridor was worthy of special merit.”

A full list of the 2019 Alexandria Beautification Award winners can be found here.

Photo credits: Mellenie Runion and Maz Photography.