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Holley High receives State Preservation Award

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The former Holley High School, which we included in our inaugural Five to Revive list in 2013, has officially been saved by Home Leasing and Edgemere Development and was recently honored by Governor Cuomo and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation with a State Preservation Award for Excellence in Historic Building Rehabilitation.

Former Holley High prior to rehab, missing its columned portico.

Constructed between 1930 and 1931, the former Holley High had been vacant since 1975. In 2020, Home Leasing and Edgemere Development completed a dramatic rehabilitation of the building that has created 41 affordable housing units for seniors and new office and meeting space for the village government. The developers utilized both the state Historic Tax Credit and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit programs to assist with the adaptive reuse.

Holley Gardens in 2020, with its facade fully restored.

The highly visible site of this former school has been the location of two high school buildings, one constructed in 1896 and its successor, the present building, which was erected in 1930. Designed by Rochester architect and school specialist, Carl Ade, the former Holley High School was described as “the latest type of modern school construction” and featured fire-proof construction with structural steel frame, reinforced concrete floors, and brick exterior walls. Its restrained Neo-Classical design included a handsome columned portico on the façade.This prominent building served as the community’s high school into the mid-1970s.

Here’s a look at the dramatic transformation of this long-vacant building:

Auditorium prior to rehab.
The historic auditorium space has been sensitively adapted to a public meeting space for the Village of Holley.
Hallways after rehab
A typical classroom prior to rehab.
Classrooms have been adapted to residential units for seniors, preserving original classroom features like built-in cabinetry and woodwork.
A community space at Holley Gardens, featuring a historic fireplace.

We hope you enjoyed this tour of the new Holley High School, now Holley Gardens! We couldn’t be more excited to see this building fully rehabbed and serving the community once again.

Congratulations to the Village of Holley and the developers, Home Leasing and Edgemere Development!

Landmark Executive Director, Wayne Goodman, poses with Village officials and the development team for ribbon cutting at Holley Gardens, fall 2020.

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Holley High receives State Preservation Award

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