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By Lookout Staff

October 11, 2011 -- Among the charms of Santa Monica are its lovingly preserved homes and other structures, and each year, those who take care of the city's buildings are recognized with special awards for their dedicated work.

Once again, the Santa Monica Conservancy is asking for suggestions for its Preservation Award Nominations so that it can honor its award winners at the group's annual meeting in January.

Five categories for the awards – which are given to individuals, organizations or projects – include, but are not limited to:

• Restoration: historically authentic work that brings a building back to its original condition,
• Rehabilitation: a broad term that refers to a building brought back into service - for historic buildings, doesn't require strict restoration, but rather conformance with the Secretary of Interior Standards,
• Renovation: including remodeling and renewing, mixing modern design in with work on the historic building,
• Adaptive Reuse: giving new purpose to a historic building, usually through restoration, rehabilitation, or renovation, and
• Stewardship: outstanding examples of the care and maintenance of historic structures or places.

Last year, award recipients included Myra and Earl Pomerantz for their work restoring the John and Anna George Craftsman bungalow in Ocean Park, the owners of the American Commercial Equities LLC building for their work rehabiliting it, and Sam Simon for his renovation of Richard Neutra's Case Study House #20.

More information on previous winners can be found in the March 2010 and March 2011 Conservancy Newsletters.

The deadline for suggestions is October 31. They should be sent to the Conservancy's Awards committee at info@smconservancy.org