The Partners in Preservation social media competition ended on Monday. None of the five Queens locations secured a top-four spot, which would have granted them the whole amount of money the organization asked for, for its restoration project.
The competition is headed by American Express through the National Trust for Historic Preservation — the organization created by congressional charter to preserve landmarks — to give grant money to restore historic locations. This year Partners in Preservation picked New York City as its recipient — 40 spots in the city competed.
The organizations with the most Facebook votes won. The top three spots are the Brooklyn Public Library, Congregation Beth Elohim, in Brooklyn, and the New York Botanical Garden, in the Bronx, each awarded $250,000. The money will pay for the restoration of the front doors at the library, stained-glass windows at the congregation and a rock wall at the botanical gardens. The fourth place winner, Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum in the Bronx, received $155,000 to restore areas within its gardens.
The other 36 locations must write a report showing what they orchestrated in an effort to get Facebook votes. Based on these reports a committee will dole out the remaining $2.1 million to some of the organizations.
The five spots in Queens are: Flushing Town Hall, the Rocket Thrower statue in Flushing Meadows Park, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, the Queens County Farm Museum and the Astoria Pool Olympic high dive.
The Louis Armstrong House Museum did the best out of the five, ranking in 13th place with 2.66 percent of the vote.
“We really thought outside the box,” said Jennifer Walden, the director of marketing at the Louis Armstrong House Museum. “It’s been really fun.”
The museum made connections with tourism and restaurant bureaus in New Orleans and the African American Museum in Philadelphia to help get out the vote.
Queens County Farm Museum was No. 25; Astoria Pool Olympic High Dive, No. 30; Rocket Thrower, No. 36; and Flushing Town Hall, No. 37.
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