Historic Fort Worth, Inc. honored Fort Worth Country Day for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the Peter A. Schwartz Administration Building with the 2010 Preservation Honor Award.

“It’s great to be recognized,” assistant head of school, Stephen Stackhouse said.

The restoration of the Schwartz Administration Building began in the late spring of 2008 and was completed in the summer of the same year. The project was done to update the building and create a more spacious work environment.

“What we have done was take one of the old, original buildings, updated it internally so that it is consistent with a lot of the new construction on campus,” Stackhouse said. “We have blended a lot of the old with the new.”

Country Day called in Gideon Toal, a local architecture firm, to help design and build the project. The new renovations include completely up-to-date workspaces, bathroom, conference room, and a formal entryway

Meredith Smith, the project coordinator, said the building had gone through so many face-lifts over the years that it was time to create something new and up to date.

“This is the first impression future students and families get of Country Day,” she said. “We wanted to make a good impression.”

Fort Worth Country Day was built in 1963. Today three of the original buildings still stand, including the Schwartz Administration Building. The other two, the Sid W. Richardson Visual Arts Center and the Upper School Science Center, have also gone through recent renovations. The three original buildings have received awards for design and adaptation.

“It’s changed the way we do business,” Stackhouse said. “I think it’s one thing to build a beautiful building; it’s another to build a beautiful building that is very functional.”