Photos courtesy of the Riverside County Mexican-American Historical Society

Rincon’s Riverside Latino Historic Context Statement Receives Award from California Preservation Foundation

Jul 30, 2019

Rincon’s 2018 study, the Riverside Latino Historic Context Statement, has received a Preservation Design Award from the California Preservation Foundation.  Each year, the California Preservation Foundation Preservation Design Awards showcase the best in historic preservation throughout the state. Rincon is honored to be recognized for our work for the City of Riverside. 

The project was funded through a Certified Local Government grant from the State Office of Historic Preservation. Rincon led the consultant team, with the participation of Ostashay & Associates. The client team was led by Scott Watson and Jennifer Mermilliod, City of Riverside Community and Economic Development Department.  Linda Salinas-Thompson, the founder and director of the Riverside County Mexican-American Historical Society, served as project advisor. 

Riverside is home to one of the oldest, most cohesive Latino communities in California. Across generations, for over a century, this community has made a vital, immeasurable contribution to the City. As of 2018, however, only one landmark significant to the Latino community had been designated in Riverside. Without a comprehensive, thematic historic context statement in place, potential historic resources were difficult to identify.

The Riverside Latino Historic Context Statement corrects this gap by providing a comprehensive framework for recognizing the rich history of Riverside’s Latino community. Researchers relied not only on exhaustive primary-source research, but also an extraordinary level of involvement and input by the community. In this way, the Riverside Latino Historic Context Statement represents a true community effort and a first-of-its-kind study that will help the City identify and designate significant Latino-related historic resources.

We would like to thank the California Preservation Foundation for this recognition and congratulate all the other deserving winners.  We will be on-hand to accept this award at the California Preservation Awards, a gala dinner and awards ceremony, on Friday, October 18, 2019 at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. 

For more information about the Preservation Design Awards and to peruse the Riverside Latino Historic Context Statement, click here: 

California Preservation Foundation, Project Award: https://californiapreservation.org/awards/riverside/

City of Riverside Latino Historic Context Statement: https://www.riversideca.gov/historic/pdf/Latino-Context-Statement.pdf