Pratt mansion conversion in Glen Cove wins design award

The architectural firm that remodeled one of the Pratt family mansions in Glen Cove has won an Archi award from the Long Island chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

John W. Baumgarten Architect P.C., of Jericho, won the award in a juried competition that drew praise for the project's "bright environment" and "interesting use of furnishings," the company said.

The 1912 mansion was once known as Poplar Hill, the home of Frederic Pratt. It had already been in use as a nursing home, a component of the Glengariff Healthcare Center. The Baumgarten renovation made it into a rehabilitation center. As a side note, the design company said, Frederic Pratt founded the Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, where Baumgarten got his architecture degree.

The AIA award was presented to the architectural firm at a chapter event Oct. 19 at Oheka Castle, in Huntington, the Monday news release said.

The Baumgarten firm faced challenges in the renovation, including "the carefully engineered removal of a 2-foot thick brick-bearing wall in order to expand the building’s main lobby," the company said.

"The removal of this circa 1912 construction involved a logistically sophisticated sequence of bracing, shoring and underpinning, along with the threading in of new supporting steel to carry the floors above."