The Historic Albany Foundation announced its annual Preservation Merit Awards on Sept. 25 which honor nine homeowners and individuals for best practices in preservation throughout the city of Albany and beyond.
The 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award honors Lee Pinckney III for his decades-long commitment to architecture and historic preservation in Albany. His passion began at Syracuse University, where he first worked on rehabilitating historic buildings in the Hanover Square Historic District. In 1978, he joined the New York State Department of Parks and Recreation as junior historic sites Restoration Coordinator, gaining experience with federal preservation programs.
Over the next four decades, Pinckney contributed to major projects — including the Tweed Courthouse — while working with firms such as Mesick, Cohen, Waite and John G. Waite Associates in Albany, earning his New York State architecture license in 1995. He later managed historic school construction with CSArch Architects, also in Albany, and, from 2016 to 2020, assisted low-income homeowners as rehab specialist with the South End Improvement Corporation…