EverGreene Architectural Arts, Inc.

EverGreene Architectural Arts, Inc. is a Brooklyn-based architectural arts and conservation contractor founded in 1978 and owned entirely by its roughly 200 employees through an ESOP. The firm self-performs decorative plaster, decorative painted finishes, murals, mosaics and gilding, and runs a conservation practice covering condition assessments, materials testing and analysis, art handling and salvage, and collections care. Its staff includes two Fellows and twelve Professional Associates of the American Institute for Conservation. EverGreene has carried out decorative finish conservation at the Library of Congress and is working on the Illinois State Capitol north wing restoration in Springfield. Other work includes the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn and the Freedom Tower in Miami. Offices are in Brooklyn, Oak Park, Illinois, District Heights, Maryland and Los Angeles.

The reason EverGreene can carry an ornamental plaster ceiling from survey through installation is that the whole chain sits in-house: a creative atelier, a conservation laboratory, a mural painting studio, project management, and the craftspeople who execute the work. The firm describes itself as the largest specialty contractor for restoration and historic preservation in the country. It began in 1978 as a small painting studio started by Jeff Greene.

The published service list is wider than the plaster-and-paint reputation suggests. Alongside plasterwork, decorative finishes, murals, mosaics and gilding, EverGreene offers restoration consulting, condition assessments, testing and analysis, preconstruction planning, public art conservation, collections care, art handling and salvage, laser treatments, and new liturgical artistry for sacred spaces. Preconstruction planning is pitched as the highest-leverage stage – the firm’s own framing is that its most impactful work begins before construction does.

Conservation practice is anchored to published standards rather than house preference. The work follows guidance from the American Institute for Conservation, the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation, ICOMOS and ICCROM.

The recent award record gives a sense of the range. Projects recognized over the past three years include the restoration of The Frick Collection in New York, Michigan Central Station in Detroit, the Palace Theatre at TSX Broadway, the Egyptian and Tower theatres in Los Angeles, the Castro Theatre, the James Farley Post Office, the Jefferson Memorial, the Grand Army of the Republic Rooms at the Chicago Cultural Center, Trinity Church Wall Street, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in German Village, Columbus, the Independent Man statue at the Rhode Island State House, collections care at the National Air and Space Museum, and a ballroom mural at the Hotel del Coronado. New York preservation work has been recognized with a Lucy Moses Award.

Practical details for anyone approaching the firm: the Brooklyn office is at 253 36th Street, Suite 5-C; the Chicago office is at 1033 South Boulevard in Oak Park, on (708) 358 1642; and the Washington D.C. team operates from 3009 Kaverton Road in District Heights, Maryland, with a fourth team in Los Angeles. Bid requests go to bid@evergreene.com rather than the general line. The project intake form sorts inquiries into sacred space, civic and government, education and campus, residential, fountains, monuments and memorials, theater and entertainment, institutional and cultural, commercial, and public art and collections – a fair map of how EverGreene segments its own market. The firm also publishes on YouTube and on X at @evergreeneaa.