  Robert Dickensheets is the Savannah College of Art and Design's preservation specialist, special projects, and is overseeing the college’s efforts at the Peters House on behalf of President Paula S. Wallace and under the direction of Glenn Wallace, senior vice president of college resources. Dickensheets has served as the college’s European director of special projects where he oversaw rehabilitation projects at the college’s study abroad center at SCAD-Lacoste, in the medieval village of Lacoste in the Provencal region in southern France. Prior to his work in Europe, Dickensheets was a professor of historic preservation aat SCAD and has led some of the college’s most noted projects. His work on the restoration of the Graduate Studies Center at Smithfield Cottage resulted in the college receiving the first-ever Mills B. Lane Excellence in Preservation Award from Historic Savannah Foundation at its annual meeting on Oct. 28, 2004, in Savannah. The award is only given to outstanding preservation projects. Interestingly, Smithfield Cottage was built in the Queen Anne style, similar to the Peters House, in 1888 by famed architect Alfred Eichberg. Dickensheets also oversaw the restoration of the First African Baptist Church in Raccoon Bluff on Sapelo Island. The church, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, required major restoration, including rebuilding the foundation; replacing damaged wood, pews and pulpit; restoring stained glass windows; replacing the roof; and re-creating the church’s lost steeple. Even as he managed these intricate projects he remained active as a faculty member and teacher. |