One of Florida’s leading experts in historic preservation, Herschel Shepard, was selected by the School of Architecture as the recipient of the school’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Herschel E. Shepard, born in Jacksonville, Florida, is one of Florida’s leading experts in historic preservation. He earned his Master of Fine Arts in Architecture at Princeton in 1956. Once he joined the faculty at UF he served as Director of Preservation Institute: Nantucket and occupied the Beinecke-Reeves Chair in Historic Preservation. His research grants included an initial study for the reconstruction of Mission San Luis, Tallahassee. Herschel worked on numerous restoration projects, which include the Historic 1902, Capital, Mildred and Claude Pepper Archives, Union Bank, and Princess Murat House in Tallahassee; the Miami Jackson Administrative Unit 1 (“Alamo”) in Miami; the Florida Theater in Jacksonville; Fort Clinch in Fernandina; and several colonial structures in St. Augustine. His consulting services included the Cul- tural Inventory of Tabuk Region, Saudi Arabia; the reconstruction of Mission San Luis, Tallahassee; and protection of the historic seawall in St. Augustine.
During Herschel’s career he received such awards as the 1997 Carl Reinhardt Award by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation; the 2000 John Dyal Award by the Jacksonville Chapter AIA; the 2002 State of Florida Bob Williams Award; and the 2012 City of St. Augustine Aviles Award. Currently he is continu- ing a study of the Mississippian copper breastplates excavated at Mount Royal, Florida, as well as serving on the Board of Directors, UF Historic St. Augustine.
Herschel professes his indebtedness to the University of Florida architectural faculty and administration for the friendship, expertise guidance and indeed tol- erance shown to him during his practice, teaching and subsequent retirement. Herschel has received the status of FAIA Emeritus and Professor Emeritus, UF School of Architecture. The Herschel E. Shepard Digital Collection of his work is available at the University ofFlorida George A. Smathers Libraries.