FLOS 2022 Preservation Award for the Benda House & Garden

The 2022 FLOS Preservation Award is presented to Serge Ambrose and Michelangelo Sabatino for their work on the Sylvia Valha and Francis J. Benda House and Garden (1939) by Winston Elting, Architect and Arvid H. Viren, Builder. This 1930s International Style house was beautifully restored by its owners (one trained as an architect/engineer and the other as an architect/historian), and their collaborators. Although there are a number of significant 1930s International Style houses located throughout Chicagoland’s villages and cities, the Benda House is arguably the only International Style building realized in Riverside as well as one of the very few in the Western Suburbs. The addition of a new landscape garden re-establishes the relationship between nature and this modern house while extending Olmsted and Vaux’s vision for Riverside. This award coincides with the 200th anniversary of Olmsted’s birth and the celebration of his living legacy.