2006
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

The Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College 144-acre main campus received the award for its effort to preserve and reuse historic buildings, including Fernihurst, the Smith-McDowell House, and Sunnicrest. Fernihurst, the former summer residence of Col. John Kerr, is a brick Italinate style house named after the Kerr family castle in Scotland. It is now part of the Culinary Arts Program. The Smith-McDowell house, was constructed in 1840 for James McConnell Smith. The house is the oldest brick building in Buncombe County and is included in the National Register of Historic Places. Sunnicrest is one of five (and the only remaining) Richard Sharp Smith-designed model cottages built by George Vanderbilt on Vernon Hill in what was then the town of Victoria. Sunnicrest houses the Human Resources Department.