By Abigail Wright
NKyTribune reporter
The century-old pipe organ inside The Prestant still fills the sanctuary with music, much as it did generations ago. Its polished pipes rise above the altar, a reminder of the building’s history as a church as well as the countless weddings and Sunday services it has witnessed over the years.
For brothers Dean and Shane Gosney, Florence natives, preserving pieces of history like the organ is exactly why they do what they do.
“When people walk in here (The Prestant), it takes them back in time to an experience that they’ve never had,” Dean said.
That commitment to preserving Newport’s architectural heritage recently earned the brothers statewide recognition. In May, they received an Ida Lee Willis Historic Preservation Award for their restoration of The Prestant, a former church transformed into a wedding and mixed-use event venue while continuing to preserve its original purpose as an active house of worship.
While the award recognized the brothers for their restoration of The Prestant, their work encompasses more than a decade and has brought some of Newport’s most recognizable historic buildings back to life.
Both brothers work full-time as engineers at HAL-PE Associates Engineering Services, Dean as an electrical engineer and Shane as a mechanical engineer. Historic preservation began as a side project fueled by a lifelong interest in old buildings.
Their shared passion traces back to childhood weekends spent watching their father and uncle remodel buildings.
“We learned a lot of things, and we still learn things every day, and it’s just exciting and interesting,” Dean said.
That interest eventually led them to purchase and restore the former Newport Rolling Mill Company building, built in 1900, at the corner of what is now West Ninth and Lowell Streets. The brothers purchased the building in 2015 and moved their engineering office into the first floor two years later.
“We spent a couple years working on it, then we moved our office in there in 2017, on the first floor, then within the next couple years or so, we restored the upstairs, and we rented those out to put three businesses up there and kind of got a bug for it,” Dean said. “We still had normal jobs, but in our free time we would work on the building.”
That “bug” soon led to larger projects.
In 2021, the brothers completed restoration of Newport’s historic Green Derby building, now home to the Purple Poulet restaurant. The building had served as the Green Derby for more than 70 years and had accumulated numerous additions and alterations over time.
“That building was in a historic district, but it was considered non-contributing because of all the stuff they had added to it over the 100-something years,” Dean said. “But in the end, we took all the stuff off of it, took all the additions down and rebuilt it.”
The result surprised even historic experts. After the restoration, the building regained its status as a contributing building within the Newport Historic District.
“Apparently, it’s unheard of,” Dean said. “We didn’t realize that.”
Along the way, the brothers uncovered architectural features hidden beneath decades of renovations, including an ornate metal ceiling in the Green Derby and the original altar and organ within The Prestant.
“When you look around this room (The Prestant), or the Green Derby or even our office building, this was put back to the way it was, and the way things were built were just beautiful,” Dean said.
The brothers’ work is motivated by more than just a desire to preserve beautiful architecture; it is rooted in a commitment to strengthen Newport’s community.
“Once these buildings are gone, you don’t get them back,” Shane said. “So there’s an important part in the preservation, the whole identity of Newport.”
For Shane, Newport’s identity is rooted in its people as much as its buildings. He said he quickly discovered a strong sense of community after moving to Newport.
“I’ve met more people on the first day living in Newport than I had the previous 10 years in Florence,” Shane said.
He described Newport as a “community of purpose,” where residents share a commitment to maintaining the city’s character and history.
“It’s one building at a time, it’s one family at a time or one business at a time, but it works,” Shane said.
That philosophy remains evident at The Prestant. While the building hosts weddings and special events, it remains home to an active congregation that pays just $1 per year in rent. The venue also hosts West Side Citizens’ Coalition meetings free of charge and even dancing lessons every Tuesday night.
“It’s (The Prestant) always been a community building, and it will always be as long as we’re around,” Dean said.
According to the brothers, The Prestant’s dual role as both church and event venue was a key factor in receiving the preservation award.
“One of the primary reasons we won that historic award for this building was for the dual role that it has,” Dean said. “But, you know, a lot of churches are struggling, and people always ask, ‘Oh, is it a venue or is it a church?’ And the answer is, well, why can’t it be both.”
For the brothers, the recognition was gratifying, but never the main goal.
“A soldier will climb a hill under fire, and at the end, he could get a little piece of ribbon put on his chest,” Dean said. “That’s not why he did it, but in the end, getting a symbolic gesture, like the award that’s on the wall over there, it makes it worthwhile.”
Their work has also strengthened their connection to Newport and even their own family history. During restoration projects, they discovered links to ancestors, including a stained-glass window donated by their great-great-great-grandfather to a Baptist Church across the street from The Prestant that currently sits vacant.
“Our favorite stuff is the stuff that ties into our own history,” Shane said.
Today, Dean is restoring a historic Newport home while both brothers continue to search for their next project.
“When you’re old, when you own these old buildings, you don’t ever stop working,” Shane said.
For now, they remain focused on protecting the buildings that tell Newport’s story.
“They are all three iconic buildings in the history of Newport,” Dean said of their restoration projects. “They all have just a great history to them. All three of them speak to you, and they say, ‘hey, if you save me, you’re saving all of this history.’”
And as the organ inside The Prestant continues to play, the brothers’ work ensures that history will not be silenced anytime soon.