The newly restored historic Stock House, located at the former Bethlehem Steel site, was selected by Masonry Construction magazine as its 2012 Project of the Year.

Local designers USA Architects of Easton, in collaboration with Bethlehem’s Redevelopment Authority, transformed the masonry structure into the city’s new Visitors Center.

“We felt it was very important to take the Stock House, the oldest remaining structure on the historic Bethlehem Steel site, and not only rehabilitate it, but more importantly restore and recreate it,” explained Tony Hanna, executive director for the authority.

“It is the gateway to the site for visitors and we believed that given its place at the base of the iconic and towering array of historic blast furnaces, the building deserved very special treatment.”

Shyam Perangur, project manager for USA Architects, noted, “The complete refurbishment to its original stone work, interior steel, and massive arching windows required careful documentation of the historic properties of the building and customized specification of materials and recommendations for re-pointing methods.”

The magazine received 57 submissions; online voting for Reader’s Choice was the highest ever.

The project is featured on www.masonryconstruction.com, along with a photo slideshow. Project teams will be honored in an awards ceremony at the World of Concrete/World of Masonry convention this Feb. 5-8 in Las Vegas.