Download the full release from here
May 1, 2008
Press contact: Sally Mallison – (703) 733-2111
WASHINGTON, D.C.—On the evening of May 15, the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will hold a joint meeting of all their metropolitan chapters at the historic Grand Lodge building, Masonic Hall, on West 23rd Street in New York City. RICS President David Tuffin, FRICS, and ASA International President John Willey, FASA, will be present.
Following a tour of the building, the group will retire to the dining room for a special lecture by Paul Roberts, ASA, Fred Iusi, FASA, Ellen Epstein, ASA, and Joseph Novelli, ASA, on the multidiscipline appraisal they performed in 2005 of the Grand Lodge building’s numerous and ornate interior finishes.
The project began as a personal property assignment for insurance purposes. During this appraisal process, it became evident that the assignment could only be properly completed as a multidiscipline project. Roberts and Novelli were retained to value the interior real estate components. They also pulled in additional experts to value, for example, the elaborate built-in piping for the organs that are prominent in each of the rooms. This is an example of an appraisal project utilizing the multidiscipline capability of ASA.
“This was a huge, huge task,” says Roberts, which took nearly one year to complete. He adds that his ASA contacts enabled him to quickly assemble the qualified multidiscipline team needed to get the job done.
As the only multidiscipline valuation society of its kind in the United States, ASA is uniquely positioned to handle complex valuation problems like the Masonic Hall.
The 17-story Grand Lodge building was constructed in 1910, and the rooms were then built within the building. Likened to the Sistine Chapel, each lavish room is done in a different décor, set in a specific time period—ranging from the Doric Room, with an ornate Greek theme carried forward in a series of six repeated frieze themes, to the Colonial Room, with elaborate stenciled arches in wedgewood blue, burnt orange, and silver.
The building has been the set for numerous television shows and movies, such as “Unfaithful,” with Richard Gere. Roberts says it’s the most beautiful building, other than in Europe, he has ever seen.
For more information about an ASA-accredited appraiser in your area, visitwww.appraisers.org or call (800) ASA-VALU.
About ASA
ASA is an international organization of appraisal professionals and others dedicated to the education, development and growth of the appraisal profession. ASA is the oldest and only major organization representing all disciplines of appraisal specialists, originating in 1936 and incorporating in 1952. ASA’s headquarters is in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. Visit the ASA Web site at www.appraisers.org.