Cory brings to the team at Henson Architecture her decades of historic preservation experience, as a licensed architect, architectural conservator, and active advocate for climate leadership through preservation. Her award-winning work has included the restoration of significant historical buildings, new construction in a historic context, and work in many unusual circumstances, including relocating entire buildings and reassembling buildings from previously disassembled components. In her role in the office and in her professional outreach, she promotes technical guidance for the appropriate care of existing buildings to both protect our cultural heritage and meet our carbon mitigation targets. 

Her past design and construction projects include: the exterior restoration of the Hadrian; the reconstruction of the Tin Building; and the relocation and restoration of Hamilton Grange National Memorial, all in New York; the restoration of the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, MD; the re-erection of Yin Yu Tang in Salem, MA; and the reuse of St. Elizabeths West Campus in Washington, DC.

Cory actively advocates for the critical role of historic preservation in addressing the existential climate threats of our time. She is a frequent speaker on topics including tools for sustainable preservation and the wisdom of inherently sustainable features and vernacular design.

Cory is a past Co-Chair of the Association for Preservation Technology’s Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation. Since 2011 she has spearheaded the development of the Committee’s Online Sustainable Conservation Assistance Resource (OSCAR). Other initiatives during her tenure included the development of the Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing and Historic Buildings (ZNCC) and the expansion of the Sustainable Preservation Bibliography. 

Cory earned her degrees in Architecture and in Building Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She was also a guest student at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zürich, Switzerland. Prior to joining Henson, Cory was most recently an Associate Partner at Jan Hird Pokorny Associates. Earlier in her career she worked as an Architect in both the Albany and New York offices of John G. Waite Associates; an Architect at the Boston firm Goody Clancy; and a Senior Conservator in the Boston-area office of Building Conservation Associates.