Landmarks Illinois has issued a statement in response to the death of George Floyd and ongoing protests and our dedication to breaking down systems of racism and injustice and ensuring equity in our work.
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Landmarks Illinois has announced the recipients of its one-time special grant fund, the Landmarks Illinois COVID-19 Organization Relief Grant Program. Each recipient will receive a $2,000 grant to help pay for essential, organizational expenditures. Landmarks Illinois created the grant program to help community development, preservation and other partner nonprofits throughout the state during the coronavirus health crisis.
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Landmarks Illinois has created a new grant fund in celebration of the life and work of acclaimed civil rights leader, educator, historian, author and WWII veteran, Timuel D. Black, Jr. The Landmarks Illinois Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side will provide small grants to support planning and capital projects that work to preserve and promote the history, culture and architecture of Chicago’s South Side, which Mr. Black has called home for the majority of his life.
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Landmarks Illinois is taking nominations now through June 15 for its 2020 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. The annual awards program honors individuals, organizations, projects and programs in Illinois whose work demonstrates a commitment to excellence in historic preservation.
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Landmarks Illinois today launched its new Landmarks Illinois COVID-19 Organization Relief Grant Program, intended to provide monetary assistance to nonprofit organizations in the state of Illinois that have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications are due May 15.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded a total of $16,000 to seven preservation projects throughout the state through its Landmarks Preservation Heritage Fund and the Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund grant programs. Projects in Chicago, DeKalb, Elgin, Glencoe, Pleasant Plains, Rock Island and Salem received $1,000 to $2,500 matching grants each. Read our press release to learn more.
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Landmarks Illinois will pay tribute to Timuel D. Black Jr., civil rights leader and educator; Joseph P. Gromacki, Senior Partner of Jenner & Block LLP; and Matthew and Daniel Walsh, Co-Chairmen of The Walsh Group, at the 2020 Legendary Landmarks Celebration in Chicago on March 5.
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Landmarks Illinois will celebrate the completion of an important restoration project at the National Historic Landmark, the Oscar Stanton De Priest Apartment Building in Bronzeville, at a community event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 20, 2020. (Pictured: Landmarks Illinois Director of Grants & Easements Suzanne Germann, who oversaw the project for LI, with Kirk Sippel, project manager with Bauer Latoza Studios, at the De Priest Building.)
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $15,000 in grant funding to preservation projects in five Illinois communities through its Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Program. Individual grants range from $2,500 to $5,000 each and will be used toward restoring historic places in the following Illinois communities: Atlanta, Princeton, Rochelle, Rushville and Wilmington. Read our press release to learn more about each grant recipient. (Photo: The 1908 Atlanta Public Library Building)
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The Illinois State Historic Preservation Office posted on its website four projects that will receive the first round of funding through the new Illinois Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program (SHTC). Landmarks Illinois celebrates this announcement and congratulates the four projects to receive this vital funding. LI released the following statement following this announcement. (Photo: Hotel Belleville, a former LI Most Endangered site and one of four projects the state said would receive the first round of funding through the SHTC program.)
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LI and the National Trust for Historic Preservation released a joint statement regarding the sale of the James R. Thompson Center. LI has included the Post-Modern building in Chicago’s Loop on our Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois for the past three years. The National Trust also included the threatened Thompson Center on its 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list this year.
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Landmarks Illinois has named this year’s recipients of the Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. The nine award-winning preservation projects, and the people who made them possible, will be honored at a ceremony in Chicago the evening of Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. Read our press release to see the people and places LI will honor at this year’s awards ceremony.
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Landmarks Illinois Lisa DiChiera gave a statement at the August 27, 2019, Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission Meeting regarding a proposal from the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust to move or demolition of two contributing structures to the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $35,250 in grant funding to historic preservation projects across the state. The nine individual grants were awarded through Landmarks Illinois Preservation Heritage Fund and the Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund grant programs between January and June 2019. Read the full press release to learn about each grant recipient.
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The Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois is partnering with Campton Township to host the Whitney Schoolhouse Celebration July 20, 2019, on the grounds of the historic, 1852 Whitney Schoolhouse in Kane County. The event allows community members to see up close the second-oldest, one-room schoolhouse in northeastern Illinois and tour other historic sites on the Daniel Whitney Residence and Farmstead. The Whitney Schoolhouse Celebration takes place 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Read the press release for full details.
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Director of Advocacy Lisa DiChiera gave two statements at the July 11, 2019, Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission meeting on behalf of Landmarks Illinois’ stance on proposed changes to two Frank Lloyd Wright Trust-owned structures. Read DiChiera’s statements below in opposition to the Trust’s proposal to alter or demolish the buildings.
Read LI’s Director of Advocacy Lisa DiChiera’s statement to the Rockford Historic Preservation Commission regarding the proposed Rockford Landmark District for the Piety Hill neighborhood. LI’s statement is one of support for the historic district, which would protect historically and architecturally significant buildings and schools, including properties LI called attention to on its 2019 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. Click below to read the full statement.
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Landmarks Illinois is excited to announce it has accepted a proposal from the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) in Brooklyn, New York, to take possession of the iconic former Ebony Test Kitchen and prominently feature it in its anticipated national exhibition, African/American: Making the Nation’s Table. MOFAD’s proposal was one Landmarks Illinois received from interested parties and organizations during its request for proposal period that ended May 1, 2019. (Photo: Ebony’s Test Kitchen food counter. Credit: Barbara Karant)
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Landmarks Illinois announced its 2019 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois at a press conference in Springfield on May 1, 2019. Read our press release to learn about the 12 places LI has included on this year’s list of the state’s top threatened historic sites. (Photo: Millstadt Milling & Feed Company. Credit: Liz Chilsen)
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Landmarks Illinois has released a short video focused on the Underground Railroad in Illinois. The roughly six-minute video, titled “People Saving Places: The Underground Railroad in Illinois,” was directed by University of Chicago student Catalina Parra and marks the second phase of LI’s student video program. The new video successfully weaves together the collective history of three Illinois Underground Railroad sites and tells the inspiring true stories of Illinois residents and abolitionists helping former slaves find freedom in the mid-19 century.
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Landmarks Illinois is looking for a new owner for the one-of-a-kind former Johnson Publishing Company Test Kitchen, designed in 1971 by Palm Springs-based interior designers William Raiser and Arthur Elrod. Today, LI issued issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified institutions, organizations, corporations or other entities interested in accepting ownership of the former test kitchen and reassembling it for educational display or use. Landmarks Illinois acquired the test kitchen in April 2018 for $1 and, with the help of professional volunteers among its membership and from the Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois, documented, carefully disassembled and removed the kitchen from the Johnson Publishing Company Building. It has been safely kept in storage since. (Photo credit: Lee Bey Architectural Photography)
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Today, Landmarks Illinois (LI) joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Rock Island Preservation Society, the Moline Preservation Society, the Broadway Historic District Association and Rock Island Justice Center bondholder Fred Shaw in filing a lawsuit against the Rock Island County Public Building Commission (PBC) and the Rock Island County Board, to protect the historic Rock Island County Courthouse from unlawful demolition. The lawsuit asks the PBC to be held accountable for violating state preservation law, state law governing the authority and actions of public building commissions, as well as the terms of publicly funded bonds issued to construct the new Justice Center Annex.
Read the press releaseOn February 7, 2019, Landmarks Illinois, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Rock Island Preservation Society, the Moline Preservation Society, the Broadway Historic District Association, and Fred Shaw (“Plaintiffs”) filed a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) and Preliminary Injunction (“Injunction”) in the 14th Circuit Court to temporarily halt demolition of the historic Rock Island County Courthouse. The TRO and Injunction follow Plaintiffs’ filing on February 6, 2018 of a legal Complaint arguing that the Rock Island County Public Building Commission (“PBC”) and Rock Island County Board (“Board”) violated state law and the terms of publicly funded bonds in pursuing the Courthouse’s demolition. Filing the TRO and Injunction is a necessary legal step to stop any demolition action by the PBC and Board while the Compliant is being adjudicated.
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Landmarks Illinois, a membership-based nonprofit organization advocating for the preservation and reuse of historic and architecturally significant properties throughout the state, will host its 14th annual Legendary Landmarks Celebration the evening of Thursday, March 7, 2019, at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Ave.
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On Wednesday, January 16, 2019, Landmarks Illinois (LI) sent a letter to the Rock Island County Public Building Commission to reiterate our position that the commission is not authorized to demolish the historic Rock Island County Courthouse until all state approvals and local permits have been issued. Landmarks Illinois believes the letter speaks for itself. We expect that public bodies will follow the law. We urge that in the interim they give consideration to soliciting proposals from private, public or institutional investors for adaptive reuse. LI stands ready to assist with information on financial incentives and adaptive reuse options, so this significant historic building continues to inspire future generations.
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Landmarks Illinois has announced its latest round of grant recipients through the organization’s Preservation Heritage Fund and the Landmarks Illinois WWI Monument Preservation grant programs. Five grants totaling $10,000 have been awarded through the Preservation Heritage Fund and five grants amounting to $31,900 were awarded through LI’s WWI Monument Preservation Grant Program. (Pictured: Claremont Cottages in Chicago)
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Landmarks Illinois has announced the recipients of the 2018 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards – an annual program that calls attention to exceptional historic preservation projects in the state now celebrating its 25th anniversary. (Pictured: 2018 Award Recipient Revel Motor Row)
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded nearly $35,000 in grant funding to historic preservation projects in Illinois. Nine matching grants have been awarded in the latest round of funding through Landmarks Illinois’ three grant programs: the Preservation Heritage Fund, Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund and the WWI Monument Preservation Grant Program.
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Landmarks Illinois is working to preserve the iconic Ebony test kitchen from the former Johnson Publishing Company Building, a Chicago landmark. Landmarks Illinois recently acquired the test kitchen and materials for $1 and, with the help of volunteer professionals from its Skyline Council, disassembled the kitchen and removed it from the former headquarters of the Johnson Publishing Company. (Photo credit: Lewis Purdy)
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On May 31, 2018, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill to improve and expand the existing River Edge Redevelopment Zone Historic Tax Credit (RERZ). The bill amends the RERZ to enhance its usability and establishes a new statewide Historic Preservation Tax Credit across Illinois. The RERZ and Illinois Historic Preservation Tax Credit bills have been supported by Landmarks Illinois and the American Institute of Architects-Illinois since 2009. Both organizations provided language, testimony, research and expertise on tax credit best practices for the bill authors.
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Landmarks Illinois is encouraging communities across Illinois to apply to the final round of funding through the Landmarks Illinois WWI Monument Preservation Grant Program. The grant program provides financial support to WWI outdoor monuments and memorials in Illinois in need of restoration to recover their dedication-era quality and appearance. Grant applications for the final round of funding are due August 15, 2018.
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Landmarks Illinois announced its 2018 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois on April 25, 2018, at a press conference in Springfield. Read the full press release to see which sites are included on this year’s ‘Most Endangered’ list.
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Landmarks Illinois included the James R. Thompson Center on its annual Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois in 2017 and again this year in 2018, demonstrating its extraordinary significance. As part of its 2018 ‘Most Endangered’ listing, Landmarks Illinois has commissioned renderings that visually demonstrate Thompson Center’s ability to be privately redeveloped as an exciting mixed-use destination.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $15,800 to five historic preservation projects in Illinois in the latest round of funding through its Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Program. Individual grant amounts range from $1,300 to $5,000 each for historic preservation efforts in the following communities: Bolingbrook, Elmhurst, Lombard, DuPage County and Shelbyville.
(Pictured: Governor John Wood Mansion in Quincy)
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Landmarks Illinois gathered with its closest supporters, friends and historic preservation advocates at the 2018 Legendary Landmarks Celebration on March 8, 2018. More than 830 people joined Landmarks Illinois for its 13th annual fundraiser and enjoyed cocktails, dinner, dessert, networking, entertainment and tributes to the 2018 Legendary Landmarks, who have made a positive impact on our city and state. The 2018 Legendary Landmarks Celebration raised over $850,000 in proceeds for Landmarks Illinois, which is used to fund the nonprofit’s Advocacy Program – the heart of LI’s work.
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Landmarks Illinois will host its 13th annual Legendary Landmarks Celebration the evening of Thursday, March 8, 2018, at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Ave.Each year, Landmarks Illinois’ Legendary Landmarks Celebration honors civic and cultural leaders who are making an impact on Chicago and Illinois. Landmarks Illinois’ 2018 Legendary Landmarks Honorees are: Berglund Construction, our 2018 “Corporate Landmark,” with the honor being accepted by third-generation Owner Fred Berglund; Daniel Levin, Founder and Chairman of The Habitat Company; and Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Board President.
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On January 5, 2018, Landmarks Illinois wrote a letter to Abby Monroe, Coordinating Planner City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development, regarding the response to request for comments on the proposed APE boundaries and APE historic features for the Obama Presidential Center Mobility Improvements.
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Landmarks Illinois is awarding $32,500 total to eight Illinois preservation projects in its latest round of grant funding through the Preservation Heritage Fund, Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund and Landmarks Illinois WWI Monument Preservation grant programs.
(Pictured: The Mott Building in Elsah, one of Landmarks Illinois’ recent grant recipients.)
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Landmarks Illinois has partnered with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division to host a lecture led by Tim Samuelson, Cultural Historian for the City of Chicago, at the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 4 p.m.
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A new analysis of the nearly 200 grants Landmarks Illinois has awarded over the past 33 years shows recipients were able to use the LI funding to ultimately save an important historic resource and to leverage additional funds needed to finish a large-scale historic preservation project. A new study prepared by PlaceEconomics for Landmarks Illinois, called “No Small Change: The Grant Programs of Landmarks Illinois,” reviewed a total of 192 grants awarded between 1984 and 2017 through three Landmarks Illinois grant programs: The Endangered Building grant program, the Preservation Heritage Fund, and the Barbara C. Thomas E. Donnelley II grant program.
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On Friday, August 18, 2017, Governor Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill 1783, which extends the River Edge Redevelopment Zone (RERZ) Historic Tax Credit through 2021. Landmarks Illinois applauds the governor for extending this vital historic preservation incentive in Illinois. (Photo: Aurora St. Charles Senior Living in Aurora is one beneficiary of the tax credit, and is being honored by Landmarks Illinois at our 2017 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. credit: Leslie Schwartz)
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Landmarks Illinois has partnered with the place-based storytelling platform Vamonde to share the inspiring stories included in a recent video project produced in collaboration with Kennedy-King College students.
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Landmarks Illinois announced the recipients of the 2017 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. Every year, the awards pay tribute to inspiring individuals and organizations that put forth extraordinary effort to elevate historic preservation practice and advocacy in Illinois. Read the full press release for more about each award-winning historic preservation project. (Pictures: Joliet Central High School Student Center Addition)
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Landmarks Illinois Director of Advocacy Lisa DiChiera gave a statement to the Wheaton City Council on July 24 regarding a special use permit request for a planned unit development. The request would allow a local Wheaton couple to move the historic House of Seven Gables to a new location to prevent the home from being demolished.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded the first round of funding through the Landmarks Illinois World War I Monument Preservation Grant Program. The City of Aurora and the Second Indianhead Division Association are recipients of the recently launched grant program that provides monetary assistance to preserve World War I outdoor monuments and memorials in Illinois.
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Landmarks Illinois today announced $31,500 in grant funding for a dozen historic preservation projects in Illinois through its Preservation Heritage Fund and Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund grant programs.
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Landmarks Illinois’ Real Estate and Building Industries Council (RBIC) will honor Cedar Street Companies at its 2017 RBIC event on July 25, 2017 at the rehabilitated Bush Temple of Music in Chicago. Read the full press release for details on the event and Cedar Street’s adaptive reuse projects.
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Read the extended Q&A article with Kennedy-King College student filmmakers to learn about their experience creating a series of videos for Landmarks Illinois’ “People Saving Places” video project. A shorter version of this article published in our June 2017 print newsletter, The Arch.
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On April 12, 2017, Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald testified before the House Revenue & Finance Committee at a subject matter hearing in Chicago in support of bipartisan legislation to extend the River Edge Redevelopment Zone Historic Tax Credit (Pictured: Bonnie McDonald testifying, with local preservationist and economic development professional, Janet Mathis, in the background representing Renew Moline.)
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Landmarks Illinois announced its 2017 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois on April 6, 2017, at a press conference in Springfield. Read the full press release to learn which historic sites around the state were named to this year’s list. (Pictured: James R. Thompson Center, Chicago. Credit: Landmarks Illinois)
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Landmarks Illinois and 755 guests, including longtime LI supporters, fellow historic preservation advocates, local officials and our 2017 Legendary Landmark Honorees, gathered at the Hilton Chicago on Wednesday, March 15, 2017, for the 12th Legendary Landmarks Celebration. Read more about our event and see photos from the evening. (Photo: 2017 Legendary Landmarks Daniel McCaffery, Richard Hunt and Fred Eychaner at Landmarks Illinois’ Legendary Landmarks Celebration, held March 15, 2017, at the Hilton Chicago. Credit: Diane Alexander White Photography)
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On March 21, 2017, Landmarks Illinois announced a new grant program to provide monetary assistance to preserve World War I outdoor monuments and memorials within the state of Illinois.
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On Feb. 13, 2017, Landmarks Illinois submitted a letter to the Wheaton Planning & Zoning Board that advocates for the reuse of the Jarvis Hunt-designed House of Seven Gables in the proposed redevelopment of the Loretto Convent property. The letter urges the Board and staff to work with the developer to redevelop the property while retaining the historic building.
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Landmarks Illinois will host its annual Legendary Landmarks Celebration the evening of March 15, 2017 at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Ave. Now in its 12th year, the celebration pays tribute to civic and cultural leaders who are making a mark on Chicago and beyond. Read the full press release to learn more about the event and this year’s Legendary Landmarks Honorees.
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Landmarks Illinois believes recently released public documents on the Springfield City Clerk’s website show that reuse of the YWCA building in the Central Springfield Historic District would be more economically feasible than demolition of the structure.
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Landmarks Illinois believes the City of Chicago’s federally funded sound insulation program for designated residences within the Norwood Park Historic District provides homeowners with the proper resources to sound insulate their houses while maintaining the historic character of the structure. Read our full statement for why we believe this program is a smart and deserving investment in a nationally recognized historic community. (photo credit: Gabriel X. Michael)
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Landmarks Illinois will present Amtrak with its 2016 Real Estate and Building Industries Council (RBIC) Award at a cocktail networking reception Wednesday, November 30, 2016 from 6-8 p.m. in the newly restored Burlington Room at Chicago Union Station.
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On November 14, 2016, Landmarks Illinois submitted a statement to the Wheaton City Council regarding a Planned Unit Development proposal for the Loretto Convent property. The plans call for demolition of the historic House of Seven Gables, a home LI has placed on its Chicagoland Watch List in the past and one we believe exceptionally important both architecturally and historically to the city of Wheaton.
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Landmarks Illinois, in partnership with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) and the City of Elgin, released a study that explores reuse opportunities for the Elgin Laundry Building, a unique accordion-shaped facility designed by Bertrand Goldberg and built on the former Elgin Mental Health Hospital grounds. The study identifies how the currently unused Elgin Laundry Building could be reused as a multipurpose recreational facility.
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After 17 years of advocacy, the historic former St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church in Chicago’s Near Northwest Side neighborhood will finally have a new life. On Friday, Sept. 23, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development announced the church had been purchased by Chicago developer Stas Development, saving the historic building from demolition.
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Landmarks Illinois will honor nine exceptional historic preservation projects next month at the Landmarks Illinois 2016 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards Celebration Saturday, October 22, 2016 at Venue One in Chicago.
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Glessner House Museum, Landmarks Illinois and AIA Chicago will hold a day-long symposium, Historic Preservation at 50: Chicago and the Future of the Movement, Saturday, October 8, focused on the future of historic preservation in Chicago and honoring the preservation efforts of our past.
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