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Preservation Resources
Reports & Surveys
Measuring the Economics of Preservation
 PlaceEconomics
has prepared a report on measuring the economic impact of historic preservation
for the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
In the last fifteen years dozens of
studies have been conducted throughout the United States, by different analysts,
using different methodologies. But the results of those studies are remarkably
consistent — historic preservation is good for the local economy. This short
version of the full report includes highlights from some of this research.
Prentice Reuse Study Released
 Landmarks Illinois, in late April 2011, issued a report that shows how the
nearly-vacant former Prentice Women’s Hospital building can be reused, rather
than demolished.
The building’s owner, Northwestern University, recently had announced plans to
raze the clover leafshaped structure in late 2011, when its last occupant is
relocated. The 36-year-old concrete-and-glass building, which was designed by
influential architect Bertrand Goldberg, is considered to be one of Chicago’s
most distinctive architectural designs from the 1970s.
Lathrop Homes Redevelopment and
Preservation Plan
 Since
the listing of Lathrop Homes as one of Landmarks Illinois’
2007 Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in
Illinois, Landmarks Illinois has attempted to demonstrate the viability of
this 1937-vintage public housing complex. In early 2008, Landmarks Illinois
presented to Lathrop residents a
redevelopment and
preservation plan, prepared by Antunovich Associates.
Please Note: The redevelopment and preservation plan link above is for
the Lathrop Homes Redevelopment and Preservation Plan in PDF format. The PDF
file size is 11.5MB. This large of a PDF file is best viewed on your computer
and not on the web. We suggest saving the Lathrop PDF to your desktop by right
clicking the link above and saving the PDF to your computer desktop or other
folder.
A Reuse Plan for Cook County Hospital: A Better and More Cost-Effective
Alternative to Demolition
 The nearly century-old building at 1835 W. Harrison Street in Chicago had been
the subject of a nine-year advocacy effort to prevent its demolition. That
battle ended on March 2, 2010, when the Cook County Board voted to support a
rehabilitation proposal to convert the long-vacant structure into medical
offices.
Landmarks Illinois, in 2001, had included the mammoth, two-block-long Beaux
Arts-style building as one of its “Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in
Illinois.” The listing had been prompted by the construction of a replacement
hospital next to the historic building.
A detailed
reuse plan, featuring design solutions and construction estimates, was
prepared by LI in April 2003 and was widely distributed to public officials
and developers. For the full background of this advocacy effort,
click here.
The Impact of Historic District Designation on Property Values
 A
study complied by the Rockford Historic Preservation
Commission with assistance from the Rockford Community and
Economic Development addresses the common misconception that inclusion in a
historic district lowers property values.
The study found just the opposite: “Whether we looked at assessed valuations
over time or sales prices, properties in Rockford’s four residential historic
districts generally performed better over the past 30 years than did equivalent
properties in comparable neighborhoods.”
Greystone Design Guidelines Booklet
 After
more than 100 years of use, Greystones can exhibit a range of maintenance and
repair needs. To help identify and properly treat these issues, the Greystone
Design Guidelines Booklet looks at the components of a typical Greystone –
masonry, front porches, windows, roofs/cornices, interiors, and mechanical
systems. The Booklet focuses on each of these parts, providing simple “Do” and
“Don’t” guidance and illustrations to help homeowners better consider what
repairs need to be made and what architectural features/materials need to be
protected or preserved during the home improvement process.
Greystone Design Guidelines Booklet.PDF
This booklet was created by the Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative®.
Educating homeowners about the care and preservation of Greystones is a central
part of the mission of the Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative®
How to Save a Landmark
 Whether you belong to an existing preservation organization or to a group of
individuals organizing now to save an important structure or site, the fight
ahead of you may be difficult. This Guide is meant to help you through the
process of protecting your community’s architecturally and historically
significant properties.
The Guide lays out steps you can follow in your preservation efforts. In
addition to presenting ideas for organizing, tactics, and strategies, the Guide
also tells five success stories.
How to Save a
Landmark.PDF
To order a bound copy of How to Save a Landmark, please call us at (312)
922-1742. You may charge the shipping cost of $1.75 to Visa, MasterCard or
American Express.
Joliet-Lemont Limestone: Preservation of an
Historic Building Material
 This
booklet is intended as a practical guide to the conservation of Joliet-Lemont
limestone. It is designed to assist building owners, architects and contractors
in making informed decisions and to provide scholars and the public with the
historical and technical understanding of this stone which was so important to
the settlement and industrialization of Illinois.
Joliet-Lemont Limestone.PDF
To order a bound copy of Joliet-Lemont Limestone: Preservation of an Historic
Building Material, please call us at (312) 922-1742. You may charge the shipping
cost of $1.75 to Visa, MasterCard or American Express.
School Siting Study
 Local neighborhood schools are
important anchors in a community. A study addressing the issue of school siting
policy is being undertaken by the State of Illinois, with joint funding from the
National Trust for Historic Preservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). The study will address legislation and district procedures for
determining new school locations and the barriers to maintaining existing
neighborhood-based schools, most of which are historic buildings. A white paper
will be produced for state legislators, in order to recommend policy changes and
the benefits of renovating older schools and to retain schools that children can
walk to. Landmarks Illinois is a co-sponsor of the study. For more information,
go to
www.standingupforillinois.org/green/school_siting.
Barn Preservation:
A Survey of Illinois Activity
 Above-average
temperatures and a severe lack of rainfall this summer have heightened awareness
of the struggles faced by small-operation farmers. As family farms struggle to
endure, the preservation of historic agricultural structures—most notably,
barns—is a growing concern. Each year, more and more of these “prairie
cathedrals” disappear from our rural landscape.
In response, LPCI this past summer contacted county officials,
AG extension
agents, and other local leaders from nearly all of the state’s 102 counties.
Here are a few
key findings & impressive accomplishments found in the survey:
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Key
Findings
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Accomplishments |
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 Architectural surveys of rural structures have been completed—or are
ongoing—in 20 Illinois counties. In 16 of these counties, the surveys were
initiated by a local historical society or a group of concerned individuals.
Barn tours have been established in 10 counties, ranging from Jo Daviess
and McHenry counties in the north to Bond and Union counties in the south.
All of these tours have become ongoing events, either as organized group or
self-guided tours.
A range of other activities have promoted historic barns in at least 22
counties. These include the publication of barn calendars (e.g., Iroquois
County), the organization of museum exhibits (e.g., Crawford County), and
the restoration of barns for public use (a barn bed-and-breakfast in Wabash
County received an award from the National Trust). |
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A survey of Champaign County,
which was conducted by the Women’s Committee of the Champaign County Farm
Bureau, documented over 650 barns. Rock Island County’s survey identified
450 barns.
The McLean County Barn Keepers, a
nonprofit group, stages barn dances, publishes a calendar, and sponsors day
trips of barns.
The Piatt County barn tour, now
in its eighth year, attracted over 600 participants from seven states in
2004.
The Shelby County Historical
Society recently published a book featuring 30 barns.
The Ryan Round Barn in Henry
County is being operated by the Friends of Johnson Park Foundation, which
recently raised over $5,000 to paint the barn and build a new ramp. |
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Our statewide
survey also identified counties that might be interested in enacting a historic
preservation ordinance. Currently, only five counties (Kane, Logan, McHenry,
Sangamon, and Will) have preservation laws; but Logan County’s landmarks
ordinance appears to be inactive.
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This research also will help support the
efforts of the Illinois Barn Alliance, a group that will be holding its 3rd
annual conference, Sept. 16-18, in Ullin, 20 miles north of Cairo. For more
conference information, go to
Preservation Community
Events.
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For more information on our statewide survey, contact LPCI’s Advocacy Director,
Lisa DiChiera, by e-mail at
DiChieraL@lpci.org.
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 This survey was
conducted in Summer 2005 by LPCI intern Nicholas Hayward, a graduate student in
Historic Preservation Planning at Cornell University. He hails from the rural
community of Chillicothe, Illinois.
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Illinois Initiative on Recent Past Architecture (IIRPA) Having recognized
that there are several organizations committed to identifying and advocating for
the protection of “recent past” architecture, LPCI has initiated a cooperative
effort among these groups to organize a major survey of recent past architecture
in the Chicagoland area. Click to
view the IIRPA Survey.
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Religious Properties
 The
Northeast Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in
collaboration with Partners for Sacred Places, has just compiled a series of
case studies showing new uses for closed religious properties from communities
across the country. To learn more visit:
www.nationaltrust.org/issues/houses_of_worship.
LPCI has prepared a short pictorial survey of Chicago’s endangered, unprotected,
lost, and reused religious structures which is available for viewing by clicking
the PDF file below. For more information on this
issue go to Should Religious Properties
Be Landmarked?
Owner Consent Clause: Good or Bad?
 Many
communities debate whether or not to include an owner consent clause in their
preservation ordinance, which requires that in order for a building to be landmarked, the owner must give his or her consent. While an owner consent
clause is not encouraged by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency for local
preservation ordinances, it is allowed.
Pia Hermoso, an intern for LPCI from the
Historic Preservation program at the School of the Art Institute, surveyed
Certified Local Governments (CLG) in Illinois to determine which had owner
consent clauses in their ordinances. Based on that, she inquired how each
community assessed its preservation accomplishments. Her survey shows on
average, CLGs without owner consent clauses have a slightly better track record
in regard to landmark designations.
However, some CLGs with owner consent clauses have
had effective landmarking efforts correlated with extensive educational outreach to historic building owners, specifically regarding the rehabilitation tax
incentives available to owners of landmarked buildings. In either circumstance, it is clear education is the key to making owners comfortable with what it means
to own a locally landmarked property.
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