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Preservation Resources
Reports & Surveys
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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