Preservation Snapshots Lectures

Gillson Park and Wilmette Harbor, A Fascinating and Remarkably Intact Historic Landscape - November 2

Located along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in Wilmette, Gillson Park is an exquisite and natural-looking green space. Comprised of gently curving drives, irregular groupings of trees, lovely beach areas and a picturesque harbor, it is difficult to imagine that the park is a designed landscape largely made of landfill. Landmarks Illinois included the park on its 2022 Most Endangered Historic Places, and more recently, sponsored a project to nominate the site to the National Register of Historic Places to ensure that the historic park receives the attention and documentation it deserves.

We invite you to join Landmarks Illinois for this captivating presentation featuring Julia Bachrach, landscape historian, and Malcolm Cairns, FASLA, a retired Ball State University professor, who prepared the Gillson Park nomination for the National Register of Historic Places.

WHEN

Thursday, November 2, 2023
12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Via Zoom

Registration

Landmarks Illinois Members: Free
Non Members: $5

Register

Ten Years Later: The Impact of School Closings in Chicago - November 16

 

 

Ten years ago, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel oversaw the closings of the largest amount of public schools in the city’s history, mostly in concentrated black neighborhoods. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) then created a public website that lists the schools that were closed and properties the Advisory Committee is still considering for reuse.

In 2015, Landmarks Illinois partnered with New Venture Advisors to identify closed schools with high potential for food-related reuse, as some schools contained commercial kitchens. Landmarks Illinois released a study, “Opportunities with Food Partners to Reuse Closed CPS Schools,” identifying 18 architecturally significant schools with five recommended for this reuse.

Please join Landmarks Illinois for this discussion featuring Paola Aguirre, Urban Designer and Partner of Borderless Studio, which launched the Creative Grounds Initiative that works to activate closed CPS schools. Paola is invested in spatial justice by bringing more people into the preservation processes and empowering communities to have a voice. She also partnered with Ghian Foreman, who purchased Overton School in Bronzeville, to create programming at the closed CPS school during the interim redevelopment phase. (Photo: Alexander Von Humboldt School in Humboldt Park)

WHEN

Thursday, November 16, 2023
12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Via Zoom

Registration

Landmarks Illinois Members: Free
Non Members: $5

Register

Dr. Percy Julian, an American story that is home to Oak Park

July 19, 2023

Learn about the life and legacy of Dr. Percy Julian, a renowned chemist who synthesized important medicinal compounds from plant sources. His former historic Oak Park home is also in need of preservation.

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Brooklyn, IL, One of the Last Remaining Freedom Towns in America

June 21, 2023
Landmarks Illinois Programs Manager Leila Wills is joined by Landmarks Illinois Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski and the Historical Society of Brooklyn, Illinois’ Robert White, III, for an in-depth discussion on the historic town of Brooklyn, Illinois.

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Chicago's Hip Hop Heritage

May 18, 2023
Landmarks Illinois Program Manager Leila Wills joins Brian Gorman, one of the co-founders of the Chicago Hip Hop Heritage Museum, to talk about the city’s impact on hip hop music, celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2023.

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PRESERVATION SNAPSHOTS LECTURE: Economic Development in Illinois’ Commercial Corridors – a Panel Discussion

Landmarks Illinois’ preservation programs are helping people revitalize their historic storefronts, sparking welcomed economic development in our state’s commercial corridors. This panel discussion on November 17, 2022, featured recipients of a Landmarks Illinois loan, grant and preservation award sharing first-hand accounts of restoring commercial spaces inside historic buildings.

SPEAKERS

• Nedra Sims Fears, Executive Director Greater Chatham Initiative, Chicago  – Recipient of 2022 Landmarks Illinois Reinvestment Loan
• ​Stowe Olesen, General Manager Broadgauge, Petersburg  – Recipient of a 2022 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award
• Moderated by Suzanne Germann, Landmarks Illinois Director of Reinvestment

Click below to watch the lecture.

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Preservation Snapshots Lecture: Recent Past Survey of Suburban Cook County

October 20, 2022

Lisa DiChiera, former Landmarks Illinois Director of Advocacy; Charlie Pipal, Adjunct Professor, Historic Preservation Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and ​Sheila Webb, Graduate SAIC Historic Preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, look back at the Recent Past Survey of Suburban Cook County. this 16-year surveying effort of non-residential suburban Chicago buildings dating from 1935 to 1975 — a period commonly referred to as the “Recent Past.” Approximately 4,100 commercial, institutional, office and religious structures have been identified in more than 53 suburban communities throughout Cook County, Illinois. The survey was undertaken in coordination with Landmarks Illinois by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation since 2006.

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