Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund grant program provides monetary assistance to significant structures or sites in Illinois that are under threat of demolition, in imminent deterioration, in need of stabilization, in need of structural or reuse evaluation, or need to be evaluated for landmark eligibility. Created in 2004, the program targets projects focusing on engineering, architectural and feasibility studies, stabilization, legal services, survey and National Register Nominations and preservation ordinance support. Preservation Heritage Fund grants are awarded twice a year. Read more about the recipients of the grant program below. Click here to see all previous Preservation Heritage Fund grant recipients.
2024 Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Recipients
ANNOUNCED DECEMBER 2024

Eugene S. Pike House Foundation, Chicago
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
The Eugene S. Pike House, once used as a “Watchman’s Residence” for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, is a 19th-century Tudor Revival-style home designed by H.H. Waterman that sits on the edge of the Dan Ryan Woods on Chicago’s far South Side. In 2022, Landmark Illinois included it on its Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois due to the vacant property’s deteriorating state.
The Eugene S. Pike House Foundation, which includes the Beverly Arts Alliance and other local advocates, are working to restore the property with the goal of opening the Pike House Community Cultural Center. The group will use the grant from Landmarks Illinois to make roof repairs to the Pike House.
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Gibson City Restoration Association, Gibson City
GRANT AMOUNT: $4,000
In recent years, the Gibson City Restoration Association (GCRA) has been working to restore the historic Burwell Building to help spark local economic development in Gibson’s City commercial corridor. The building was named for Gibson City’s first banker, MT Burwell, and has had many uses over its history. The Loy Dime Store once called this downtown building home as did the local Opera House. GRCA will use its grant funds to help repoint the brick exterior of the Burwell Building.
In 2022, Landmarks Illinois helped provide a pro bono conditions assessment of the Burwell Building. The same year, a Preservation Heritage Fund grant from Landmarks Illinois helped fund priority repairs to the building.
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Hometown Christian Church, Hometown
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
Hometown Christian Church is located in Cook County, just outside Chicago, on its southwestern edge. Established in 1953, it has served the community for 71 years. However, the church’s roof has deteriorated due to years of weather damage, causing water to infiltrate the church and preventing the congregation from using a portion of the building for community services. The congregation will use the Landmarks Illinois grant to help fund necessary roof repairs.
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CORE of McLean, McLean
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
The McLean water tower was commissioned in 1934 and completed in 1935 as a Public Works Administration project. It served the village until it was decommissioned in 2017 when a higher-capacity tank was installed at another location. At a total height of 96 feet, the water tower includes a 60,000-gallon tank made of riveted sheet metal and features a tank with a conical top, straight sides, and concave hemispherical self-supporting bottom. Local organization CORE of McLean has taken ownership of the iconic landmark and transformed the land below the tower into a public park and native garden. It is now working on Phase 1 of the tower restoration, which includes power washing and base painting. The grant from Landmarks Illinois will help fund this phase of the project.
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Adams County Olde Tyme Association, Mendon
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
The Adams County Olde Tyme Association has served as stewards of the historic Lewis Round Barn since the Lewis Family donated the barn to the organization in the 1990s. At the time, the association, with the assistance of local Amish carpenters, dismantled and moved the barn from the Lewis family farm to land near the Adams County Fairgrounds, where it joined a one-room schoolhouse, print shop, a log cabin and a windmill. The barn is now a museum featuring agricultural equipment and is dedicated to educating the young and old about agricultural heritage. It is one of 14 round barns recognized by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The grant from Landmarks Illinois will help fund roof replacement at the barn.
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Bureau County Historical Center & Society, Princeton
Grant amount: $3,500
The Sash Stalter Matson Building was built in 1912 and opened in 1913 as the Matson Public Library. It remained the largest and most widely used community library until the library relocated and the building was sold at auction in 2007. In 2014, the owner, Robert Sash, donated the building to the Bureau County Historical Center, which is restoring it to reopen it as a county history and learning center. The historical center will use its grant from Landmarks Illinois to conduct a structural study of the Matson Building. This study will inform future renovations designed to make the building more accessible.
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Ethnic Heritage Museum, Rockford
Grant amount: $1,500
Graham-Ginestra House, listed on the National Register, tells the story of the Graham and Ginestra families, both prominent business owners in Rockford. The house is part of Heritage Museum Park, a historical campus on South Main Street in Rockford that includes the Ethnic Heritage Museum.
The Landmarks Illinois grant will help the museum restore the porch at the Graham-Ginestra House. The project includes power washing the ceiling, replacing rotted wood and restoring the porch’s distinct corbels and fascia.
learn moreANNOUNCED JUNE 2024

Theatre Y, Chicago
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
Theatre Y is located within the former Jackson Storage and Van Company Warehouse, constructed ca. 1890 and reconstructed in 1927. The building will be adapted to house the Theatre as well as become a hub for mission-aligned organizations such as Bee Love Cafe, Open Books Pay What You Want Bookstore, North Lawndale Reads, The Firehouse Community Arts Center and Equiticity. The grant from Landmarks Illinois will be used for architectural fees associated with the rehabilitation.
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Project XV
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
Project XV is working to restore the Legacy Building in El Paso, Illinois, constructed in 1872-1874. Once complete, the organization plans to use the building to house the state’s first voting rights museum. The historic building was once home to a barber shop owned by David Strother, who became the first Black man to cast a ballot in Illinois following the passage of the 15th Amendment. Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund grant will be used to install a floor in the former barbershop, trim out the room, doors, and windows and weatherize the space for the ongoing preservation effort. A previous Preservation Heritage Fund grant in 2023 helped pay for electrical repairs and replace windows on the building.
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Our Saviour Parish & Grade School, Jacksonville
GRANT AMOUNT: $2,500
Our Saviour Parish & Grade School’s rectory was constructed in 1896 in the Queen Anne architectural style. In 1995, due to the deterioration of the structure, the Diocese of Springfield was considering demolishing the home. However, the Old Rectory Task Force took over the building and made the appropriate repairs to save the building from demolition. And, in 2015,the church’s priests moved back into it. Today, the rectory’s porch needs critical repairs, as it has been deemed unsafe. The grant from Landmarks Illinois will be used to replace the porch’s support beams and complete other necessary repairs.
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Living Sanctuary of Faith Church of God In Christ
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
Built in 1903, the Living Sanctuary of Faith Church of God In Christ is located within the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School of Architecture Historic District, which is recognized as a local landmark district as well as listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Age and water infiltration have taken a toll on the Gothic-style building, leading to necessary repairs such as tuck-pointing, foundation stabilization and roof work. The Landmarks Illinois grant will help pay for masonry repairs as detailed in a recent building condition assessment report.
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Oak Park & River Forest Day Nursery
GRANT AMOUNT: $3,000
The Day Nursery provides a nurturing and educational environment for children of local families. It is located in a 1926 Tudor-Revival building designed by architect Charles E. White. In 2022, it was designated an Oak Park Historical Landmark. Deferred maintenance has led to water infiltration in the building. The grant from Landmarks Illinois will be used to restore windows on the east and north sides of the building.
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Pike County Historical Society, Pittsfield
GRANT AMOUNT: $5,000
The Shastid House was built in 1838 by John Greene Shastid, a friend of Abraham Lincoln. The timber-framed home is a local and nationally designated landmark and is part of the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area. The historical society will use the grant from Landmarks Illinois to install a new roof on the historic home.
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W.A. McDonnell Foundation, Richmond
GRANT AMOUNT: $3,000
The oldest surviving building in the northeastern Illinois village is called “Old #90.” The structure was built in 1844 by Charles Cotting, who platted the town of Richmond. Built into a small hill and made of river rock, the building’s foundation has eroded over time and the entire structure has deteriorated. The W.A. McDonnell Foundation will use the grant from Landmarks Illinois to help stabilize the foundation. Once habitable, the organization plans to open a small local historical museum in the building and use the remaining space for offices and meetings. A previous Preservation Heritage Fund grant in 2021 from Landmarks Illinois helped pay for a structural engineering assessment of the building.
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