Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Manager, Kendra Parzan, shares her statement on the Century and Consumers buildings given today to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
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Landmarks Illinois has received an Advocacy Award of Excellence from Docomomo US for its years-long effort to save the Ebony Test Kitchen – a culturally significant part of the Johnson Publishing Company legacy and prominent feature in its former headquarters in Chicago.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded grants to help preserve two historic buildings in the Southern Illinois communities of Johnston City and Murphysboro through the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program.
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Landmarks Illinois has announced the winners of the 2023 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards, an annual program honoring exceptional preservation efforts across Illinois that is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year. Projects in Aurora, Chicago, DeKalb, Maywood, Marion and Peoria have won awards for the adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of our state’s historic places and for preserving Illinois’ cultural heritage and will be honored at a public ceremony on October 27, 2023, in Chicago.
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The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the federal agency for historic preservation, recently closed a call for comments on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Landmarks Illinois was glad to provide comments in a letter submitted to the Advisory Council on July 20, 2023.
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Landmarks Illinois is excited to share the news it has received a $1 million grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation to help provide more and larger low-interest loans through its buildings Reinvestment Program Loan Fund.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $24,500 in grant funding to seven preservation projects across the state through its Preservation Heritage Fund and Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois grant programs. Grant-funded projects are located in the Illinois communities of Chicago, Kansas, Kewanee, Millstadt and Red Bud.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded a total of $7,500 in matching grant funds to three preservation projects at historic churches through the Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side.
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Landmarks Illinois is excited to announce that it has donated the iconic Ebony Test Kitchen from the former Johnson Publishing Company Building in Chicago to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) located in Washington, D.C. The test kitchen will be a part of the museum’s permanent collection.
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After spending months advocating in Springfield for the Illinois Historic Preservation Tax Credit (IL-HTC) alongside our partners at AIA Illinois, Landmarks Illinois is pleased to share the news that the Illinois General Assembly has passed legislation that extends the tax credit through 2028 and increases the annual allotment to $25 million (up from $15 million). The legislation will now go to Gov. J.B. Pritzker for a signature.
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Landmarks Illinois has announced its 2023 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois, calling attention to nine culturally and architecturally significant sites across the state that face growing threats of disinvestment and demolition.
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Owners of historic buildings in Southern Illinois commercial areas are encouraged to apply for funding through the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program. Grant applications for the next round of funding through the program are due July 1 and can be submitted online.
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Landmarks Illinois is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. The annual awards program honors outstanding preservation projects in Illinois and/or individuals, organizations and advocacy efforts that demonstrate a strong commitment to protecting the places that are important to the people and communities of Illinois.
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The Riverview Mansion Hotel in Golconda and a commercial building located at 1330 Walnut St. in Murphysboro have been awarded funding through the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program to aid preservation efforts.
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Landmarks Illinois received responses to its exploratory Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Illinois, from six firms. These firms include developers, architects and engineers that specialize in historic preservation and adaptive reuse. Landmarks Illinois & Courthouse Preservation Partnership issued the exploratory RFEI on January 18, 2023, and responses were due March 10, 2023.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $25,500 in grant funding to preservation projects in the communities of Chicago, Effingham, El Paso, Gibson City, Macomb and Middletown. The matching grants were awarded through Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund and Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois grant programs.
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Landmarks Illinois young & emerging professionals committee, the Skyline Council, and the Courthouse Preservation Partnership will team up to host a heart bombing at the former Will County Courthouse in Joliet on Saturday, February 11, 2023. The event, which showers a historic building with public displays of affection, will bring attention to the architecturally significant courthouse currently threatened with demolition.
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Landmarks Illinois and Courthouse Preservation Partnership are calling on qualified developers and architectural firms to share their potential reuse visions for the former Will County Courthouse in Joliet. The architecturally significant but vacant courthouse faces a demolition threat, and Landmarks Illinois and the Joliet-based Courthouse Preservation Partnership are issuing an exploratory Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for purposes of compiling and sharing potential reuse ideas with Will County officials. (Photo credit: Lee Bey)
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Landmarks Illinois will host its highly attended annual spring fundraising event Preservation Forward on the evening of March 2, 2023, at one of Chicago’s most prominent landmarks, The Old Post Office. The event will celebrate the work of Landmarks Illinois and honor the 2023 Landmarks Illinois Influencers, five exceptional leaders who are helping move the preservation field forward, creating a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible movement.
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Landmarks Illinois is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. The annual Most Endangered list is our longest-running advocacy program that calls attention to historic and culturally significant sites across the state that are threatened with deterioration, demolition or inappropriate development. Nominations are due January 17, 2023.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded Pullman Tech Workshop (PTW) a grant through the Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side to help with the organization’s restoration efforts at the former Schlitz Brewery Stable Building in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood.
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The Hardin County Independent in Elizabethtown and Brewed on Broadway and Pin Up Salon in Sesser have been awarded matching grants through the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program. Both businesses will use the grant funding to make necessary repairs to the historic buildings in which they operate. Representatives from Landmarks Illinois and Banterra Bank will host community events in Elizabethtown and Sesser next week to present checks to the grant recipients.
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Landmarks Illinois has announced the recipients of the 2022 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. Our 2022 award-winning projects are located in Belleville, Chicago, Lockport, Marion, Petersburg and Rockford and will be honored at a public ceremony on November 4, 2022, at the historic Chicago Cultural Center. (Pictured: 2022 award winner, Rockford City Market)
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $24,500 in matching grant funds to eight preservation projects across the state through the Preservation Heritage Fund, the Landmarks Illinois’ Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois and Timuel D. Black Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side grant programs. The grant recipients are located in Chicago, Granite City, Naperville, New Holland and Winnebago.
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Landmarks Illinois issued its first loan through its Reinvestment Program Loan Fund to the Greater Chatham Initiative (GCI) to help finance the preservation of a South Side building that is now home to the organization’s “Artist on the 9” co-working space and gallery.
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Landmarks Illinois has launched a new grant program focused on preserving historic places in Southern Illinois in partnership with Banterra Bank, the largest, locally-owned bank in the region. The Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program will provide monetary assistance to preserve or rehabilitate historic structures in downtowns and other commercial corridors of Southern Illinois to support economic development.
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Landmarks Illinois announced the 2022 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois at a virtual press conference this afternoon. This year’s Most Endangered list is a targeted call to action for historic and culturally significant sites in Cook, Will and Winnebago Counties that face a serious risk of demolition and/or are suffering significant neglect due to lack of maintenance or insufficient funding for repair.
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Landmarks Illinois is now accepting nominations for the 2022 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. Nominations for the annual awards program are due June 1, 2022.
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Landmarks Illinois and the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway wrote this joint letter to the Illinois Congressional Delegation in support of H.R. 3600, the Route 66 National Historic Trail Designation Act. Co-signed by more than 60 city officials along Route 66 and/or state organizations, the letter states designating Route 66 as a National Historic Trail will “help preserve and promote the road itself as well as increase economic development opportunities for the communities that have long supported its cultural heritage, intrinsic qualities and idiosyncratic character.”
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $16,500 in matching grant funds to four preservation projects across the state through its Preservation Heritage Fund and Timuel D. Black Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side grant programs. The grant recipients are located in Chicago, Effingham and Springfield.
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The Skyline Council, Landmarks Illinois’ young and emerging professionals committee, will host its annual heart bombing event February 12 at two historic structures at Altgeld Gardens, the Shop Building and School Building C. The heart bombing, organized in partnership with People for Community Recovery (PCR), will shower the two buildings at the Chicago Housing Authority-owned complex on the city’s Far South Side with paper hearts and other public displays of affection ahead of Valentine’s Day.
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Landmarks Illinois will host its spring fundraising event PRESERVATION FORWARD the evening of March 10, 2022, at the Old Post Office in Chicago. The event will honor the 2022 Landmarks Illinois Influencers, a group of seven women honorees who have shaped Illinois’ built environment and, who through their work, are joining Landmarks Illinois in its progressive effort to create a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible preservation movement
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Landmarks Illinois submitted this letter to Farpoint Development regarding its Rivers McCormick proposal for reuse of Lakeside Center in Chicago.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded $35,000 to 14 preservation projects in Illinois through its three grant programs: the Preservation Heritage Fund, the Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois and the Timuel D. Black Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side.
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Landmarks Illinois has hired a new Regional Advocacy Manager, Quinn Adamowski, who will serve as the organization’s frontline preservation advocate in communities in the greater Illinois area outside Chicago and its suburbs.
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Landmarks Illinois is now accepting nominations for its 2022 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. Nonprofit organizations, neighborhood groups, preservation advocates, city officials and residents of Illinois are encouraged to submit a nomination for a place in their community that is in critical need of preservation. Nominations are due January 10, 2022.
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In honor of Veterans Day, Landmarks Illinois has published its new online database of historic World War I monuments and memorials in Illinois. The Landmarks Illinois WWI Monuments of Illinois Database currently contains information on 311 monuments and memorials such as doughboy statues, plaques, sculptures and public spaces dedicated to honoring those who served in the Great War.
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Outstanding preservation efforts in the Illinois communities of Aledo, Chicago, Nauvoo, Paris, Towanda and Waukegan are the recipients of the 2021 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. The nine award-winning preservation projects and people who made them possible will be honored at an in-person & virtual ceremony the evening of October 22 at the historic Davis Theater in Chicago.
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Landmarks Illinois has published an online database, Women Who Built Illinois, which includes information on over 100 female architects, engineers, developers, designers, builders, landscape architects, interior designers and clients and their projects between 1879 and 1979.
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Landmarks Illinois is pleased to announce exciting new staff developments that will further enable the organization to serve the people of Illinois and support our future plans for preservation in the state and nation. Three members of the Landmarks Illinois team have been promoted and/or have a new job title that more closely fits their mission-driven work.
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Landmarks Illinois is proud to announce that Frank Butterfield has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer (COO). Butterfield began working at Landmarks Illinois in 2013, in the then new role of Springfield Office Director. Over the past eight years, Butterfield has radically advanced the organization’s field work and made it possible for Landmarks Illinois to help more people save places in downstate Illinois.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded two new grants through its new Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side. The grants to LYTE Collective in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood and the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corp. in Auburn Gresham will support community preservation projects on the city’s South Side.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded a total of $17,000 in matching grants to support historic preservation efforts in six Illinois communities. Projects in Chicago, Jacksonville, Lockport, St. Charles and Wood Dale were awarded grants through Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund. And, a preservation effort in Pike County at the former New Philadelphia site was awarded a grant through Landmarks Illinois’ Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois.
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Landmarks Illinois has announced the 2021 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois, its annual list of the top threatened architecturally and culturally significant sites throughout the state. (Pictured: The Shop Building, also known as “Up-Top,” at Altgeld Gardens in Chicago. Credit: Sean Reilly)
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Landmarks Illinois is accepting nominations now through June 1 for the 2021 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 preservation and protects the historic places that matter to people and their communities. (Photo: Richard Driehaus and Bonnie McDonald, President and CEO of Landmarks Illinois, at the 2018 preservation award ceremony with award recipients Casey Weeks and Dale Chapman of the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities in Edwardsville. Credit: Pivot-Photography)
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Bonnie McDonald, Landmarks Illinois President & CEO, gave the attached public comment at the March 23, 2021, meeting of the Chicago Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards addressing a proposed zoning ordinance amendment that would have made establishing cultural institutions like house museums in residential-zoned districts extremely difficult.
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Landmarks Illinois sent the attached letter to the Chicago Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards voicing opposition to a proposed zoning ordinance amendment that would have made establishing cultural institutions like house museums in residential-zoned districts extremely difficult.
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Landmarks Illinois will host a 50th anniversary event, 50Forward, the evening of March 25, 2021. The hour-long, virtual fundraising event will include live entertainment, inspiring videos highlighting Landmarks Illinois’ past, present and future as well as tributes to our 20 “Landmarks Illinois Influencers.”
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Landmarks Illinois’ young and emerging professionals committee, the Skyline Council, is partnering with the congregation of Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ to create a “heart bombing” public art display at the historic church in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood this Valentine’s Day weekend. (Photo credit: Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection/Chicago History Museum)
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded a total of $15,000 to six historic preservation projects statewide through the organization’s three grant programs: the Preservation Heritage Fund, the Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois and the Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side.
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Landmarks Illinois is now accepting nominations for its 2021 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. The annual Most Endangered list is Landmarks Illinois’ longest-running advocacy program and calls attention to historic and culturally significant sites throughout the state that are threatened with deterioration, demolition or inappropriate development. Nominations are due January 22, 2021.
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On November 17, 2020, the Landmarks Illinois Board of Directors approved signing the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). In recognition of the significant public participation and local input in the process unlike we have seen before, Landmarks Illinois concurs with the MOA. Our signature, however, is accompanied by significant dissatisfaction with how regulators managed the Section 106 process and deep concerns about the precedent their actions may set.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded a total of $10,000 in grant funding to historic preservation projects in Chicago, Havana, Peoria and Plainfield, Illinois, through the Landmarks Illinois Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Program.Each Preservation Heritage Fund grant recipient has been awarded a $2,500 matching grant.
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Landmarks Illinois has awarded the first grant through its new Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side to the Muddy Waters Original Jam Out (MOJO) Museum, a nonprofit working to preserve blues legend Muddy Waters’ former home in North Kenwood and convert it into a museum and cultural center. McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, purchased the brick two flat in 1954 and lived in it until the 1970s.
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Landmarks Illinois is excited to announce the nine recipients of the 2020 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. The annual awards program, now in its 27th year, honors exceptional historic preservation projects and the people saving important places in Illinois.
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Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald is the recipient of a James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation 2020 Mid-Career Fellowship, which McDonald will use to produce a “Relevancy Guidebook for the U.S. Preservation Movement.” The annual grant is given to distinguished professionals to conduct research that provides significant value to the preservation field worldwide. (Photo: McDonald (left) with Fairleigh Jackson, Executive Director of Preserve Louisiana, who McDonald interviewed for her project.)
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Landmarks Illinois sent this letter to the Rock Island County Board regarding the Rock Island County Courthouse. Co-signed by fellow plaintiffs in our lawsuit to prevent unlawful demolition of the Rock Island County Courthouse, the letter expresses our interest in working with the county to avoid any future litigation and to find a preservation solution for the historic building.
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The Illinois Appellate Court issued its opinion July 16, 2020, in Landmarks Illinois’ ongoing lawsuit against the Rock Island County Board and Rock Island County Public Building Commission to prevent the proposed demolition of the historic Rock Island County Courthouse. The Appellate Court decision agreed with Landmarks Illinois’ argument that Rock Island County cannot defy state agencies and must comply with the Illinois State Historic Resources Preservation Act in its pursuit to demolish the historic courthouse. It also agreed Landmarks Illinois has legal standing to sue the county. Read our press release for more details.
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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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