January 2025 Preservation News Roundup

The monthly Landmarks Illinois News Roundup keeps you in the loop on the latest preservation news stories from the month as well as Landmarks Illinois’ main advocacy efforts, projects and announcements. You can also receive these monthly news roundups directly in your inbox by signing up for our newsletters at the bottom of the page.

THANK YOU for helping us break fundraising records!

Thanks to your support, Landmarks Illinois is starting 2025 off strong. Our year-end appeal brought in more than $107,000, shattering previous records. A generous matching challenge gift from Anne Voshel through the Van Dam Charitable Foundation helped spark this unprecedented level of donations for our year-end appeal. The funding goes directly to Landmarks Illinois’ work helping people across the state save the places that matter to their communities.

Miss your chance to give? Consider making a donation or becoming a Landmarks Illinois member!

Congrats to our Trivia Night winners!

Thank you to everyone who came out to participate in Skyline Council’s Trivia Night on January 22 at Great Central Brewing!

Congrats to the night’s winners:

  • FIRST PLACE: SGW Architecture & Design (pictured)
  • SECOND PLACE: Arda Design
  • THIRD PLACE: Western Specialty Contractors

A big thanks to our returning emcee, Gregory Dowell, and the event sponsors: Arda Design, Plante Moran, Raths, Raths & Johnson, Inc., and Western Specialty Contractors.

Check out photos from the event below!

Trivia Night Photos

Upcoming events

LI & IMI TRAINING WEBINAR

FEBRUARY 15

8:30 – 1:30 P.M.

Landmarks Illinois and the International Masonry Institute will host its annual Historic Preservation Education Event next month. This year, the free training will explore effective methodologies for assessing and repairing masonry facades on existing buildings.

View the full webinar program here.

FREE TO ATTEND!

Register

2025 PRESERVATION FORWARD

MARCH 6

5:30 P.M.

Landmarks Illinois will hold its 2025 Preservation Forward event on March 6 at The Old Post Office in Chicago. Each year, the annual fundraiser brings in critical support for Landmarks Illinois’ mission-driven work of helping people across the state save places. The evening will also honor this year’s 2025 Landmarks Illinois Influencers:

  • Chicago Women in Trades, Nonprofit trades training organization
  • Chris Enck, Architect & preservationist
  • Elizabeth & Ethan Finkelstein, Founders of Cheap Old Houses

Click here to learn about Sponsorship opportunities.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Learn more & register

2025 AMERICAN HISTORIC TRADES SUMMIT

APRIL 7-9

The second bi-annual national trades summit comes to Chicago this spring! Landmarks Illinois is proud to serve as the local partner for the upcoming conference Hosted by The Campaign for Historic Trades. The national convening will have informational sessions and networking opportunities that explore the past, present and future of historic trades training in America. It will be held at Hire 360, honored at our 2024 Preservation Forward event, in Chicago’s South Loop.

Learn more & register

Next grant application deadline: April 1

RECEIVE FUNDING FOR YOUR PRESERVATION PROJECT!

Landmarks Illinois is accepting applications for the next round of funding through our Preservation Heritage Fund and the Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois. These grant programs provide financial assistance to preserve or protect significant structures and sites in Illinois. Visit our website to learn more about qualifying projects for each grant fund and to submit an application.

(Pictured: Graham-Ginestra House in Rockford, a 2024 Donnelley grant recipient)

Apply for a grant!

Ongoing calls for preservation in historic Brooklyn, Illinois, spark statewide attention

Landmarks Illinois’ 2023 Most Endangered site and historic Southeastern village, Brooklyn, Illinois, has experienced a well-deserved wave of attention this month, following the publication of a Chicago Tribune article, “America’s oldest Black town is in Illinois — and it’s dying. But the fight has begun to save it.”

Brooklyn is the oldest and one of the last remaining majority-Black incorporated towns in the country. It is threatened by a declining population, high unemployment rate and limited economy. The village has sold parcels of land to railroad companies, contributing to ongoing disinvestment.

The Tribune article, which detailed the town’s past and ongoing challenges, has been widely republished and shared on social media, effectively bringing renewed interest in preserving and sharing the history of Brooklyn. As Quinn Adamowski told the Tribune, it is not a singular building or site that makes Brooklyn important, “The whole town deserves recognition.”

This month, Adamowski also joined Brooklyn stakeholders to discuss a wide range of community needs, with a central focus on Brooklyn’s rich and important culture and heritage. The 1929-1936 alignment of Route 66 went through Brooklyn, but this history has largely been erased and cannot be found on current maps. Adamowski has worked with Casey Claypool, Executive Director of the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, to bring Historic Route 66 signs to Brooklyn that will be installed this spring.

(Pictured: Landmarks Illinois Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski (left) and Brooklyn, Illinois, Mayor Vera Banks holding a Route 66 sign that will be installed in the village this spring.)

New engineering studies show Promontory Point’s historic limestone retaining wall can be saved

Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen attended and spoke at a press conference on January 14 held by the Promontory Point Conservancy in Hyde Park. The conservancy announced the findings of engineering studies prepared by McLaren Engineering and Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. that indicate the Point’s historic limestone revetment can be retained while also meeting storm damage reduction and shoreline protection requirements.

The stepped limestone wall is the last remaining of its kind along Chicago’s shoreline and is a unique solution to the problem of erosion. It forms the transitional link between the natural power of Lake Michigan and the built environment of the city. It is also one of the many reasons Promontory Point, located in Burnham Park, was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2023.

Landmarks Illinois has been advocating for the preservation of the Point and its limestone revetment for more than 20 years. We included it on our 2004 Most Endangered list and awarded the Conservancy a grant from our Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund to support WJE’s engineering report.

In her statement at the press conference this month, Parzen also pointed out the new engineering studies show that preservation of the historic limestone is no more expensive than building a new retaining wall at the Point.

“We call for the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Chicago Park District to review and incorporate the studies generously commissioned by the Promontory Point Conservancy into their plans for the Point, marrying preservation and shoreline protection for a mutually satisfactory outcome,” Parzen said.

 

!! Promontory Point Conservancy will host a number of community meetings between January and April to share preservation designs for the Point and gather input from residents. The next one is scheduled for February 6 at 6:30 p.m. at Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. in Chicago. Learn more about the community meetings here.

Learn more

Midcentury Modern former corporate campus in Glenview slated for demolition

Landmarks Illinois’ 2021 Most Endangered site, the Scott Foresman Headquarters in Glenview, is slated to be demolished and replaced for 60 high-end homes. In December, Glenview’s New Development Commission voted in favor of the proposal that includes tearing down the Perkins & Will-designed complex built in 1966, which is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

We are urging concerned Glenview residents to write to the Glenview Village Board and express their opposition to this redevelopment proposal. Please ask officials to uphold the village’s Planned Development Standards, which discourage the destruction of historic structures.

This month, WBEZ’s “What’s that Building,” feature highlighted the Scott Foresman property. Check it out below.

Read more

Top social media posts of the month

News that the city of Chicago was taking suggestions for potential new city landmarks gained the top spot on our social media in January. The Instagram post featured a picture of one of the city’s newest landmarks, Apollo’s 2000 Theatre in Little Village.

Interested in providing pro bono services to help save Illinois' historic places?

Landmarks Illinois and people across the state rely on the generosity of our knowledgeable and experienced preservation professionals to help save places. Through pro bono services, Landmarks Illinois can help move preservation projects forward. If you and/or your company are interested in donating pro bono services, please fill out our form below. This will allow us to match you with pro bono service opportunities that best match your skills and availability.

(Pictured: Klein & Hoffman conducting an assessment at the McAuley school in West Chicago.)

Pro bono expression of interest

Additional Landmarks Illinois news...

  • This month, Landmarks Illinois publicly opposed a proposed 10-story addition to the historic Boulevard Arcade Building in Oak Park. “While my organization supports thoughtful design to add density and housing to landmarked properties, we do not believe that the proposal before you is compatible with the Village of Oak Park’s Architectural Review Guidelines based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation,” Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen noted in a letter to the Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). Luckily, the HPC agreed, voting unanimously to reject the addition at its January 9 meeting. Read more here.
  • Landmarks Illinois Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski met with Alton city officials and representatives from Alton Works to discuss ongoing downtown revitalization initiatives and the benefits of the state’s River Edge Redevelopment Zone Program (RERZ). The RERZ Program provides a tax credit to people restoring historic places in select Illinois communities. Last year, seven new communities were invited to apply to be included in the RERZ program. Landmarks Illinois is hopeful additional communities will soon gain access to this vital preservation incentive.
  • Among the communities slated to join the RERZ program is Quincy, Illinois. To educate property owners, developers and other professionals on what the state historic preservation tax credit program is and how it can aid their restoration efforts, Illinois Main Street and The District in Quincy will host a free public workshop on the topic on March 12. Details and registration here.
  • Adamowski was also in East St. Louis to tour properties in the city’s downtown and adjacent neighborhoods with Community Economic Development Director Alvin Parks. East St. Louis is part of the RERZ program, providing historic preservation projects with an uncapped 25% state historic preservation tax credit. Adamowski and Parks discussed the community’s rich historical assets and how the city could develop a plan focused on the redevelopment of many properties for affordable housing.
  • The historic Holy Angels school building in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood is up for sale, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business report. The historic former Catholic school, built in the 1880s, was previously slated for demolition to make way for a new apartment complex. However, now the owner is offering it up to sale, providing a possible path forward for the building to be adaptively reused.
  • On January 23, Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen participated in a panel discussion at the Oak Park Library hosted by Preservation Oak Park focused on development, historic preservation and planning issues in the village. The discussion also focused on the “missing middle” in local housing stock. Read more here.
  • The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is looking for a developer-led team to enter into a public-private partnership for the development, restoration, and operation of the Historic Hotel Florence and Hotel Florence Annex located within the Pullman State Historic Site in Chicago. IDNR will publish to the IDNR website a Request for Solicitations (RFS) on or after Feb. 15, 2025. Responses are anticipated to be due in late May to early June 2025. Notification of the successful team is anticipated to be around September 2025. Learn more here.
  • Latinos in Heritage Conservation has launched a new grant program focused on funding Latinx heritage projects. “With $600,000 in annual funding, this groundbreaking initiative is designed to empower grassroots, Latinx-focused nonprofit organizations and community groups working tirelessly to protect and uplift Latinx history and cultural contributions across the United States,” the group said. Grant applications are due February 15. Learn more here.
  • The National Park Service is inviting local governments to submit nominations for American World War II Heritage Cities. As a way to recognize the historic importance of the United States’ involvement in World War II and the contributions of local communities to the home front effort, the Secretary of the Interior may designate up to one city (jurisdiction) from each state and territory as an American World War II Heritage City. Nominations are due April 30, 2025. NPS is holding information sessions on February 4th (click to register) and March 5th (click to register) at 1 p.m. Eastern. Learn more here.

Download the full January 2025 Preservation News Roundup

January 2025 Preservation News Roundup

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