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.
Preservation News Roundup: May 2021
Landmarks Illinois announces the 2021 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois
Landmarks Illinois announced the sites on the 2021 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois at a virtual presentation May 5. Click the video above to watch a recording of the announcement.
2021 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES IN ILLINOIS
- ALTGELD GARDENS
SHOP BUILDING & SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
Chicago, Cook County - JAMES R. THOMPSON CENTER
Chicago, Cook County - KLAS RESTAURANT
Cicero, Cook County - ILLINOIS TERMINAL INTERURBAN STATION
Decatur, Macon County - BROADVIEW HOTEL
East St. Louis, St. Clair County - SCOTT FORESMAN HEADQUARTERS
Glenview, Cook County - HAVANA WATER TOWER
Havana, Mason County - JOLIET STEEL MILL MAIN OFFICE BUILDING
Joliet, Will County - THE GREEN BOOK SITES IN ILLINOIS
Statewide
Learn more about each endangered site and see how you can help advocate for their preservation:
2021 Most EndangeredRead more in the news:
Black History Of Route 66
Illinois Public Radio, May 13
Is there time to save the Thompson Center?
Crain’s Chicago Business, May 11
Former Scott Foresman office building in Glenview, an example of midcentury modern design, named an endangered building by Landmarks Illinois
Pioneer Press, May 10
From Chicago to Cairo, Illinois’ most endangered historic places are full of interesting stories
WGN Radio, May 6
Historic Havana Water Tower Ranked Among Illinois’ Most Endangered Landmarks
WCBU, May 6
Endangered History: Joliet steel mill building
The Herald-News, May 6
Thompson Center, ‘Green Book’ sites named to annual list of Illinois’ most endangered historic places
Chicago Sun-Times, May 5
Illinois Terminal Interurban Station named to Landmarks Illinois’ Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois
Now Decatur, May 5
2021 Landmarks Illinois Most Endangered Historic Places includes four sites near Route 66 and Green Book sites
Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway Newsletter, May 5
These are the most endangered places in Illinois
Chicago Sun-Times, May 5
Endangered history: From Thompson Center to ‘Green Book’ sites, group lists Illinois’ most endangered historic structures
Chicago Tribune, May 5
PRESERVATION SNAPSHOTS LECTURE: JUNE 10
Register for our upcoming lecture, “Altgeld Gardens: Preservation & Environmental Justice,” which will focus on the development and design of Altgeld Gardens, a housing community on the city’s South Side that is also considered the home of the environmental justice movement. Landmarks Illinois listed three Altgeld Gardens structures on its 2021 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois: The Shop Building (called “Up-Top” by local residents) and School Buildings C & E.
WHEN
Thursday, June 10, 2021
12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.
ADMISSION
Reservation required. $5 Members/$7 Public
LOCATION
Via Zoom
SPEAKERS
Cheryl Johnson, Executive Director, People for Community Recovery
John Cramer, Director, MacRostie Historic Advisors
Nominations for 2021 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards due June 1
Nominations for the 2021 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards are due in less than a week!
NOMINATION DEADLINE: Tuesday, June 1
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.
Awards will be selected from the following general categories:
- ADVOCACY: An effective local or statewide campaign to preserve and protect a historic resource.
- LEADERSHIP: Individual, municipality, private organization or joint partnership that has championed historic preservation, planning or public policy.
- PRESERVATION: Projects that make possible the continued use of historic commercial/industrial buildings, multi-family/affordable housing residences, public/institutional structures or preserves a cultural heritage site.
- ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: Mitigation of climate change through preservation technologies
To honor the memory and creative spirit of Richard H. Driehaus, Landmarks Illinois’ longtime partner in preservation, one of the 2021 selected winners will receive the Richard H. Driehaus Legacy Award, which will be presented to a forward-thinking individual or an exemplary project that represents innovation in preservation. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation has generously underwritten Landmarks Illinois’ annual preservation awards program since 1994
Submit a nomination
LANDMARKS ILLINOIS 2021 ANNUAL MEETING
Landmarks Illinois will host its virtual 2021 Annual Meeting next month! In honor of our 50th Anniversary, we will share stories from our past and plans for the next 50 years of helping people save places in Illinois. Guests will hear program and event highlights from the last fiscal year and stories of how we are putting your donations and membership dollars to work. Members will also vote on the slate of candidates for the Landmarks Illinois Board of Directors.
WHEN
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
ADMISSION
Reservation required
Free for Landmarks Illinois members
LOCATION
Via Zoom
Register
Deadline for important RERZ Historic Tax Credit Legislation approaching
Call to action: Just days left to help us advocate for extending the River Edge Redevelopment Zone Historic Tax Credit!
The River Edge Redevelopment Zone (RERZ) Historic tax Credit is currently set to expire at the end of this year. This vital tax incentive — available in five Illinois river communities of Aurora, East St. Louis, Elgin, Peoria, and Rockford — has so far helped spur 32 preservation projects representing more than $295 million in investment in Illinois. The credit is set to expire at the end of 2021, however. An active bill, Senate Bill 157 would extend the RERZ Historic Tax Credit for another three years.
Please contact your lawmakers and urge them to support and pass this bill before the Illinois General Assembly adjourns Monday, May 31!
HELPFUL LINKS:
UPCOMING GRANT APPLICATION DEADLINE: JULY 15
Grant applications for two Landmarks Illinois grant programs are due July 15! Visit our website to see if your historic preservation project qualifies for funding and learn how to submit a grant application!
PRESERVATION HERITAGE GRANT FUND
Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund grants are intended to provide 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 re-use evaluation, or need to be evaluated for landmark eligibility. The Preservation Heritage Fund was established in 2004. LEARN MORE
TIMUEL D. BLACK, JR., GRANT FUND FOR CHICAGO’S SOUTH SIDE
Our newest grant fund launched in May 2020 in honor of acclaimed historian and civil rights activist, Timuel D. Black, Jr., The fund recognizes the deep and sustained influence Chicago’s South Side has had on Mr. Black’s life, as well as the lives of countless others historically and today. LEARN MORE
Apply for a grantAdditional Landmarks Illinois news
- Landmarks Illinois joined a coalition of preservation partners in calling attention to a renewed urgency to protect and reuse the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago following the sudden passing of Helmut Jahn, the building’s architect. Coalition members are: AIA Chicago, AIA Chicago Committee on the Environment, DOCOMOMO Chicago, DOCOMOMO US, Landmarks Illinois, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Chicago and Preservation Futures. In a press release issued earlier this month, the coalition also announced it had nominated the Post Modern building, included four times on Landmarks Illinois’ Most Endangered list between 2017 and 2021, to the World Monuments Watch List.
- Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald was among the many contributors in a tribute to the late Helmut Jahn published this month by Mas Context. “That lack of restraint led Helmut to design some of the world’s most memorable spaces—big and bold and unapologetic,” McDonald wrote. “What could have been mundane public places became awe inspiring. His mastery of scale and proportion created sweeping vistas making us feel within and outside all at once, yet not insignificant or small. These places were designed for people to not only be inspired, but provoked. Now it is in our hands to save the work of our provocateur.”
Download the full May 2021 edition of our Preservation News Roundup below
May 2021 Preservation News RoundupSupport our advocacy
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