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 2022
Landmarks Illinois issues first loan through its Reinvestment Program Loan Fund
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.
Landmarks Illinois Reinvestment Program loans provide up to $150,000 per project to preservation initiatives in Illinois where traditional financing is either difficult to obtain or unavailable. Landmarks Illinois made its Reinvestment Program loan to GCI in February 2022. The loan funded historic storefront repairs at 735 E. 79th St. in the Chatham-Greater Grand Crossing Commercial Historic District where GCI recently opened Artists on the 9.
“Our goal with this loan program is to provide accessible funding and lending terms to worthy preservation projects in Illinois that may be unable to attain conventional financing,” said Bonnie McDonald, President & CEO of Landmarks Illinois. “We also hope it provides economic opportunities in Illinois communities and sparks future investments in our historic places.”
Learn more
2022 Awards nominations deadline: June 1
Landmarks Illinois is now accepting nominations for the 2022 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards.
Winners of the 2022 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards will be selected from the following general categories:
- ADVOCACY
- LEADERSHIP
- PRESERVATION
- ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
In addition, one of the 2022 selected winners will receive the Richard H. Driehaus Legacy Award, which honors the memory of the late Richard H. Driehaus. Visit our website to read our full nomination guidelines and to submit an online nomination.
Nominations for the annual awards program are due June 1, 2022.
Submit a nomination
AROUND THE STATE: Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski travels to Illinois communities during May
Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski traveled to Seneca, Ottawa, Triumph, LaSalle, Sheffield and Wyanet during the month of May to meet with locals and discuss their preservation efforts. Learn about some of his stops below.
Sheffield
Adamowski met with civic leaders and members of the local nonprofit Sheffield Pride regarding the village’s Old City Hall restoration plans. This included discussing opportunities and strategies for needed roof repairs to the structure, possible adaptive reuse scenarios for it and how to build a coalition with other organizations and institutions to make reuse a community project.
Wyanet
In the Village of Wyanet, Adamowski met with Friends of the Hennepin Canal at its monthly Board Meeting to share how Landmarks Illinois can help with local advocacy efforts. Illinois State Sen. Win Stoller also attended the meting to discuss the canal (pictured above) with the group and his commitment to advocating for funding from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to address canal maintenance concerns.
Adamowski, along with Landmarks Illinois CEO Frank Butterfield & Board Member Jean Follett, also attended the Midwest Preservation Gathering in Milwaukee May 5 & 6. The gathering convened preservation leaders from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin to discuss key topics including underrepresented communities in preservation, preservation challenges and success stories. The meeting also included a virtual guest presentation on capacity building and organizational sustainability by Landmarks Illinois Director of Corporate Giving & Events Tiffanie Williams and and a presentation on working with and expanding opportunities in underrepresented communities within the preservation field by Landmarks Illinois Director of Advocacy Lisa DiChiera.
Read the May 2022 edition of The Arch
The May 2022 edition of Landmarks Illinois’ quarterly print newsletter The Arch is now online! This issue features our 2022 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois, a guest article from preservation architect Mike Jackson, FAIA, and news on our new Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program and Reinvestment Program Loan Fund.
On the cover: 2022 Most Endangered site Will County Courthouse in Joliet.
Read The Arch
UPCOMING EVENT: Skyline Social June 2
Don’t forget to grab your tickets to this week’s Skyline Social!
Join us at a networking reception at the Chicago Landmark Café Brauer to celebrate 10 years of the Skyline Council, Landmarks Illinois’ young & emerging professionals committee! The Skyline Social will feature heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and music.
WHERE
Café Brauer at Lincoln Park Zoo
2021 N. Stockton Drive
Chicago, IL
WHEN
Thursday, June 2
6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
TICKETS
$35 – Students
$60 – Skyline Council & Landmarks Illinois members
$75 – Nonmembers
Register
We're hiring an Advocacy Manager!
Landmarks Illinois seeks a creative, organized and driven individual to serve as Advocacy Manager for Chicago and the suburbs.
The objectives of this position are to work with local advocates to save and reuse historic places in Chicago and its suburbs, forge and strengthen strategic partnerships and be Landmarks Illinois’ primary advocate in Chicagoland communities. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Advocacy Manager will be responsible for providing educational and technical support, resources and encouragement to a broad group of stakeholders.
Applicants who bring experience relevant to helping people save important places are welcome to apply. That includes, but is not limited to, historic preservation, social justice, community organizing, urban and regional planning, economic development, real estate development, design and storytelling. A formal historic preservation background is not required.
Click below to read the full job description and to learn how to apply!
APPLY
UPCOMING EVENT: 2022 Annual Meeting
Join us for our virtual 2022 Annual Meeting! The meeting will feature presentations by Landmarks Illinois’ board and staff and a special tribute to Landmarks Illinois Director of Advocacy Lisa DiChiera. Landmarks Illinois members will also vote on new board candidates.
WHEN
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
12:00 p.m. – 1: 00 p.m.
ADMISSION
Free (Reservation Required)
WHERE
Via Zoom
Registrants will receive a custom link the day before the event
RegisterAdditional Landmarks Illinois news
- The Forest Preserve District of Cook County has issued its Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the reuse of the Eugene S. Pike House in Chicago, a 2022 Most Endangered site, located at 1826 W. 91st Street in the Dan Ryan Woods. Interested parties are encouraged to respond to the RFEI for the property, also known as the “Former Watchman House.” Responses are due September 16. To access the RFEI, visit the Current Bid Opportunities webpage. From there, interested parties can register and download the RFEI. You can also reach out to Beverly Area Planning Association for help & guidance. Contact Grace Kuikman at gkuikman@bapa.org.
- Demolition began last week at the Klas Restaurant in Cicero, a 2021 Most Endangered site. Local advocates on the ground shared photos with Landmarks Illinois of crews prepping and beginning to demolish the 100-year-old culturally significant site. This follows nearly a year of fundraising efforts led by the Klas Museum, a nonprofit formed by Czech and Slovak community leaders who wanted to purchase the building that once served as a pillar of activity for the Slavic and Hispanic/Mexican American communities of Cicero/Berwyn and all of Chicagoland. The group hoped to purchase and rehabilitate the building as a multi-functional space to include a restaurant and bar as well as event and exhibition space that would reflect the area’s multi-cultural, immigrant population. However, the organization was unable to meet their fundraising goals.
- On May 10 Landmarks Illinois Director of Reinvestment Suzanne Germann joined U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) and local advocates to visit sites in Chicago associated with the lives of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley as part of tour of Illinois sites associated with the Civil Rights Movement. Among the stops were Chicago Landmarks Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ (pictured) and the Emmett and Mamie Till Mobley House. Congress is currently considering legislation that would designate Roberts Temple as a unit of the National Park System.
- On May 26, Landmarks Illinois Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski facilitated a meet and greet between the Lockport Mayor Steven Streit, Executive Director of Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway Casey Claypool and Chair of the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership Bill Thomas. Lockport officials have been working with Landmarks Illinois to identify preservation related initiatives and opportunities, such as Route 66 tourism, to enhance their ongoing downtown revitalization. After visiting Lockport, the group toured the historic Old Joliet Prison to discuss how the site of conscience can play a role in the Route 66 Centennial. See a photo of the group here.
- The Adlai E. Stevenson II Historic Home in Mettawa, one of two National Historic Landmarks in Lake County, no longer faces demolition following a vote this month by the Lake County Forest Preserve District board members to submit a grant application for $1.1 million of committed state funds to make capital improvements to the 1938 home. The county will also proceed with creating a master plan for the property. “In the end, once a master planning process is undertaken, demolition of this extremely important place should not even be considered an option,” Landmarks Illinois Director of Advocacy Lisa DiChiera told the Daily Herald. Read the article here.
- Commercial property owners and/or nonprofit organizations or governmental bodies in Southern Illinois are encouraged to apply for funding through our newest grant program, the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program. Applications are due July 15. Landmarks Illinois has partnered with Banterra Bank to launch the grant program to provide assistance for preservation projects in downtowns and other commercial corridors of Southern Illinois to support economic development. Learn more.
- Don’t forget to make your Spring Appeal gift in honor of saving places in Illinois! Landmarks Illinois has the know-how, access to strategic partnerships and financial resources people need to save threatened, historic places in our state. But we can’t do this work without your support. Please give the most generous Spring Appeal gift you can today.
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