September 2025 Preservation News Roundup

A visit to the Hegeler Carus Mansion, one of Illinois’ National Historic Landmarks

Landmarks Illinois staff was in LaSalle September 24 to conduct an annual inspection of the Hegeler Carus Mansion, which Landmarks Illinois has held an easement on since 2006. The historic, seven-story mansion was built in 1876 and designed by architect W.W. Boyington, who also designed the Chicago Water Tower and Old Joliet Prison. The home was originally constructed for Edward C. Hegeler, a partner in the nearby Matthiessen Hegeler Zinc Company. Hegeler later launched the Open Court Publishing Company to provide a forum for the discussion of philosophy, science and religion, which operated on the home’s first level. Dr. Paul Carus served as the company’s managing editor. Today, the property is open to the public as a house museum, hosting programs and tours. It has been continuously restored over the years and is largely preserved in its original state. The Hegeler-Carus Mansion is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. Learn more about the Hegeler-Carus Mansion here.

(Pictured, left to right: Landmarks Illinois Director of Reinvestment Suzanne Germann, Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski, Hegeler Carus Executive Director Laura Walker, Easements and Advocacy Associate Amber Delgado.)

Landmarks Illinois announces winners of 2025 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards

Landmarks Illinois has announced the winners of the 2025 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. The annual awards program has honored exceptional preservation efforts in Illinois since 1995. This year’s nine winning projects are located in Belvidere, Charleston, Chicago, Granite City, Millstadt, Tinley Park and Waukegan. All 2025 winners will be honored at a public awards ceremony on November 7 in Chicago.

“Our 2025 award winners highlight the power of preservation to address community needs,” said Bonnie McDonald, President & CEO of Landmarks Illinois. “They inspire us and others across the state to think boldly about how our built environment can adapt to serve people today while sparking local economic development and fueling pride of place. Our award recipients deserve our recognition not only for the countless hours they poured into these projects but for ensuring places of our past live on and continue to enhance our future.”

Learn more

Opportunities for funding are available through three different Landmarks Illinois grant programs.

APPLICATIONS DUE TOMORROW, OCTOBER 1!

• Preservation Heritage Fund: 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 re-use evaluation or need to be evaluated for landmark eligibility. Learn more

• Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois: Provides monetary assistance for planning activities and education efforts focused on preservation. Projects may include engineering, architectural and feasibility studies; legal services; surveys and National Register of Historic Places nominations; and/or preservation ordinance support. Learn more

• Landmarks Illinois Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side: Provides financial support to people preserving and promoting the history, culture and architecture of Chicago’s South Side. Open to both nonprofits and for-profit entities. Grants range from $500 to $10,000 each and are awarded on a 3:1 matching basis. Learn more

(Pictured: Perrin’s Ledge historic site in Calhoun County, a Preservation Heritage Fund grant recipient.)

Landmarks Illinois grant programs

New federal requirements restrict access to preservation grant opportunities: LI Statement

Earlier this month, Landmarks Illinois released a statement explaining why we were unable to apply for funding through a federal grant program that could have significantly helped people across the state save places in their communities.

Landmarks Illinois planned to apply to the Paul Bruhn Subgrant Program, administered by the National Park Service, for $750,000 to launch a new program that would award individual grants to rural and small-town communities across Illinois in critical need of preservation resources.

However, newly restrictive requirements imposed under the Trump Administration force grant applicants to comply with and affirm current executive orders that distort American history and dismantle DEI initiatives. Landmarks Illinois has been a vocal opponent of such executive orders that go against what we stand for.

Read our full statement to learn more about our decision.

Read the statement

Demolition decision delayed for Rockford’s historic Elks Lodge

The Rockford City Council voted September 22 to delay a decision on awarding a demolition contract to tear down the historic Elks Lodge No. 64, a 2022 Most Endangered site. The temporary pause comes after the property’s owner said he was in negotiations to sell the locally and nationally landmarked building, constructed in 1912.

The city’s decision also comes after the release of a pro bono structural analysis of the property by Bulley & Andrews Masonry Restoration. Landmarks Illinois brought BAMR to the site to conduct the assessment, which found in general, the exterior envelope of the Elks Lodge is in “serviceable condition.” Landmarks Illinois also helped facilitate a pro bono condition assessment of the building’s interior in August conducted by Brush Architects. That assessment determined that with proper repairs, the property can be reused.

Landmarks Illinois listed the former Elks Lodge building on its 2022 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois due to ongoing neglect. Following years of deferred maintenance, the building posed a public safety threat, leading the City of Rockford to pursue demolishing it. The BAMR structural analysis said that while repair is possible, it needs to happen sooner than later, or the rate of deterioration will only increase.

Landmarks Illinois will continue to stay involved in preservation efforts at the property and plan to develop a feasibility and adaptive reuse study to show the city the viability of the building.

Read more in the news:

New report lays out $420K needed to stabilize the historic structure
Rock River Current, September 24

Landmarks Illinois leads charge to landmark Roger Brown home & studio in Chicago

When Landmarks Illinois learned earlier this month that the home and studio of the late artist Roger Brown was on the market, it took immediate action to push to designate it a Chicago Landmark. Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen submitted a suggestion for Chicago Landmark on September 15, making the Commission on Chicago Landmark’s deadline for landmark suggestions it would hear at its meeting on September 18.

Brown was an influential artist in the Chicago Imagist movement and member of the LGBTQ+ community. His former home and studio, located at 1926 N. Halsted St., was constructed in 1888. Brown lived there from 1974 to 1995.

“This building is significant and worth saving,” Parzen told Block Club Chicago. “…It’s too important to the history of Chicago and its place in the art world to lose.”

Brown donated the property and its contents to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996. SAIC put it up for sale earlier this month. Currently, nothing stops a new owner from tearing down the home. A Chicago Landmark designation would prevent demolition. SAIC has reported the offer it accepted is from someone in the neighborhood who wishes to renovate it and transform it into their home.

“While it’s fantastic that the potential owner is planning to reuse” the building, Frank Butterfield, Landmarks Illinois Chief Operating Officer, told Crain’s Chicago Business, “there’s no guarantee, and we don’t know how long they will own the building. If they were to sell it in subsequent years, we want that protection (against demolition) in place. If a demolition permit were to be pulled, there would be nothing” to stop demolition.”

An open letter also began circulating this month in which SAIC alumni and community members urged the school to either landmark the property before selling it or keep it as an educational space.

Oak Park Village Board goes against preservation commission recommendation, approves inappropriate addition to landmark

Oak Park’s Village Board gave the green light this month to a proposed 10-story addition on the current Boulevard Arcade Building, an architecturally significant local landmark. The approval for the high-rise development comes despite the Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission denying the project four times in the past year.

The Arcade building is currently a two-story structure. It was constructed in 1906 and restored in 2008. Landmarks Illinois and other opponents of the addition argue its design conflicts with the historic integrity of the current structure. In a letter to the Village Board — one of many submitted to village officials this year on this project — Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen said the proposed design is wholly out of sync with Oak Park’s architectural review guidelines.

“What you’re going to see behind and above this historic building is a very attention-grabbing design,” Parzen told Crain’s Chicago Business this month. “We would prefer to see something more deferential to the historic building, something that’s attempting to work with what’s already there.”

Another issue with the proposed high-rise development is its targeted market. The addition will become luxury housing. And while housing is needed in Oak Park, this project will not provide affordable housing options. Oak Park Trustee Chibuike Enyia also pointed out at the board’s Sept. 17 meeting that the development is only one unit short of triggering a requirement that the developers pay into Oak Park’s affordable housing fund, the Wednesday Journal reported. Enyia was the sole trustee to vote against approving the project. The Journal also reported the project is not final, as the proposal will still have to be discussed at public meetings before the village planning commission.

Read more in the news:

Oak Park board breaks impasse over proposed 10-story residential building
Crain’s Chicago Business, September 23

Village board overrules preservation commission on Arcade project
Wednesday Journal, September 18

Landmarks Illinois provides ongoing support to preservation at West Side landmark church

Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Associate Amber Delgado visited Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church (MMBC) in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood this month to provide ongoing support to the congregation’s preservation efforts. In July, Landmarks Illinois arranged a pro bono conditions assessment of the church conducted by Bulley & Andrews. Later this summer, Delgado assisted the congregation in submitting an Adopt-a-Landmark grant application to the City of Chicago. The Citywide Adopt-A-Landmark Fund provides grants to support the restoration of designated landmark buildings and structures throughout Chicago.

MMBC was built in 1901 and has remained an important community landmark on Chicago’s West Side. In 1989 it was designated a Chicago Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

John Cramer, Director at Ramsey Historic Consultants, Inc., and Deborah Lielasus, preservation consultant, are also helping MMBC submit a grant application to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preserving Black Churches Grant.

(Deborah Lielasus, Barbara Wooten & Shirley Wooten of MMBC, John Cramer and Amber Delgado.)

Tribute: Carl Johnson

Illinois has lost a longtime champion of preservation. Carl Johnson of Galena passed away at the age of 94. He and his wife, Marilyn, dedicated their lives to preserving Galena’s unique history and heritage, and were instrumental in making the town a tourist destination renowned for its iconic 19th-century architecture and quintessential historic main street. The couple received a Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award in 2020 for their extensive and inspirational preservation work. Carl was a prolific painter, taking inspiration from the historic places around him. Marilyn, a former Landmarks Illinois Board Member, said his paintings will remain his legacy. His gallery on Galena’s Main Street is among the many properties the Johnsons personally invested in and restored.

Click below to watch our video on the Johnson’s, shown at our 2020 preservation awards ceremony.

(Pictured: Carl and Marilyn Johnson outside Carl’s gallery in Galena in 2020.)

Watch

Tribute: Richard Moe

Landmarks Illinois joins our preservation community in mourning the passing of former National Trust for Historic Preservation President and CEO Richard (Dick) Moe. Dick was an astute and effective leader who took historic preservation advocacy in new and innovative directions, which have continued to influence the field. His memorable actions that expanded the impact of preservation included the Trust’s work on battlefield and cultural landscape preservation, disaster response and policy as well as his work with Landmarks Illinois to save the Edith Farnsworth House. Together, our two organizations purchased the Edith Farnsworth House and turned it from a private home to a protected, publicly accessible resource. We have lost several leaders of this remarkable preservation win: Dick Moe, Landmarks Illinois President and CEO David Bahlman and leading funders John Bryan and Richard Gray. What we take away is a call for courageous leaders who keep positioning preservation as a community priority—one that benefits future generations. We carry that work forward. Our condolences to Dick’s family and friends.

(Pictured: Richard Moe (center) pictured at the 2004 ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the Edith Farnsworth House up to the public. Credit: Joan Hackett.)

SKYLINE COUNCIL BLUE ISLAND WALKING TOUR & PUB CRAWL

OCTOBER 11, 2025
12-4 P.M.

Join Skyline Council, Landmarks Illinois’ Young & Emerging Professionals Committee, for a neighborhood tour in south suburban Blue Island! Kevin Brown, Executive Director of the Blue Island Historical Society, will lead guests through historic commercial corridors and across the Calumet-Saganashkee Channel, sharing stories of the region’s industrial heritage, community resilience and unique environmental history. Drink stops include Blue Island Eagles, Blue Island Beer Company and Rock Island Public House. Space is limited!

learn more & register

2025 LANDMARKS ILLINOIS RICHARD H. DRIEHAUS FOUNDATION PRESERVATION AWARDS

NOVEMBER 7, 2025
6 P.M.

Join us for our annual awards ceremony recognizing exceptional efforts in preserving, restoring and revitalizing historic places in Illinois! The event, which is open to the public, will feature a sit-down awards ceremony and cocktail reception.

Learn more & register

In Case You Missed It: Transformational Plan webinar

Landmarks Illinois Vice Chairman Ron Clewer and President and CEO Bonnie McDonald led a virtual presentation on September 10 about Landmarks Illinois’ five-year Transformational Plan. The webinar introduces the organization’s new mission, vision, priorities and goals and the steps that led us to them.

Watch

Top social media posts of the month

Sharing our statement regarding the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Subgrant Program was our top post of the month on Instagram.

See our other top posts on Facebook and LinkedIn.