Nominations will be accepted through March 31st for Preserve Arkansas's 2025 list of Most Endangered Places. Listings bring prestige and statewide awareness that can lead to increased funding and other support for restoration projects.

Nominations are simple! Click here for details.

The 2024 Arkansas Preservation Awards were a smashing success! A sold-out ballroom at Little Rock's historic Robinson Center welcomed honorees and guests to a program celebrating 21 exceptional projects and people, culminating in the Parker Westbrook Award for Lifetime Achievement, given to Mark Brown and Jill Judy of Little Rock.

For a complete list of honorees, visit our website.

Click here to view a photo album of the evening.

This year's Mid Mod Arkansas Tour will take place in Arkansas's Grand Prairie region with stops at four locations and a lunch at the Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie sponsored by the Museum and the Grand Prairie Historical Society.

The tour will begin with an introduction at the Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie and follow a route that includes the 1968-69 Buerkle House and the 1955 Holy Rosary Catholic Church, both at Stuttgart; the 1961 Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church at Slovak; and the 1965 Bransford House at Lonoke.

CEUs through the American Institute of Architects are pending approval.

>> Click here to view tour details and purchase tickets

Our next Women in Preservation webinar will be on Tuesday, April 8 at 3:30 p.m. with Victoria Chandler, Curator of Collections at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock.

>> Click here to register for Victoria Chandler's talk

If you missed our recent talk with Calli Verkamp, principal at Wheeler Kearns Architects in Chicago, check out the recording here.

>> Visit our website to see our full speaker lineup

The most recent meeting of the County Judges Association of Arkansas took place February 26-28 in North Little Rock, and Preserve Arkansas Executive Director Rachel Patton and Board Member Dr. George Betts were there to collect signatures in support of more funding for County Courthouse Restoration Grants, administered by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

This grant provides critical funding for the maintenance and restoration of historic courthouses in nearly every county in the state.

National Historic Preservation Advocacy Week

Preserve Arkansas Executive Director Rachel Patton served as state coordinator for the Arkansas contingent at National Historic Preservation Advocacy Week in Washington, DC, March 3-6. The team also included former Preserve Arkansas Board President Kathy Boyette of Camden, AHPP Certified Local Government Coordinator Iain Montgomery, and current Preserve Arkansas VP of Advocacy Lori Filbeck-Hart of Springdale. While there, the group met with Arkansas's Congressional delegation to advocate for reauthorization and increased appropriations for the Historic Preservation Fund and enhancements to the Federal Historic Tax Credit in the forthcoming tax bill.

Click here to view photo highlights from Advocacy Week!

Legislative Reception

Little Rock

On March 11, Preserve Arkansas and the Quapaw Quarter Association co-hosted a reception for members of the Arkansas Legislature to encourage support for important preservation programs like the State Historic Tax Credit. The reception was held at the former Veterans Administration Hospital located on Roosevelt Road in Little Rock. The sprawling, mid-century building sat mostly vacant for years but is now being transformed into market-rate apartments with the help of the Federal and Major State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit programs.

State Legislative Update

On March 18, Preserve Arkansas Executive Director Rachel Patton testified against SB456 during the Senate Committee on City, County, and Local Affairs. The bill contains ambiguous language with regard to the ability of local governments to regulate exterior building design using proven preservation tools like local ordinance historic districts and design overlay districts. These tools preserve the character-defining features of our state's historic neighborhoods and commercial districts while allowing compatible new construction. We are working with our partners and lead bill sponsor Sen. Jim Petty on language for an amendment that will address our concerns. HB1754 guts state and municipal planning and development efforts by making it illegal for state and local governments to regulate private property. Right now, both of these bills have been pulled off of the calendar. We will continue to monitor them.