January 2024 Preservation News

Event showers Englewood's Schlitz Tied House with love

Landmarks Illinois' Skyline Council joined community members on February 10 to shower the historic Schlitz Tied House in Englewood with love. The Queen Anne-style building was one of 57 original taverns or “tied houses” built by the Milwaukee-based Schlitz brewery in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries just before Prohibition. It is one of only a few that still stand today.

The building’s current owner, local activist and leader Jennipher Adkins, plans to restore the tied house to reuse it as a community gathering space. A grant from Landmarks Illinois' Timuel D. Black Grant Fund for Chicago's South Side will aid the restoration effort.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Valentine's Day event!

See photos from the event

Preservation Forward is THIS THURSDAY!

Our annual spring fundraiser raises nearly 50% of the funding we need to carry out our mission-driven work. Join us this week at The Old Post Office in Chicago to celebrate our statewide work helping people save places and to honor our 2024 Landmarks Illinois Influencers!

Registration closes end of day, Wednesday, February 28.

Don't forget to purchase your raffle tickets!

As part of our 2024 Preservation Forward event, we are giving away six, one-of-a-kind experiences.

Prizes Available:

✨Party At The Tribune Tower Crown

✨Group Neighborhood Tour w/Urban Historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas

✨Concert and Dinner at the Chop Shop

✨Sommelier Dinner for 4 at RPM Seafood

✨Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings at United Center

✨Tour of Old Joliet Prison

View full prize information here.

Winners will be announced live during the event!

Raffle Tickets

Highlighting the history of New Philadelphia

Landmarks Illinois Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski attended the Inaugural Freedom Corridor Conference at Illinois College in Jacksonville on February 2-3. This inaugural conference is the result of years of advocacy efforts to highlight the importance of New Philadelphia, specifically the story of Frank McWorter who founded the Illinois town and who bought his freedom and worked to secure his family's freedom from slavery.

The Freedom Corridor tells the story of those who sacrificed and fought for freedom in Springfield, Jacksonville, Pittsfield, New Philadelphia, Barry and Quincy, Illinois, and Hannibal, Missouri. It also aims to shed light on the continuing struggles to end racism and all forms of oppression.

Above, Adamowski is pictured with Gerald McWorter, a Professor at U of I, founder of the Freedom Corridor and a descendant of Free Frank McWorter.

Want to learn more about New Philadelphia and Frank McWorter?

Join us on March 7 for our next Preservation Snapshots Lecture: The Underground Railroad and Freedom Seeking in the 19th Century, the Law Versus Morality. Gerald McWorter will lead this virtual presentation. Free for Landmarks Illinois members!

Upcoming grant deadline: April 1

Applications for the next round of grant funding through Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund and the Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois are due April 1, 2024!

Landmarks Illinois’ Preservation Heritage Fund

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.

Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois

Provides monetary assistance to preserve or protect significant structures and sites in Illinois. Eligible beneficiaries include 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.

Visit our website to learn more and to submit a grant application.

Landmarks Illinois Grants

Continuing our fight to save the Damen Silos

This month, Landmarks Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen submitted comments as part of a federal review process to assess possible negative effects of demolition to the Damen Silos in Chicago's McKinley Park neighborhood. Landmarks Illinois included the historic former grain silos that sit along the Chicago River on our 2023 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. The property's current owner, MAT Limited Partnership, has proposed tearing the silos down to build new company facilities.

"We join the McKinley Park Development Council in calling for owner MAT Limited Partnership to allow a structural assessment of existing buildings and structures that can inform options for reuse or make the case that demolition is truly unavoidable," Parzen wrote in her comments. "There are pro bono services available to provide this assessment at no cost to MAT Limited Partnership. It is important for the assessment to take place for consultation to be meaningful and realistic."

Read the full comments, sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on February 9, below.

Read our statement

Evanston issues RFP for Harley Clarke Mansion

The City of Evanston has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of Harley Clarke Mansion. The RFP follows an exploratory Request for Expressions of Interest (REI) that was issued in 2023. Landmarks Illinois has long advocated for the reuse of the Harley Clarke Mansion, including it on our 2016 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois.

Learn more about the RFP

Additional Landmarks Illinois Preservation News

The Arlington Heights Board of Trustees voted to deny a petition to demolish a historic residential property located at 716 N. Dunton Ave. in Arlington Heights at its February 5 meeting. Landmarks Illinois Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen spoke at the meeting in support of preserving the home, a beautiful and intact example of Italianate-style architecture. The Illinois State Historic Preservation Office has recommended it be evaluated for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Read Parzen's comments here.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved final landmark recommendation this month for Apollo’s 2000, a former theater now operating as an event venue in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Built in 1917 and designed by architect Alexander L. Levy, the building was formerly known as Marshall Square Theatre. The Galindo family has owned the theater since the 1980s and has pushed for landmark designation of the building. Landmarks Illinois has also supported the landmarking process, and Advocacy Manager Kendra Parzen spoke in support of final landmark designation at the commission's February 8 meeting.

Landmarks Illinois proudly partnered with the International Masonry Institute and the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Administrative District Council 1 to host their eighth annual historic masonry training course. This year’s virtual course focused on proper mortar composition for repointing historic masonry and featured speakers including Landmarks Illinois board member, Eric Dexter of Berglund Construction. Over 400 people registered for what has become an imperative educational offering for proper maintenance and repair of masonry buildings, a prevalent building type in Illinois. Featured speakers often highlight craftworkers whose skilled hands sustain our historic built environment. The course is held every third Thursday in February, so mark your calendar for February 20, 2025.

Landmarks Illinois Regional Advocacy Manager Quinn Adamowski will present at the Illinois Rural Community and Economic Development Conference taking place this week in Springfield. The conference will cover a variety of topics that revolve around economic development in Illinois' rural communities. Adamowski's presentation, titled "Redeveloping Communities Through Historic Preservation," will focus on how historic places can be restored and redeveloped to become community assets. Participants will learn about the National Register of Historic Places, the implications of designating properties historic and the financial incentives available to redevelop historic resources. Stay tuned next month for more information on this conference and Adamowski's presentation.