Downtown Evanston along Davis Street, where the conference was based. Photo: Photo by David Braverman. Later version(s) were uploaded by Reub2000 at en.wikip / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5
Evanston will play host June 27-29 to the 2013 Illinois Preservation Conference, a statewide gathering of preservationists, local commissioners, architects and interested residents. The event is organized by Landmarks Illinois, which co-sponsors it with the Illinois Association of Historic Preservation Commissions. Financial support comes from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation in Chicago and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency in Springfield.
Landmarks Illinois has said it has sponsored a statewide preservation conference for more than two decades, and the event moves among Illinois communities. This year’s program is based in downtown Evanston.
What is on the program
The three days mix sessions with tours and social events. On Thursday evening, Landmarks Illinois holds its annual meeting and the conference’s opening reception at Nichols Concert Hall. Architectural walking tours of Evanston are led by the Evanston History Center, giving visitors a close look at the city’s housing stock and civic buildings. A Saturday morning session, listed at 10:15 a.m., is built around short Ignite-style talks, in which presenters tell short preservation stories in rapid succession.
Commissioners from other towns have a dedicated track as well. The National Alliance of Preservation Commissions is running a full-day Commission Assistance and Mentoring Program, known as CAMP, aimed at members of local historic preservation boards who want practical training on how their commissions work. Other sessions are open to the general public, not only to people who work in the field.
Why Evanston
Evanston is a natural setting for such a meeting. The city runs its own historic preservation program through the planning and zoning division of its Community Development Department, and its lakefront streets and downtown hold a wide range of architecture. Landmarks Illinois, formerly the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, has long tracked threatened buildings across the state and publishes an annual list of the state’s most endangered historic places. The 2013 list was announced in May, and the announcement noted the Evanston conference dates.
The conference site is within walking distance of downtown restaurants, shops and entertainment, and the area is served by public transit, which makes it practical for out-of-town attendees to arrive without a car. Program details and registration were handled through the Landmarks Illinois website.
Sources: Landmarks Illinois; Lincoln Daily News; City of Evanston.
Margaret Whitfield is the editor of The Evanston Edge and covers local government, development and neighborhoods.
