Urbana Wins Statewide Award for Historic Preservation!

The City of Urbana won the 2012 Preservation Award from the Illinois Association of Historic Preservation Commissions for "Significant Contributions to Historic Preservation in the State of Illinois".

• In Lincoln's Shadow Podcast Tour. Created In Lincoln’s Shadow, a walking “pastcast” tour of Abraham Lincoln related historic sites in Urbana. These videos are also provided online.

• 100-Most Historic Buildings in Urbana. The Historic Preservation Commission adopted a list of the 100-most historic buildings with public input and lots of discussion about significance. Funded with an IHPA grant. Then with a follow up IHPA grant, created an online guide to all 100 properties with architectural and historical descriptions of each.

• Modern Urbana Homes Tour, May 5, 2012. Worked cooperatively with the University of Illinois’ architecture program to organize a Modern Urbana Homes Tour which had more than 400 participants.

• Historic Resource Survey Digitization. Working cooperatively with the Champaign County Archives and the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, most of the 1,300+ historic resource survey forms completed for Urbana properties have been digitized and made available online through the Illinois Digital Archives.

• Urbana Historic Resources Database. With assistance of an IHPA grant, the City of Urbana has created a database to be used by City staff and officials as a tool for managing the community’s historic resources and guiding public decisions which might affect these resources. The database includes historic resource survey information on all 1,300+ surveyed properties, local landmark and National Register designations, inclusion on the City’s demolition delay list, and 100-most important historic resources. The database includes verified and standardized addresses and PINs for eventual links with the City’s GIS system.

• Urbana Landmark Hotel. Oversaw the City’s designation of the Urbana Landmark Hotel (formerly the Urbana Lincoln Hotel) as a local historic landmark, a key downtown property in terms of both economic development and historic preservation. The hotel is now being rehabilitated as a hotel with a new owner/investor who moved here from California. Designation as a local landmark was a City condition for developer acceptance of City TIF funds for rehabilitation.

• Halberstadt House landmark. Successfully designated the endangered Halberstadt House which was to be demolished by a church for a parking lot. The City Council delayed action on the landmark to give time for study and alternatives, and City staff found a new buyer who has completed rehabilitation as duplex residential. The City purchased another adjacent lot from the church and constructed a public parking lot which church members and others can use for free on evenings and weekends.

• Ezekial Boyden Home landmark. The only surviving pre-Civil War building in Urbana directly connected with Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln slept here literally!) was recently identified through extensive research and is now protected as a local historic landmark.

• Champaign County Preservation and Conservation Association’s 2012 Preservation Advocacy Award. The City of Urbana received this award for preservation advocacy.