Richard Driehaus Foundation Award Winner: Granite City’s Edison Ave Art Lofts Sets Preservation Benchmark
Edison Ave Art Lofts transforms historic former YMCA into affordable housing and vibrant community art space, preserving local heritage and supporting veterans.
CHICAGO — Landmarks Illinois announced the recipients of the 2025 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards, recognizing nine outstanding preservation projects across the state that demonstrate excellence in reuse, sustainability and community impact. The awards will be presented at a public ceremony on November 7 at Theater on the Lake in Chicago.
Among the honorees are projects in Granite City and Millstadt that highlight adaptive reuse and community advocacy. The Edison Ave Art Lofts in Granite City received the award for Adaptive Reuse for transforming the historic former Tri-County YMCA into a mixed-use development. Led by Rise Community Development and its partners, the project created affordable housing and community art space, including housing for veterans, while preserving the character of the nearly century-old landmark.
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In Millstadt, the Friends of the Old Millstadt Water Tower earned the Advocacy award for their successful, years-long grassroots campaign to save and restore the town’s tin man-style water tower built in 1931. Their efforts culminated in a fully restored landmark that has become a source of pride for the community.
“Our 2025 award winners highlight the power of preservation to address community needs,” said Bonnie McDonald, president and 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.”
Other projects recognized include the Pearl Place Apartments in Belvidere, which preserved affordable housing for seniors and veterans in the adapted historic Garfield School; a window replacement project at the 125-year-old Coles County Courthouse in Charleston that improved energy efficiency; and the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago, which repurposed the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes into a cultural destination.
Additional awardees are the Friends of Historic Second Church in Chicago for stewardship; the Pui Tak Center-Chinese Christian Union Church in Chicago for cultural heritage conservation; Banging Gavel Brews in Tinley Park for adaptive reuse of the historic Karl Vogt Building; and the Waukegan History Museum at the Carnegie for rehabilitation of a long-vacant library.
The awards ceremony will run from 6 to 9 p.m. and will include a sit-down presentation followed by a cocktail reception. Tickets are available to the public, with discounted rates for members, students and past winners. A virtual live stream of the event will also be offered free with registration.
Landmarks Illinois, founded in 1971, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and reusing significant places statewide to promote healthy, livable communities through advocacy, funding, technical expertise and public engagement. More information about the awards and ticketing is available at
For more information, visit www.Landmarks.org.
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