The Commission on Chicago Landmarks today honored eight successful development projects and three advocacy awardees at the 2022 Preservation Excellence Awards. 

The projects included the restored Grand Army of the Republic rooms at the Chicago Cultural Center in the Loop, the rehabilitated Lion House at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and a restored home in the Claremont Cottage District on the Near West Side. 

The Preservation Excellence awards have been presented annually since 1999 to individuals, nonprofits, businesses, and public bodies that have significantly contributed to Chicago’s architectural and cultural history. The Landmarks Commission’s Permit Review Committee reviewed and selected the winners over the past year. 

“Today’s event highlights the owners who act as good stewards of our existing landmark properties, the advocates who push for local protections, and the citizens who take it upon themselves to care for archived records of memory that others might have overlooked,” said Commissioner Maurice Cox of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), which provides staff services to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. 

The 2022 winners include: 

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. 

Recipient: City of Chicago 

The award recognizes restoration work to the Grand Army of the Republic Rooms that date to the Cultural Center’s construction in 1897, including a 40-foot Tiffany-designed dome containing 62,000 pieces of stained glass. 

1025 S. Claremont Ave., Claremont Cottage District 

Recipient: Vista Group Real Estate 

The restored 1884 workers cottage includes a remodeled interior to meet modern needs and a skillfully restored exterior that preserves the late 1800s character of the 19-building Claremont Cottage landmark district. 

2132 N. Halsted St., Armitage Halsted District 

Recipients: Sumit Gupta and Paula Queen 

The new construction project in the Victorian-era district transformed an underutilized lot into a mixed-use building that has a seamless presence along a historic Lincoln Park commercial corridor. 

3324 S. Prairie Ave., Calumet-Giles-Prairie District 

Recipient: TRB Properties 

The new construction project within a rare South Side rowhouse district was designed to match the setback of historic buildings on the block and activate underutilized space within other historic district properties. 

932 W. Randolph St., Fulton-Randolph Market District 

Recipient: L3 Capital 

The two-story commercial rehabilitation project included interior improvements and select facade updates to the structure’s redbrick cladding and inset masonry. 

2612 N. Kedzie Ave., Logan Square Boulevards District 

Recipient: Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church 

Partly funded through an Adopt-A-Landmarks grant, recent exterior masonry repairs to the 110-year-old church included rebuilt piers, face brick replacement and tuckpointing. 

Lincoln Park Zoo Lion House 

Recipient: Lincoln Park Zoo 

Recently completed improvements to the 110-year-old Lincoln Park zoo facility include new lion habitats, outdoor viewing shelters, new animal care facilities, and meeting and event spaces. 

226 W. Jackson Boulevard, Chicago and Northwestern Railway Office Building 

Recipient: Phoenix Development Partners 

The adaptive re-use of of the former railway headquarters into a pair of hotels preserved and repaired the building’s historic windows and granite and terra cotta masonry units. 

Nettie Nesbary, Lettie Sabbs, Lauran Bibbs, Doris Morton, and Sylvia Rogers 

The advocacy award is being share by five women who, over several years, created a 120,000-person database of noted Black Chicagoans that is organized by name, birth date, birthplace, next of kin, and burial location. 

Lisa DiChiera 

The advocacy award recognizes Lisa DiChiera’s 22-year commitment to local preservation issues as the advocacy director of Landmarks Illinois, where she helped support and lead multiple successful preservation efforts across the state. 

Tim Samuelson 

The John Baird Award for Stewardship recognizes Tim Samuelson for his expertise on Chicago’s African American heritage and the City’s legacy of progressive architecture, including the work of architects Pond & Pond, Bruce Goff, and affordable housing designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.