Two upcoming events are sure to fill you with the holiday spirit! On Friday, December 10, join us for an Evening Tour of Sacred Landmarks illuminated through the Steeple Lighting Program. The tour will include six churches in the Tremont neighborhood, a look inside two landmarks of Ohio City: St. Patrick's Catholic Church and Franklin Circle Christian Church, and a drive through festive Public Square and down Euclid Avenue, past three more lit steeples. The tour will depart from CRS's own Sarah Benedict House and take place from 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.  The cost is $25 for CRS members and $50 for non-members, which includes a discounted one-year membership. To RSVP, contact Michael Fleenor.  On Sunday, December 12, join us for a free Holiday Open House at the Benedict House, 3751 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, where we will share a Victorian holiday celebration complete with tasty treats and a visit from Santa Claus! Bring the entire family! The event will take place from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. RSVP to Kerrington Adams.

Find us on Facebook 

Are you one of the 500 million people choosing to stay in touch with friends and family members, show loyalty to brands, follow sports teams and favorite entertainers, and yes, even support nonprofit organizations on Facebook? If so, look for the familiar green logo of the Cleveland Restoration Society on our Facebook page and add us to your network. You will find notices of upcoming events and pictures from past gatherings (go ahead and tag yourself if you are in any of them!). We are working on some new ideas, too. Come on and join us!

The 2010 midterm elections brought major changes to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. How do these affect federal preservation policy? How will they affect the Obama administration's agenda for the next two sessions of Congress leading to the 2012 elections? Patrick Lally, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's director of Congressional Relations, offers insight into how the midterms will affect preservation policy and what the short-term and long-term strategies will be in his blog on PreservationNation.

Can't you feel their pane? Old windows are craving your attention, and you're just looking right through them. See why historic windows are becoming an endangered species - and why saving them could save you big money. Check out this new resource offered by the National Trust.  The tech staff of the Cleveland Restoration Society is here to help you with your old house issues, like window repair and energy efficiency. Call us today at 216-426-1000!

Beat the Recession with Cultural Heritage Tourism

Find out how cultural heritage tourism attractions and organizations are weathering the recession in a new online toolkit by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This resource includes 80+ survival stories from sites, communities, heritage areas, and scenic byways that have found creative ways to survive the economic downturn. Users can search the stories by region, type of attraction or organization, or by one of 11 key survival strategies.

Save an Endangered Place Today

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is accepting nominations for its 2011 America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list now through January 14. This annual list highlights important examples of the nation's architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk for destruction or irreparable damage. More than 200 threatened one-of-a-kind historic treasures have been identified on the list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places since 1988. The designation has been a powerful tool for raising awareness and rallying resources to save endangered sites from every region of the country and has been so successful that, in just two decades, only seven sites have been lost. The 2011 list will be announced on June 15, 2011.

Midwest Office's Report

The Midwest Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its 2010 Annual Report. View the report online here.

Twelve outstanding projects and preservation achievements were recognized by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office at the 28th annual awards luncheon held in Columbus November 6. Learn more about the award winners, including Cleveland's own Capitol Theatre (pictured) here.

One Ohio community chose in the November election to save its five historic school buildings rather than replace them with new construction. Concerned citizens in Rossford, near Toledo, formed the Coalition for Effective and Efficient Rossford Schools to prevent demolition of the buildings (which included Rossford High School, pictured here) and argued that walkable neighborhood schools were an integral part of the community. As next steps, advocates are developing a plan for the Board of Education that outlines a community-led process for developing a new master plan. An energy analysis has also been proposed to determine the energy consumption of the historic schools. It is anticipated that these energy studies could guide improvements through the state's energy-efficiency program under Ohio HB 264, which allows districts to make energy-efficiency improvements to buildings and use the cost savings to pay for those improvements.

Preservation Corps, a division of the Ohio History Service Corps AmeriCorps Program, is leading a unique volunteer opportunity to strengthen the historic preservation community of greater Cleveland. Volunteers will learn how to conduct building surveys, complete Ohio Historic Inventory Forms and develop a recent past initiative for newly historic mid-twentieth century buildings. Jessica R. Wobig at the Cleveland Landmarks Commission will be leading volunteers. These surveys will be ongoing over the next ten months, ending on September 30, 2011. Contact Ms. Wobig for more information via email or by calling 216-664-7445.

Work continues at the ca. 1836 Asa & Chloe Upson House in Shaker Heights, which CRS is offering for sale. The new Colonial Revival paint scheme is complete and we are now working to implement a number of energy-efficiency upgrades. For more information about the property contact Michael Fleenor via email or by calling 216-426-3109.

A self-guided walking tour of the Grant Deming Forest Hill National Register Historic District (exteriors only) is now available. Tour details are available online. For additional information contact the Cleveland Heights Planning Department via email or by calling 216-291-4878.

Where is Benedict?