For the Love of Lilies  

Summer Garden Party Benefit

Join the Cleveland Restoration Society for a summer home & garden party on Saturday, July 12 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. This event is being hosted by Cynthia & Mark Druckenbrod and Jude & Dick Parke in Moreland Hills. Stroll among more than 1,000 varieties of daylilies and other perennials lovingly tended by the Druckenbrods. Be surrounded by blooms of every size and color as you feast on a delicious assortment of hors d'oeuvres, followed by a sumptuous buffet with dessert. On tour will be the Druckenbrods' historic Western Reserve style residence, ca. 1941. The home is wonderfully appointed with collections gathered from around the world. On display will be their remarkable collection of tropical butterflies and insects. Tickets for the party are $75 per person. Click here to RSVP. Reservations are required by Friday, July 5. For more information, visit www.clevelandrestoration.org or call 216-426-1000.  

Annual Meeting Notice

Join us on Tuesday, July 22 for the annual membership meeting of the Cleveland Restoration Society. The business meeting will be convened from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. at the Sarah Benedict House, 3751 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, for the election of trustees. Refreshments and a chance to have informal conversation with trustees and staff will follow. Come find out what's new with CRS! RSVP here.  

Newest State Historic Preservation Tax Credit Projects Announced

On June 24, the Ohio Development Services Agency announced Round 12 of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program, awarding $37.7 million to rehabilitate 35 historic buildings in 13 communities across the state. Ten of these projects come from Northeast Ohio, bringing nearly $20.2 million in state tax credits to this region. Local winners include the Millennia Companies' planned makeover of the historic Garfield Building on East Sixth Street (pictured here, image from LoopNet), which received a $5 million credit. Our Lady of Mercy in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood will receive just over $1 million in tax credits, while a storefront renovation at the Near West Lofts in Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway neighborhood won a $180,499 tax credit. Murphy Hall at John Carroll University in University Heights received a $1.9 million tax credit to help a $36.7 million overhaul of the dormitory. For further information, click here.  

Ohio has Two of America's Most Endangered Historic Places

Call for Papers: River Cities: Historical and Contemporary

The dynamic relationships between cities and their rivers is the focus of the 2015 Garden and Landscape Studies Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. This symposium builds on a new multi-year initiative in urban landscape studies, which Dumbarton Oaks is launching with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Its principal goal is to create a dialogue between designers and scholars to address the landscape consequences of advancing urbanization. Cities have emerged on the banks of rivers throughout history. Rivers are multi-faceted ecological, cultural, economic, and political agents, providing resources such as food, water, irrigation, sanitation, and transportation-and liabilities including flooding, drought, and occasional changes in their locations. The symposium seeks papers that consider river cities from the earliest settlements to contemporary metropolitan regions around the globe. Submit 300 word abstracts to Thaisa Way by September 14, 2014 for consideration. (Image from theciviccommons.com).  

Liberty H. Ware Homestead to be  

Nominated as Landmark

With the support of Judge Raymond L. Pianka, Cleveland Councilman Matt Zone is nominating the Liberty H. Ware Homestead, 9400 Detroit Avenue, for designation as a Cleveland Landmark. The building is currently known as the Islamic Center of Cleveland, and was originally an inn for travelers between Detroit and Buffalo in the early nineteenth century. For more than 100 years, it served as the residence of three generations of the Ware family, including West Cleveland's mayor and justice of the peace, Liberty H. Ware. Click here to learn more.

New Video about Preservation Efforts in Detroit

In June, the Michigan Historic Preservation Network released a video on preservation, rehab, and revitalization efforts in Detroit that are capitalizing on the city's built assets. The description for "Vacant not Blighted: Revitalizing Detroit" includes the following text: "Detroit is facing enormous challenges with an abundance of vacant and abandoned buildings in the city. Pressure to remediate blight immediately puts pressure on the fastest solution: demolition. But Detroit can't just demo its way to revitalization. Here, individuals on the ground in Detroit show that through strategic preservation and rehabilitation of commercial and residential structures, you can change the dynamic one building at a time and demonstrate that just because it's vacant, doesn't mean it's blighted." Click here to see the video.

News from the Sarah Benedict House 

CRS is pleased to welcome our new intern, Quineesha Carlton. Quineesha will be completing a Bachelor of Science in Education with an emphasis in Tourism, Leisure and Event Planning at Bowling Green State University, and has an interest in pursuing a career in event management and tourism. She is currently a member of BGSU's Student Event Planners Association and the National Society of Leadership and Success. At CRS, Quineesha will be helping with all aspects of event planning and management. Welcome!

Tour Historic Homes in Akron 

On July 19, Preservation Alliance of Greater Akron will host a tour and reception of architecturally and historically significant homes in the Merriman Road/Mayfair Road area. The event will feature commentary by preservation architect Lauren Burge and architectural historian Petra Knapp.  The tour will include one of Akron's most celebrated homes, Paul Litchfield's Anchorage located at 1010 Merriman Road.  The tour begins at 2:00 p.m. and at 4:00 p.m., the group will proceed to the Anchorage for a tour accompanied by a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception hosted by homeowners, Jack and Sara Jeter. Tickets for the event are $50 per person for current PAGA members and $70 for non-members of those renewing their membership. Pre-registration is required by July 14. Tickets are available through Eventbrite or by mailing checks payable to PAGA to Preservation House, 2074 West Market Street, Akron, OH 44313.  Click here for more information. 

Happy Birthday Cleveland!

The Early Settlers Association of the Western Reserve invite you to a birthday party for the City of Cleveland on Public Square, July 22 beginning at 11:30. Bring your lunch and stay for birthday cake from the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel and East Coast Original Frozen Custard. A noon there will be a ceremony with performances from ceremonial bag pipers, color guard, solo guitarist Alex Raz of the band Recess, historical speeches, and more. For over a century, the Early Settlers Association has sponsored and organized the yearly observance and celebration of Cleveland's founding on July 22, 1796. This annual event is held on Downtown Cleveland's Public Square on the southwest quadrant, near the statue of the city's founder, General Moses Cleaveland.