Evanston's Dawes House, Winnetka's Cenotaph Awarded Grants

EVANSTON, IL — Two North Shore sites were named among the latest recipients of grants from Landmark Illinois' historic preservation funds. The Evanston History Center at the Charles Gates Dawes House and the Winnetka Memorial Cenotaph on the Village Green each were awarded grants, the nonprofit announced last month.

"Our grants, while relatively small, have a major impact on these communities and historic sites, as a recent analysis of our grants program has shown," said Bonnie McDonald, President & CEO of Landmarks Illinois.

The $32,500 in total funding announced in December will go to significant structures around the state that need stabilization, repair or evaluation, according to the group.

Winnetka's 90-year-old cenotaph was built to honor 10 locals who died in World War I and designed by local architect Sam Otis, according to the Winnetka historical society.

It now honors all Winnetkans who have given their lives during military service. It was also recently awarded a grant from the United States World War One Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library’s 100 Cites/100 Memorials program.

Roughly a decade ago, the site was completely restored, so the latest grant will be devoted to maintaining the structure and protecting it against the weather, according to the quartermaster of New Trier Veterans of Foreign Wars, Philip Hoza.

"We just need to spiffy it up from time to time," he told Pioneer Press, explaining the $2,000 from the WWI Monument Preservation Grant Program would go toward tuckpointing and treatments to prevent oxidation. "The weather is hard on stone structures."

The Charles Gates Dawes House was built in 1894 in the French chateau style by New York architect Henry Edwards-Ficken, according to the Evanston History Center, its sole tenant.

Dawes was U.S. Vice President under Calvin Coolidge, a general during World War I, U.S. ambassador to Great Britain and a Nobel Peace Prize Winner. He donated his lakefront estate to Northwestern University for use by Evanston's historical society.

The executive director of the Evanston History Center told Winnetka Talk the latest grant felt like a "stamp of approval."

The $2,500 matching grant from the Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund for Illinois will be put toward planning for the final phase of a three-part restoration plan, Eden Juron Pearlman told the paper.

Past improvements have included in the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system, she said.

» Read more from Pioneer Press and Landmark Illinois

_{Top photo: Charles Gates Dawes House, Winnetka Memorial Cenotaph | Cook County Assessor, Google Street View}