November 23, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The National Trust for Historic Preservation this fall asked Internet users for a little grant-making advice.
During September and October, members of the public could vote for their favorite of 25 historic sites in the San Francisco Bay Area to help determine how $1-million in preservation grants would be awarded. The trust sought to highlight sites that were historically and architecturally important — but were not necessarily well known.
Among the choices: the Angel Island Immigration Station, which from 1910 to 1940 was the entry point for more than one million immigrants from the Pacific Rim; the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Station, in Pascadero, one of the oldest lighthouses on the West Coast; and a project to restore historic facades and neon signs in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco.
Promoting a preservation ethic and interest in historic sites was the program’s goal, says David J. Brown, executive vice president of the trust.
“We feel like there are a lot of people who like preservation,” he says. “They shop in historic areas, they renovate older homes, but they don’t necessarily think of themselves as preservationists. So one of the things we wanted to do was try to make a link between the public and historic places in their community.”
During the contest period, more than 200,000 people viewed the site.
As the winner of the popular vote, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, an arts-and-crafts style church built in Berkeley in 1910, was guaranteed a grant, and will receive $118,000. An advisory panel of Bay Area business and civic leaders decided how to distribute the rest of the $1-million among the historic sites featured in the program.
The program is part of a five-year, $10-million commitment that the American Express Company, in San Francisco, has made to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the World Monuments Fund, in New York.
For more information: Go to http://www.partnersinpreservation.com.
