MAF Grants and Awards

Evans Grant Award SAULT BUILDING TO RECEIVE GRANT FOR RESTORATION Detroit, Michigan — April 20, 2007 — The Chippewa County Historical Society will meet on April 28 with two members of the jury for the David Evans Memorial Grant for Historic Preservation, Ralph and Jeanne Graham, to pick up their check for $5,000 that was approved recently by the Michigan Architectural Foundation and Clannad Foundation. The money, dedicated to restoring the roof on the News Building, the new home of the Chippewa County Historical Society at 115 Ashmun Street, in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, will be presented by the Graham’s who will tour the building and attend a noon reception. Members of the Eastern Upper Peninsula History Consortium and representatives from the County, City, and Downtown Development Authority will also be on hand. This will be the third Evans grant to go to the Upper Peninsula. The Pewabic House in Houghton and the tower on the old sheriff's house in Newberry were previous winners. The News Building constructed in 1889 originally housed Chase S. Osborn's Sault Ste. Marie News. The jury supports its adaptive reuse and felt that the restoration of the building would be a welcomed addition to the city’s ongoing "Cool Cities" initiatives, which includes the restoration of the 1930s Soo Theatre located in the 500 block of Ashmun Street. The Evans Memorial Grant seeks to reward non-profit groups who come up with an idea that leads to the creative reuse of a historic property. The Chippewa County Historical Society has a plan to use the first floor for their offices, exhibit and research space and a gift shop. They hope to rent half of the storefront to a compatible entity, possibly a for-profit retail operation. The two foundations joined, in memory of preservation architect David Evans, FAIA to initiate the Evans Memorial Preservation Grant Program in 1999 This annual award is made to a not-for-profit (501-C-3) organization that can demonstrate a creative solution to a preservation problem. Information is on line at AIAMI.com and the next grant program will be announced in December. The first award went to the Shielding Tree Nature Center to restore the Lawr Farm, in Port Oneida, Michigan, for adaptive reuse. This farm is one of several that are within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park. The second award went to the Coopersville Area Historical Society for the restoration of Interurban Car #8. Coopersville was commended for saving a unique example from America’s recent past. Number three was the Pewabic House in Houghton in the Upper Peninsula. The house is the family home of Mary Chase Stratton, the founder of Pewabic Pottery. The Pewabic Pottery was a leader in the art pottery movement in the early part of the Twentieth Century. They are still in business in Detroit. In Detroit for number four, the Corktown Tenement House is one of the few surviving examples of an Irish workers cottage left in the city. The long term goal is to restore the house for use as a Tenement Museum. For now, the Evans Grant provided funds to repair the roof. For the fifth year, the grant went back to the Upper Peninsula to Newberry to help to restore the Turret of the 1894 Queen Ann Style Sheriff’s Residence for the Luce County Historical Society. In the sixth year, the award went to the Pettibone Creek Hydroelectric Station in Milford to replace the quarry tile floor in an Art Deco structure that was designed by Albert Kahn as a power plant for Henry Ford in 1939. Number seven went to the Phoenix of the Detroit Fire Department to assist in the restoration of Engine 11, an 1883 Firehouse on Gratiot in Detroit. The firehouse was in service until 1989. The planned renovation includes an overhaul of the building's mechanical systems and improvements to the aesthetic properties of the exterior. The Perkins-Copland Log Cabin, now located in the Meridian Historical Village, is the eighth grant. Initially the cabin was used to teach outdoor education and pioneer living at Haslett Middle School. Budget cuts ended the program and the building fell into disrepair. Vandalism, because of its remote location, was a constant problem. The school district gave the building to the Friends of Historic Meridian and they have moved it to Okemos where it will be restored and used to demonstrate local history. ## David Evans, FAIA of Ann Arbor was a leading advocate for innovative historic preservation. He was a founding partner of Quinn/Evans Associates. His firm worked on many high profile historic buildings in Michigan and throughout the United States. Evans, who died in 1998, believed that the architectural treasures of the past must be valued and preserved for the generations to come. The Michigan Architectural Foundation promotes educational, scientific and charitable activities that advance the quality of architecture and allied arts. The Foundation sponsors programs that: 1) Stimulate public awareness of the value of architecture, 2) Advance architecture through research and education, 3) Enhance the quality of life through an improved natural and built environment. The Clannad Foundation was founded in 1995 by Jeanne and Ralph Graham of Bloomfield Hills. The aim of the Foundation is to support nonprofit organizations in the fields of social action, hunger, environmental acquisition and advocacy, cultural education, emergency housing and education. “Clannad” is a Gaelic word for “Family”, and the Foundation is comprised of Jeanne and Ralph Graham, their sons, Bill and Tom; their daughters-in-law, Annie and Jennifer; and James LoPrete and David Laughlin. The Foundation is a 501-C-3 designated organization and funds only groups that are non-profit .