Support the 2024 Annual Fund

November 21, 2024
12:28 pm

November 21, 2024
12:28 pm

Dear Friend of The Landmark Society,

Thank you for staying connected to The Landmark Society this year. Whether you attended an event, volunteered on our behalf, or read through our magazine, we value your continued interest in our mission. Our staff team has worked on many fronts, broadening our community preservation efforts and advocacy, and reaching more people through our programming. To meet the high demand for our services, we need your monetary support through a gift to our Annual Fund. Together, we can create a greater impact and help to preserve more of our region’s heritage through its built environment.

Here are some of The Landmark Society's 2024 Highlights:

Preservation and Advocacy

Completed 3 new National Register nominations, totaling 783 properties now listed and eligible for historic tax credit programs.
Assisted 3 homeowners with tax credit applications, responded to 145+ contractor requests, and provided numerous property owners with technical guidance through the Old House Help program.
Documented nearly 1,378 historic properties through historic resource surveys in the Village of Wellsville and the Village of Manchester. An additional 164 historic barns in the Town of Victor were also documented.
Created a book for our Jewish Landmarks Survey and debuted it at a community celebration event at the Jewish Community Center.
Held the 2024 New York Statewide Preservation Conference in Rochester, with 316 preservationists attending from New York State and beyond – a record for the conference!
Held 15 classes—serving 245 attendees—through our Young Urban Preservationists (YUPs) in collaboration with the Rochester Brainery.
Partnered with Flower City Folk and Steve Jordan to provide a 6-week Windows Workforce Training program to provide education and hands-on training in historic window repair as part of our efforts to encourage traditional trades training.
Kicked off our Revolving Loan program with loans awarded to Parrott Hall (Geneva, Ontario County) and Alasa Farms/Cracker Box Palace (Sodus, Wayne County) to assist with significant and important preservation construction projects.
Advocated for an enhanced local Landmark designation of the Times Square Building in downtown Rochester that included the intact Art Deco interior.

Programs and Tours

Educated over 1,300 Rochester City School District students at Walk the Walk: Encounters with Rochester’s African American Ancestors and welcomed over 35 classes of students for tours of the Stone-Tolan Historic Site.
Hosted over 300 guests to the Ellwanger Garden during the Lilac Festival and Peony Weekend, 700 people to the House and Garden Tour in the Highland Park neighborhood, 500 people to both the Inside Downtown Tour and October’s Ghost Walk. Sold out a one-day tour at Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Boynton House with 225 guests.
Offered day tours to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo Masterworks and East Aurora, Niagara-on-the-Lake, as well as a trip to Wyoming County, visiting Perry’s bustling downtown, beautiful and historic Silver Lake Institute, and the Wyoming County Fair.
Hosted a tour of Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria and took our fourth trip to Cuba, this time with a focus on the arts as well as architecture.
Took a four-day trip to Longwood Gardens and Delaware’s Brandywine Valley during the spectacular December holiday season, and sold out the Mid-Hudson 4-day trip including a Wright influenced private home and the spectacular Mohonk Mountain House
Experienced Palm Spring’s annual celebration of Mid-Century architecture – Modernism Week. This was Landmark’s third trip to this event and our second time at the wonderful Parker Palm Springs resort.
Had a busy summer season at St. Joseph’s Park with free concerts with our partners at Eastman Community Music School, weddings, photo sessions, Shake on the Lake’s hilarious production of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), and Rochester Fringe Festival performances.

Volunteers, Projects & Fiscal Management

Thanked volunteers who donated over 1,250 hours of their time to help the Landmark Society staff give tours or maintain the grounds of Ellwanger Garden and the Stone Tolan Historic Site including groups from Excellus, the Allyn’s Creek Garden Club, and the University of Rochester.
Submitted the organization’s annual audit which received a clean audit opinion from an external, independent accounting firm.
Received several grants for future preservation needs at Stone-Tolan Historic Site and St. Joseph’s Park.

We need your support to continue this work. Every dollar makes a difference.

Best wishes and thank you, in advance for your thoughtful contribution.