Indiana Preservationist 1981

              Historic
Landmarks
Foundation
of Indiana
the Indiana
Preservationist
3402 Boulevard Place, Indianapolis, IN 46208
No. 1, 1981
Special to
CITY HOUSE
by Tina Connor
CITY HOUSE alone is a good enough
excuse for a trip to Chicago, but
HLFI has decided to go all out and
make a weekend of it.  All old-house
lovers are enthusiastically invited to
reserve a seat on HLFI's Special to
CITY HOUSE.  The chartered Amtrack car
will leave Indianapolis' Union Station
at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 28,
and will return at 9:25 p.m. on Sunday,
As we reported in the last issue of the
Indiana Preservationist,   CITY HOUSE is
a unique home improvement fair for
people who are renovating or restoring
old houses. Over 300 exhibitors will
display and demonstrate quality
products and services at Donnelly Hall
(McCormick Place West).
When it rolls into the station,
Special to CITY HOUSE will be met by
buses which will take us to our reserved
accommodations at the Blackstone Hotel
at Michigan Avenue and East Balbo. The
Blackstone won a gold medal for design
when it was erected in 1910, and the
building's public spaces have recently
been restored. *
Special to CITY HOUSE will spend
the day on Saturday—from 12:30 to
6:00—at CITY HOUSE. Buses will return
the group to the Blackstone, where HLFI
will hold a cash bar reception for the
group and special guests in the restored
Crystal Ballroom from 7:00 to 9:00.
You'll be on you own Saturday night,
but on Sunday HLFI has arranged a
Special to CITY HOUSE bus tour of the
Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School of
Architecture Historic District in Oak
Park. The di"strict,contains twenty-five
structures by Wright, the largest
collection of his designs in the world.
Following the bus tour, we'll be taken
on a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright
Home and Studio which the architect
designed and built between 1889 and 1898.
The cost of Special to CITY HOUSE
is $85 per person for members of HLFI0
The non-member fee of $105 includes a
one-year membership in HLFI. For those
who prefer a single room at the hotel,
the member cost is $96; hon^members, $116.
The fee for the trip includes group
rate train travel (with a continental
breakfast on the way up and a box
lunch on the return trip) and hotel room;
CITY HOUSE admission; transportation
to and from the train station and CITY
HOUSE; and the tour on Sunday. An
individual traveling to CITY HOUSE on
his or her own—without the benefit of
group rates—would pay 30% more fox the
same trip.
Members will soon be receiving
brochures wi:th more detailed information
and detachable reservation forms. In
the meantime, if you have any questions
about the trip or CITY HOUSE, please
feel free to call (317-926-2301).
Indiana ranks 44th
in federal funds for
preservation
DURING the recent lame duck session,
Congress appropriated $32.5 million
for the federal historic preservation
program. The award includes $25.3
million for the states, the District
of Columbia, and U.S. territories, and
$4.7 million for the National Trust
for Historic Preservation.  Congress
also set aside $1.0 million for the
Secretary of the Interior's
discretionary reserve, and $1.5 million,
for program administration within the
Heritage Conservation and Recreation
Service.
The 1981 federal appropriation is
significantly less than the amount
awarded in 1980, but preservation
lobbyists consider it a victory
because it is $7.5 million more than
the $25 million recommended by the
Carter Administration. The 1980
appropriation of $55 million included
a $5.2 million for the National Trust.
Last year, when the 1980
appropriation was announced, HLFI
voiced concern in the Indiana
Preservationist  over Indiana's low
allocation of $569,225.  That placed
us 43rd out of the 50 states:
California received the most (over
$1.7 million) and Wyoming the least
(under $240,000).  The current report
is even more disheartening. Indiana
has been awarded only $332,609 for
fiscal year 1981, down $236,616 from
last year. And in the dollar rankings
Indiana has dropped to 44th out of 50.
California is still on top with
$787,832, and Wyoming is still in the
basement with $206,551.
THE money Indiana receives from the
federal government is awarded in
the form of grants-in-aid to local
preservation projects throughout the
state. Grants are available for
acquisition and development projects
as well as survey and planning
programs. It is expected that James
Ridenour, newly appointed state
historic preservation officer and
director of the Department of Natural
Resources, will announce the 1981
grant recipients sometime within the
next two months.