National Trust for Historic Preservation

If Art Deco style is your vibe, you'll love the backstory behind The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles! Located at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, the Wiltern movie theater has endured the economy’s ups and downs ove the decades. G. Albert Lansburgh designed the theater as part of a complex that also includes the 12-story Pellissier Building office tower by architecture firm Morgan, Walls & Clements. Both buildings’ blue-green terra cotta exteriors recall the aqua hues of Los Angeles swimming pools. Lansburgh equipped the venue’s interior with fanciful murals, gold-leaf decorations, and a large sunburst pattern on the ceiling, with rays that symbolize skyscrapers radiating out over the audience. The theater opened in 1931 but then closed two years later, a victim of the Great Depression. Fortunately, it returned the next year and had a long run until it shuttered again around 1980. Its then-owner, an insurance company, started preparing for demolition. Concerted efforts from the Los Angeles Conservancy helped save the building from the wrecking ball. Finally, local developer Wayne Ratkovich stepped in to buy the complex in 1981. Renovations restored the opulent auditorium’s interior, which now serves as a performance venue operated by Live Nation. Photo courtesy RMA Photography

Last fall, an innovative technology project is bringing the history of Louisville, Kentucky’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade out of the history books and into three dimensions. Footprints Through Time, produced by IDEASxLab’s (Un)Known Project, uses augmented reality (AR) and a mobile app to allow users to learn and interact with key historical moments and places at several sites across Louisville and the broader region. Through this process, (Un)Known Project's cofounder Hannah Drake uncovered information about her ancestors that solidified an even deeper connection to this work. Learn more: https://ow.ly/NAMM50UqZMy

As the winter months set in and temperatures drop, there are few things that have as strong a gravitational pull as a toasty fireplace. Whether in a humble log cabin, a Colonial-era rowhouse, or a grand robber-baron estate, they serve as (literally) built-in reminders that winter, while cold and sometimes bleak, does have its advantages. We’ve compiled some of our favorite fireplaces from past Preservation magazine stories to help you ward off the chill and find inspiration in the season. https://ow.ly/aZC550UtlR4

Looking to get your funding along Route 66? Look no further! The Preserve Route 66 Legacy Business Grant Fund provides financial support to businesses to preserve historic places and spur economic development along the Route 66 corridor, with an emphasis on projects that illuminate the narratives of communities whose places and stories have been historically underrepresented. Grants range from $5,000 to $10,000 and applications are due January 23. Projects must be located in a community, neighborhood or tribal land along the Route 66 corridor in the following states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or California. Learn more: https://ow.ly/v51U50Utuu3 Pictured: Exterior of Docs Just Off 66 in Girard, Illinois. Photo courtesy Docs

New year, new opportunities to save historic places you love! As we look to preservations for the coming year, be sure you have a solid framework for turning your concern for a historic spot into meaningful, lasting action. These steps can help make your vision of a protected place a reality! https://ow.ly/Uluc50UtFeX

“I do the PowerPoint thing about the mountain and what the choices are. At the end of the PowerPoint I look at them and say, ‘So, do you want to buy a mountain?’ There’s a little silence in the room and one after another they said, ‘Yeah, I do.’” It's not often that a small town has the opportunity to purchase the cultural and natural landscapes that surround it. For Silver Plume, Colorado, when the chance arose, the community rallied together and developed innovative partnerships to come up with the funding to purchase the mountain and historic mining resources to the north. Learn how they did it: https://ow.ly/2Rrv50UtGf3

What happens when you combine three highly skilled pianists, two iconic National Historic Landmarks, and one evening of music inside a space designed with thousands of pieces of shimmering colored glass set into a 60-foot-tall concrete shell?? Pure magic. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Glass House, the nearby First Presbyterian Church hosted a concert that featured acclaimed musicians performing twelve piano compositions, called études, by famed American composer Philip Glass. Through the evening, guests were treated to a sensory experience that seamlessly celebrated architecture, music, and community. Hear from the musicians about the experience of performing inside a "gemstone": https://ow.ly/guQi50UuwlQ

For all our architecture-loving followers, learn the backstory of the dazzling Art Deco Carbide and Carbon Building! With sleek lines, symmetries, and angular patterns, Art Deco epitomized modernity. The style was introduced at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925 and quickly took off in America, manifesting in everything from skyscrapers to movie houses. The Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation, built its regional headquarters in Chicago in 1929. Urban legend says that the architects of the 37-story Carbide and Carbon Building—the Burnham Brothers, sons of the famous local architect Daniel Burnham—clad the tall volume in dark-green terra cotta and topped it with a gold-leaf cap so it would resemble a Champagne bottle. The building became a hotel in 2004. Most recently, after a 2021 renovation, it reopened as the Pendry Chicago hotel. “A lot of architectural walking tours show up in our historic lobby,” says James Winning, director of sales and marketing at Pendry Chicago. “It’s beautiful—you’ve got the original brass, the original elevators, the original U.S. mail letterbox with a chute that runs up and down the building. This is a throwback to what it was like to walk into a state-of-the-art luxury building in 1929." Photo courtesy Pendry Chicago

"I’m not taking it for me. I’m recording this for our history and to show what America looks like right this minute." Photographer Carol Highsmith has spent 40 years traveling across America and documenting the built and natural environment as it is in the present moment. Her onging life's work—expected to grow to more than 100,000 photographs—has been donated to the Library of Congress. With Route 66’s centennial fast approaching in 2026, Highsmith discusses photographic process, her devotion to Route 66, and her many journeys across America: https://ow.ly/ajJE50Uts6h Pictured: Hackberry General Store in Kingman, Arizona, is one of Carol Highsmith's favorite spots along Route 66.

Historic places have the ability to make us feel a range of emotions, from awe-inspiring to sobering depending on the site. For the winter season, we sourced recommendations from National Trust staff to create a place-based book list that combines the familiar feelings of winter with a love of history. https://ow.ly/rzOr50UtnJM