Public Education and Awareness Award
for the exemplary programs its Education Committee has created to foster community awareness
of the city's history and architecture
Under the leadership of Board President Doreen Uhas Sauer and Vice President of Education, Tom Betti, the Columbus Landmarks Foundation has offered an impressive body of educational programming, leading up to and culminating with, programs geared to the City of Columbus bicentennial.
With the motto of "Educate to Appreciate," the Education Committee of approximately 20 dedicated individuals has been sustained as an active brain trust of volunteers. Here are some of the tours, films, programs and publications developed by the Columbus Landmarks Foundation Committee in recent years:
- a documentary, entitled “The Citadel: Birth of the LeVeque Tower,” with assistance from the Ohio Humanities Council and private donations, professional development training to teachers and seminars to students to elementary and high school students,
- a historic tavern tour which has grown from a single stop into a series of regularly offered bus tours highlighting the history and architecture of Columbus watering holes,
- a book series to be published by History Press,
- a tour series called Illuminated Spaces: Sacred Places which showcases the art, iconography and stories of stained glass in religious structures, and
- providing historical content for the annual “City Hop” Party and Tour, a major collaborative event that focuses on downtown living and architecture.
Columbus Landmarks has also developed partnerships with a variety of organizations to offer one-of-a-kind programming. Here are some examples:
- CLF assisted the Athletic Club of Columbus on nominating their downtown building to the National Register of Historic Places and in return received the donation of an easement on the property.
- CLF serves as a resource to WOSU for their Historic Neighborhood television documentaries,
- CLF participates in a Green Lawn Cemetery program called 200 Years of Stories and Stones where “stonetellers” tell the stories of interred individuals along with information about funerary architecture and iconography,
- And finally, CLF created a resource book on the architecture and history of Columbus with drawings and text which is being provided free to all 4th graders this fall.
Columbus Landmarks Foundation was founded in 1977 in response to demolition of Union Station, one of two buildings in Columbus designed by Daniel Burnham. Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the organization advocates for historic landmarks and neighborhoods. Since its founding, CLF has included within its mission the promotion of quality new urban design as well as historic preservation. Through its extensive and varied programming, original research, authentic content, and the many partnerships it nurtures, the Columbus Landmarks Foundation serves as a model historic preservation organization for other communities.
Click here to return to the list of 2012 Ohio Historic Preservation Office Award recipients.
Click here for a list of past Ohio Historic Preservation Office Award recipients.