The National Trust is thrilled to announce the 2021 recipients of the Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors. Grants from these two funds will help preserve a diverse range of historic sites across the country. Between the two funds, the National Trust has granted a total of $261,150 to 30 organizations in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

The Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors are annual grant opportunities offered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In July 1994, the Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation was created in honor of Johanna Favrot’s 80th birthday. The fund aims to save historic environments in order to foster an appreciation of our nation’s diverse cultural heritage and to preserve and revitalize communities. The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors was established in July 1997 by George P. Mitchell in honor of his wife Cynthia. The purpose of the fund is to assist in the preservation, restoration, and interpretation of historic interiors.

In total, the National Trust received 126 eligible applications, requesting $1,505,528 for planning work, physical preservation, and education and outreach programming. Below are the 2021 grantees.

Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation Grant Recipients

With $128,000 available for funding in 2021, the following 19 projects were selected:

Ebell Friends | Los Angeles, California
$10,000 for a rehabilitation and maintenance master plan for the 125-year-old independent women’s club, The Ebell of Los Angeles.

Filoli Center | Woodside, California
$8,000 for the restoration of the Filoli Historic House and Garden’s portico.

DC Preservation League | Washington, District of Columbia
$8,000 to support the Stewardship for Climate Action program, a six-part series of educational events that will investigate how historic preservation can help fight climate change.

Georgia B. Williams Nursing Home, Inc. | Camilla, Georgia
$5,000 to hire an architect to develop building plans for the Georgia B. Williams Nursing Home, which was the business and private residence of Beatrice Borders, an African American midwife who delivered over 6,000 African American babies from 1941-1971 during segregation and the Jim Crow era.

Walker County African American Historical and Alumni Association, Inc. | Chickamauga, Georgia
$5,000 to support the restoration of the Chickamauga Masonic Lodge Hall #221, Walker County’s only remaining African American Masonic Lodge.

Indiana Landmarks| Wabash, Indiana

In partnership with Wabash Recovery Services, Inc., Indiana Landmarks will restore the Perry-Moore House in Wabash, Indiana, to become a facility for women recovering from addiction. The site has always been maintained as a residential property, but it has sat vacant for five years. The $12,000 grant from the Favrot Fund will restore the property’s slate roof, helping to bring this structure back to life, preserve its architectural integrity, and adapt it for an important community use.

Four Mounds Foundation| Dubuque, Iowa
$5,000 to create a cultural landscape plan to use for site interpretation, community engagement, and engagement for the Four Mounds Estate Historic District.

Oxmoor Farm Foundation, Inc. | Louisville, Kentucky
$4,000 to conduct an archaeological investigation of extant former slave houses at Oxmoor Farm.

Detroit Sound Conservancy | Detroit, Michigan
$10,000 for construction documents to rehabilitate the former Detroit jazz club, the Blue Bird Inn.

United Inner City Services | Kansas City, Missouri
$10,000 to support the stabilization and finalization of architectural plans for the Rector Mansion, the former home of Sarah Rector, Kansas City’s “First Black Woman Millionaire.”

Friends of Gem Theater | Pioche, Nevada
$3,750 to develop a preservation treatment plan for the Gem Theater.

1st Presbyterian Church | Chester, New York
$5,000 to replace the First Presbyterian Church of Chester’s heating system.

Historic Albany Foundation | Albany, New York
$8,000 for the stabilization of the oldest building in Albany, the Van Ostrande-Radliff House, one of two Dutch buildings left in what is a city settled by Dutch immigrants.

Fairmount Park Conservancy | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
$10,000 to complete exterior repairs at the Ohio House, one of two historic buildings and the only extant civic building to remain from the Centennial Exposition of 1876, a six-month showcase event that brought more than 10 million visitors to Philadelphia.

The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
$3,000 to support the preservation of Carpenters' Hall, the site of the First Continental Congress in 1774.

Providence Preservation Society | Providence, Rhode Island
$5,000 to develop design plans and fundraising materials for the restoration of the Prince Hall Masonic Temple following a disastrous fire in 2020.

City of Florence | Florence, South Carolina
$3,000 for the restoration of the Carolina Theater’s historic marquee.

Friends of the Texas Historical Commission | Brazoria, Texas
$8,000 for the creation of video materials to support outreach and education efforts to the community and descendants of the Levi Jordan Plantation.

Sturgeon Bay Historical Society Foundation | Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
$5,000 to reinstall the original timber columns of the Door County Granary, a historic grain elevator that will become the focal point of a waterfront redevelopment plan, allowing the structure to be resurrected in its original location and restored for future use as a public gathering space.

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors Grant Recipients

With $142,000 available for funding, the following 11 projects were selected:

University of Arkansas | Fayetteville, Arkansas
$15,000 for the restoration of historic interiors furnishings and finishes at the Midcentury Modern Fay and Gus Jones House.

Quinn Chapel AME Church | Chicago, Illinois

Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is home to the oldest African American congregation in Chicago, dating back to 1844, and continues to be a leader in its community in matters of social justice and community services. Inside the church’s sanctuary is a mural depicting a Black Jesus, Mary, and cherubs painted in 1904 by Proctor Chisholm. A $15,000 grant from the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund will be used by the church to help restore the mural to its former glory following water damage.

City of Madison, IN | Madison, Indiana
$15,000 to restore existing interior finishes in Madison’s City Hall, which will allow the city to expand its office and meeting space.

The Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture | Baltimore, Maryland
$15,000 to restore the historic wood floors in the Peale Museum, the Nation's first museum building.

City of Hillsdale Tax Increment Finance Authority (TIFA) | Hillsdale, Michigan
$15,000 to recreate the historic stenciled painting on the interior walls of the Dawn Theater.

Ox-Bow | Saugatuck, Michigan
$4,400 to develop a preservation plan for the Norton and Tallmadge Cabins at the Ox-Bow School of Art.

Greater Syracuse Land Bank | Syracuse, New York
$15,000 to develop a schematic design study for the interior restoration of The Castle (formerly South Presbyterian Church), which will be adapted into a community and events space.

Waterloo Library & Historical Society | Waterloo, New York
$6,000 to repair and replace the supporting basement brick walls of one of the oldest libraries in New York State.

Preservation Virginia | Beaverdam, Virginia
$15,000 to develop a master plan for the interpretation and preservation of Patrick Henry's Scotchtown.

Historic Whidbey | Coupeville, Washington
$8,000 for the reproduction of original wallpapers at the Granville & Henriette Haller House.

DeKoven Center | Racine, Wisconsin
$10,000 to support the reopening the DeKoven Center Pool, which was the longest operating indoor natatorium in Wisconsin.