WASHINGTON (AP) – Home and Garden Television and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are starting a multimillion-dollar campaign to help restore 12 historic sites around the country.
The list includes Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached; the Lincoln Cottage in the nation’s capital, where the 16th president drafted the Emancipation Proclamation; and the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco, a 122-year-old structure that is the oldest public conservatory in the Western Hemisphere.
HGTV is donating $1 million to the effort. The network will feature one site a month on “Restore America.”
program and will air public service announcements by celebrities such as actress Sharon Stone, TV personality Bryant Gumbel and New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan.
A gala featuring country singer Jo Dee Messina is planned for Washington on June 4 to kick off the campaign.
The total cost of the restorations is estimated at between $80 million and $120 million, including federal grants and money already raised in the private sector. Some of the work is already under way. The new campaign is designed to call attention to the effort to preserve historic places as well as raise funds to finish the work.
The complete list of sites:
-Hubbell House in Albuquerque, N.M., a large adobe house that predates New Mexico’s 1912 admission as a state.
-Liberty Theater in Astoria, Ore., a vaudeville and motion picture palace built in the 1920s.
-Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
-Cranbrook House in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., an example of early 20th century design.
-Mark Twain house in Hartford, Conn., a monument to the writer.
-Far East Building in Los Angeles, a 1909 hotel, storefront and restaurant located in the city’s Little Tokyo Historic District.
-The Mount in Lenox, Mass., home of author Edith Wharton.
-Bodie Island Lighthouse in Manteo, N.C.
-Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City.
-Frederick C. Robie House in Oak Park, Ill., built in the style of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
-Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco, home to rare tropical plants.
-Lincoln Cottage in Washington, located on the grounds of the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home. The site, now a national monument, was a presidential retreat.
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On the Net:
National Trust for Historic Preservation: http://www.nationaltrust.org
Home & Garden Television: http://www.hgtv.com
AP-ES-05-08-03 1717EDT
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