National Trust for Historic Preservation: Return to home page

For more than a decade American Express has partnered with the National Trust to preserve and protect America’s cultural and historic places, supporting preservation projects across the country.

Since 2006, Partners in Preservation has awarded over $19 million in support of more than 200 sites in cities from San Francisco to New York, from Seattle to Washington, D.C. and beyond. Partners in Preservation believes historic sites play a key role in helping us understand who we are, as well as our relationships to each other and our communities. From San Francisco to New York City, Partners in Preservation has helped to protect and preserve sites that directly reflect the diverse cultural heritage of America and its people. Past winners have included the Washington National Cathedral in D.C., the Apollo Theater in New York, and St. Augustine Parish Hall in New Orleans.

From 2012, American Express was the Presenting Partner of the Trust's National Treasures program, helping to make possible our work to save dozens of nationally important places and providing preservation grants to historic sites.

To celebrate community-based preservation in cities and towns across the country, the National Trust for Historic Preservation partnered with American Express in 2017 for Partners in Preservation: Main Streets—a grassroots campaign recognizing 25 historic sites on American Main Streets that contribute to the diverse fabric of their local communities.

The 11 winning historic sites, determined by popular vote, received a total of $1.5 million in grants to fund their respective preservation projects. An additional $500,000 in grants was provided to the nonprofit partners of all 25 main street communities that participated in the program to help raise awareness about their preservation needs.

The gallery below highlights some of the places where American Express has directly funded brick-and-mortar projects, from re-gilding the ceiling of DC's Union Station to restoring San Francisco's Haas Lilienthal House.