American Express supports historic preservation | National Trust for Historic Preservation

Union station - American Express regilding project — American Express

For more than a decade, American Express has been supporting preservation through program sponsorship and direct grantmaking.

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.

In 2021, we launched Backing Historic Small Restaurants, with the goal of awarding $1 million in grants to 25 historic and culturally significant restaurants throughout the United States to help them improve, upgrade, and preserve their exterior physical spaces and online businesses. The focus for 2023 is on small or independently owned restaurants that are located in historic buildings or neighborhoods, tell an inclusive story about cuisine and community in the United States, and have been disproportionately impacted by economic challenges, disasters, or other hardships.

Since 2006, Partners in Preservation awarded over $28 million in support of more than 260 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.

Beginning in 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.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express partnered for Virtual Preservation Month in 2020, providing 31 days of experiences to help people at home enjoy the beauty and comfort of historic places.

Now in its third year, Backing Historic Small Restaurants grants are helping small restaurant owners so that their establishments’ legacies can continue.

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.

American Express Supported Places