The 2025 National Preservation Awards are being presented on September 16, 2025 at PastForwad 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For over 6 decades, the awards have honored inspirational projects, individuals, and organizations that have demonstrated excellence in the field of preservation. This year’s list features extraordinary partnerships that reflect the ways that preservation creates stronger, more just, and thriving communities.

Let’s celebrate these remarkable winners!

Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award

Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards, the nation’s most coveted and prestigious awards, are bestowed on historic preservation efforts that demonstrate excellence in execution and a positive impact on the vitality of their towns and cities.

The Battery | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company’s Delaware Station, The Battery is a transformative adaptive reuse project preserving a Beaux-Arts industrial landmark while creating vibrant new livable spaces that serve the community. Spanning 300,000+ square feet, it houses apartments, offices, event spaces, and a hotel—a mix of uses virtually unseen in a historic rehabilitation project in Philadelphia. The project also reconnected the community to the Delaware River waterfront via the extended Delaware River Trail, celebrating a landmark of the city’s industrial past and securing its future relevance.

Lawson House Rehabilitation | Chicago, Illinois

Lawson House, Chicago’s historic former YMCA, occupies the northeast corner of Chicago and Dearborn, across the street from the “Billionaire’s Tower” in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Designed in 1931, the iconic Art Deco skyscraper once provided 583 single-room occupancy units during the Great Depression, creating a “city in a block” with gymnasiums, a natatorium, cafeteria and more. After purchasing the building for $1, Holsten Real Estate Development Corp. undertook a $128M rehabilitation project to tackle decades of deferred maintenance, upgrade building systems, restore historic spaces, and provide dignified private living conditions for some of Chicago’s most vulnerable. A transformational project, the Lawson House rehabilitation is a preservation model of how to develop affordable, amenity-rich housing in neighborhoods as affluent as Chicago’s Gold Coast.

The Orange Mound Library & Genealogy Center | Memphis, Tennessee

After 40 years of vacancy, the Historic Melrose School now stands as a national model of historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and cultural placemaking. Built in the 1930s as a federal Works Project Administration effort and closed in 1979, the three-story brick building was saved thanks to the tireless advocacy of alumni and residents to restore its position as a community hub. Through a $16M transformation led by the City of Memphis, this landmark now houses the community’s first public library, senior apartments, and a genealogy center that connects residents to their heritage in Orange Mound, the first subdivision in the country to be built by African Americans for African Americans.

The National Trust/Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation

This award, presented in partnership with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, honors a project or program in which a federal agency and one or more non-federal partners, including tribes, have together achieved an exemplary preservation outcome.

Zoar Village National Historic Landmark Levee Project | Zoar Village, Ohio

Trustees’ Award for Organizational Excellence

The Trustees' Award for Organizational Excellence recognizes a nonprofit organization, large or small, that has demonstrated sustained and superlative achievement in historic preservation.

Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation | Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation has long been dedicated to advocating for the preservation of the state's historic resources. For 46 years, the organization has worked across all 64 parishes, emphasizing the importance of historic preservation. Its mission includes empowering local communities and leaders to identify and appreciate the rich history within their areas, dispelling misconceptions about preservation, and fostering disaster resiliency.

Trustees Emeritus Award for Historic Site Stewardship

The Trustees Emeritus Award for Historic Site Stewardship recognizes success and innovation in historic preservation, management, and programming at historic sites.

The O’Connor House | Tempe, Arizona

The O’Connor House is the historic adobe home of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, which was relocated in Tempe, Arizona, brick by brick, in an effort to save the house from demolition. Today, it serves as a center for civic engagement, hosting events and initiatives that promote dialogue, civil discourse, and solutions to pressing societal issues. The house embodies Justice O’Connor’s commitment to fostering understanding and collaboration in public life.

John H. Chafee Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy

The John H. Chafee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy recognizes an individual or group of individuals who have done outstanding work in preservation advocacy.

Marsh Davis | Indiana

For nearly two decades, Marsh Davis has served as the president and CEO of Indiana Landmarks, where he effectively used preservation as a tool for community revitalization, civic engagement, and cultural recognition. Under his leadership, Indiana Landmarks grew into the largest statewide preservation organization in the country. Davis has contributed to national policy conversations as a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a board member of Preservation Action, and an advisor to several national grant programs. Through his tireless advocacy and vision, Marsh Davis has strengthened preservation infrastructure, expanded its public value, and positioned historic places as integral to our national identity.