Preservationist group gives $6k grant for Amasa White House

GENEVA – Landmarks Illinois awarded $6,000 for roof repairs at the historic 1846 Amasa White House, at 757 E. Fabyan Parkway, Geneva, the organization announced in a news release.

The two-story limestone house, owned by Kane County, was listed by the agency in May as an endangered historic structure.

The house is the former home of the White family, who settled in Geneva in 1838. It was considered endangered because it has been vacant and without a proposed use for so long, according to the Landmarks Illinois documents.

The Greek Revival style of the house is where the White family raised nine children, “Many of hom went on to become involved in many of Geneva’s manufacturing and production industries,” according to Landmarks’ Illinois documents.

“Amasa White was a farmer who became a prominent Geneva resident,” according to Landmarks Illinois. “He also earned a significant profit from cutting and selling timber from his land. He had an interest in the progressive movements of the time and was also an appointed member of the building committee for the Geneva Unitarian Church, which was completed in 1843.”

When the Amasa House was listed as endangered, Kane County Historic Preservation Commission Chairwoman Shauna Wiet had said the house “needs a use and occupants.”

“There was a plan for it before the market collapsed,” Wiet had said. “Now things are back and development is picking up, there will be a project that will come forward that will integrate it and give it a use.”

Landmarks Illinois awarded nearly $35,000 in nine matching grants to nonprofit and government organizations to help preserve and protect significant and historic structures and sites throughout the state, according to the release.

The grants were awarded through Landmarks Illinois’ three grant programs: the Preservation Heritage Fund, Barbara C. and Thomas E. Donnelley II Preservation Fund and the WWI Monument Preservation Grant Program.

Kane County’s grant was through the Preservation Heritage Fund, the release stated.