Historic Huntsville Foundation

The Historic Huntsville Foundation is proud to announce the Through the Garden Gate Preservation Grant program. The purpose of this program is to provide direct financial support to projects that preserve Madison County's rich and diverse architectural history

--Grant Overview--
HHF will distribute $65,000 in grant money to qualifying preservation projects within the Madison County community. Applications are due by April 29, 2011 with awards announced in May, 2011. Grants are available for preservation work on historically or architecturally significant structures or sites within Huntsville and Madison County. Grants will be awarded to Federal, state, local entities, and non-profit organizations. Funds are not available to private property owners.

--Grant Requirements--
To qualify for a grant, the property must be owned by local, state, or federal government or an agency of a local, state, federal agency, a nonprofit 501c(3) corporation, or a religious organization.

The structure must be historically and/or architecturally significant structures or sites, with preference given to properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed project must address or remedy a threat posed to the structure or site.

Grant requests should include a detailed description of the proposed project, including documentation of the threat posed to the structure, detailed repair and/or renovation plan, overall building photographs, and photographs that illustrate damage to structure.

Grant requests should include the current or intended function of the building. Consideration will be given to requests on behalf of properties that support or allow public gathering or community activities.

Grants requests should include information about the applying organization, including mission statement, community activities, board of directors, and current financial statements.

--Grant Application Deadline--
Grants will be awarded in May, 2011, based on the number of qualifying applications received. To be considered for a May award, grant applications must be received in the Historic Huntsville Foundation office by Friday, April 29, 2011. The HHF office is located above Harrison Brothers Hardware, at 124 Southside Square, Huntsville, Alabama 35801. Contact Donna Castellano with questions.

--About Through the Garden Gate-
The Gardens of Historic Huntsville--
The Historic Huntsville Foundation can offer this grant program to our community due to the success of Through the Garden Gate: The Gardens of Historic Huntsville. The garden book project was conceived and developed to provide a much-needed endangered historic properties fund for the Historic Huntsville Foundation. Published in 2005, Through the Garden Gate is a full-color, coffee table book that takes readers on a walk through Huntsville's downtown historic districts with tours of twenty-five gardens located in these charming neighborhoods.

The success of this project is a community-wide effort. The Foundation expresses grateful to those whose creative energies produced this book-Donna Castellano, project manager and author; Charlie Siefried, photographer; Betty Altherr Howard, book designer, and Bill Nance, noted garden designer, artist, and mentor.

The Foundation thanks those individuals, family, garden groups, and other community organizations whose 'seed money' contributions allowed this project to be financially viable. We appreciate all those who purchased the book-for their coffee tables, for the coffee tables or libraries of friends, families, and colleagues--allowing the beauty of Huntsville's downtown historic districts to be shared with a very wide audience.

The Foundation thanks the Doris Burwell Trust, for their generous donation to the Through the Garden Gate Preservation fund and their support of historic preservation in our community. And, most importantly, the Foundation thanks those garden owners who invited us through their garden gates and into their gardens. You continue to be an inspiration for all who open the pages of our book.

Support the historic preservation of Huntsville/Madison County!

Purchase a copy of Through the Garden Gate at
Harrison Brothers Hardware, Lawren's, and The Greenery

The Through the Garden Gate - Preservation Grant Application