Bowen Building, Peoria State Hospital, Bartonville. A Landmarks Illinois photo by Frank Butterfield.

A historic Bartonville mental hospital and a downtown Peoria theater are on the most recent list of endangered properties in Illinois.

“The sites named to the list, as well as the critical work of our State Historic Preservation Office, are all exceptionally important to not only local residents, but the local economy,” said Bonnie McDonald, President of Landmarks Illinois. “By calling attention to the potential for reuse and revitalization of these historic places, we are encouraging job creation and economic development across Illinois – something everyone can support.”

Situated on a hillside in Bartonville, the Peoria State Hospital, closed since 1973, was originally built in 1895 due to the Illinois General Assembly’s provision for a state insane asylum. The hospital campus has been known by many names throughout its history, including the Peoria Asylum, the Bartonville State Hospital, and the Peoria State Hospital for the Incurable Insane. The building is currently owned by a nonprofit group, Save the Bowen Foundation, which has reopened the facility for tours but has not been able to procure funds to sufficiently rehabilitate the building.

The Madison Theater, at 500 W. Main, Peoria, is among five properties statewide that are eligible for a River Edge Redevelopment Zone Historic Tax Credit.

The credit, which expires in January 2017, was created to revive and redevelop challenged historic properties in five river-adjacent Illinois cities: Aurora, East St. Louis, Elgin, Peoria, and Rockford. A bill to extend the program is currently under consideration in the Illinois Senate.

Other Illinois properties on the list include the home of the Schwinn Bicycle Company co-founder, a Lincoln-era home in Springfield, an 1855 Greek Revival house and barn, an iconic fifty-foot statue located in a state park, vanishing mid-century modern houses, a former state hospital’s main building, key projects in the expiring River Edge state historic tax credit program, a vacant archdiocesan school, a large-scale industrial bakery, a southern Illinois “thatched cottage,” an early Chicago movie palace, and lastly, the vital office that administers the State’s historic preservation programs.

Now in its 20th year, this statewide list calls attention to threatened historic resources in need of assistance in the form of responsible stewardship, creative reuse plans, and/or advances in public policy. The slow economic recovery, state budget crisis, and a lack of available financing continue to challenge historic sites throughout Illinois.

Since the inception of Landmarks Illinois’ Most Endangered list in 1995, a third of the listed properties have been saved, less than a quarter have been demolished, and the rest are in varying stages between being continually threatened and rehabilitation.

The complete Most Endangered list is available at www.Landmarks.org.