Preservation Austin is delighted to recognize the ambitious, innovative, and community-minded winners of our 65th Annual Preservation Merit Awards. Our ten winners for 2025 represent the wide-ranging efforts to build community and enhance historic spaces across Austin.

We dedicate these celebratory headlines to our members, whose support powers everything we do. If you value the spirit of our city and hope it continues to thrive, support our 2025 Membership Drive and invest in the future of historic places in Austin, Texas.

Preservation Austin’s 65th Annual Preservation Merit Awards honor visionary approaches to preserving our city’s unique architectural, cultural, and environmental heritage. By recognizing outstanding individuals, businesses, organizations, and institutions, we hope to inspire others to carry on this important work.

In Austin’s West Campus area — characterized today by towering apartment buildings, huge window panes, bright signs, and a boisterous population of 15,000 students — a medium-sized house known as Whitehall Cooperative sits as a haven of affordable housing for its residents.

SB 2639 threatens the future of historic preservation in Texas by rewriting the rules for how cities protect significant historic sites. The bill will be heard in the House Committee on Land and Resource Management on Thursday, May 22 at 8 AM. Please reach out to the members of the Committee members and urge them to vote NO on SB 2639. Read on for more. 

Federal historic preservation programs are in crisis. The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) is currently threatened with total elimination by President Trump’s proposed FY26 Budget. The HPF provides critical funding for preservation work across the nation and here at home. Write to your representative today and ask them to support full funding of the HPF.

For Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, read about the history of Asians in Austin from Hanna Huang, Executive Director of the Austin Asian American Film Festival.

Preservation Austin’s Grants Program fuels essential projects across three categories: education, bricks and mortar, and planning/survey/historic designation. By providing funding to important projects citywide, we aim to financially support our fellow Austinites as they preserve our shared past.