PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2022

Reagan Leslie, at home with 4-year-old daughter Seven, is the creative director at Leslie Tyler Design

Her Black House Seven brand was established to follow her progress as an entrepreneur and single momworking with the issues that come about with older buildings. It grew out of her desire to educate people about how to revitalize historic properties. Her Black House Seven Instagram account shares topics ranging from “Eight Black Architects Who Shaped America” to keeping unique home accents without losing modern energy efficiency. Demolition is not always a necessi ty and preservation can be a catalyst for growth in poorer neighborhoods, said Leslie. “Preservation was this mechanism and tool,” she said. “Embracing it and really educating homeowners and also the trades on their value to properly prepare them and adapt them for modern life is something that could really change the landscape of the blighted neighborhoods. So, when I see Peoria, especially like the Center Bluff, East Bluff, South End, North Valley, we could really switch the tide and it doesn't have to be one or the other.” Leslie is testing this idea with a house on Bigelow Street that she purchased

from the city land bank. The land bank usually demolishes homes and sells off the land, but Leslie put in a proposal to rehabilitate the home. The project has brought interest from the community and even earned Leslie a mention in Peoria Mayor Rita Ali’s State of the City speech. People don’t always understand why she’s working to keep the architectural elements of a formerly abandoned home, said Leslie. “People always ask me, like, what are you trying to do? I'm like, I'm just being a citizen. Like I have a daughter that I'm raising here and I want to do whatever I can to help,” she said. As a designer, Leslie knows how preservation efforts can increase the monetary value of a building. The standard solution to profit off this type of property in similar neighborhoods is to convert it into several apartments. Leslie is more interested in how the community benefits fromthe project. As a result, she is committed to the original structure of a single-family home. The building process itself serves as an educational experience that Leslie can document to teach others how to

revitalize similar properties. A fully renovated, single-home dwelling can bring more equity to an area than apartments do. Homeowners who take pride in their homes also aremore likely to keep the architectural pieces Leslie is working so hard to preserve. She sees the potential for the house on Bigelow to become a community project that will benefit every family in the area. No matter what, she plans to continue working on old homes. PRESERVATION CAN BE A CATALYST FOR GROWTH IN POORER NEIGHBORHOODS “I've been lucky that I've built a life that I really enjoy and it feeds me,” she said. “I guess I'm blessed in that way. So hopefully we'll see what … continues to unfold, because this isn't the end.” You can learnmore about all of Reagan Leslie’s projects at leslietylerdesign.com

Laurie Pillman is an author and freelance writer/editor, based in Peoria

OCTOBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 49