The Cleveland Cascade won $50,000, earning the prize after coming in 12th place in a six-week, online competition that asked Web visitors to vote for their favorite Bay Area historical site.

The Fox Theatre, a 1928 city landmark with Indian, Moorish, medieval and Baghdadian architecture, received $75,000. Sponsors of the competition, the National Trust and American Express, announced the prizes Tuesday.

Jim Ratliff, chair of the Friends of the Cleveland Cascade, said the award was "a very big deal."

The win was a coup for a neighborhood project such as the Cleveland Cascade, an art nouveau water fountain near Lake Merritt, when other entrants included the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Berkeley, which received the most online votes and got $118,000. In all, 13 of the 25 entrants received grants of at least $50,000. The remaining 12 received $5,000 awards.

While the Cleveland Cascade's online ranking never climbed above middle of the pack, its popularity was only one criteria the judges used to determine awardees.

"The staff was captivated by the community story of the Cleveland Cascade," said Anthony Veerkamp of the National Trust, who oversaw the competition.

Veerkamp said the judging panel liked that neighbors took initiative in the fountain's restoration. The 1922 Howard Gilkey fountain was neglected and buried for years until neighbors unearthed it in 2004 and launched a public effort to restore it.

The $50,000 will contribute to a $2 million estimated restoration bill and go toward making new molds to replicate the damaged water fountain bowls, pedestals and decorative shells, Ratliff said.

The competition also succeeded in spotlighting this project and other historical sites in the Bay Area, said Veerkamp.

Ratliff agreed, especially when the Friends of the Cleveland Cascade begins their fundraising efforts.

"Being one of the grant recipients will help," he said. "It'll show credibility to prospective donors. If the National Trust thought we were fund-worthy, others might also."

The competition is the first in a series that the National Trust, a national nonprofit organization that assists groups in their preservation efforts, and American Express have launched to increase awareness about historical sites and preservation.

Learn more about the Cleveland Cascade at www.clevelandcascade.org. Go to Web site www.partnersinpreservation.com to view all competing Bay Area historic sites.