2021 KPA Awards Projects
Each year the Kansas Preservation Alliance, Inc. recognizes exemplary efforts in historic preservation across the state of Kansas. The 2021 Awards for Excellence were presented virtually because of COVID-19, where the following projects received awards.
1913 Apartments, Atchison (Atchison County) – Honor Award
The Atchison YMCA has continuously served the community needs of the citizens of Atchinson. The building functioned as the city’s only YMCA facility until it closed in 2017. A new YMCA facility was constructed adjacent to the historic building, which opened in 2018. The Atchison YMCA organization continued to adapt its program and modify the building to meet the changing needs of the community. 1913, LCC purchased the vacated Old Atchison YMCA in rehabilitation of the Old Atchison YMCA building, preserving an important resource while providing a new high quality housing option in downtown Atchison.
The 1913 Apartments project happened with a $3.1 Million dollar investment. The building owned by 1913, LLC was built in 1913 and is listed as a National and State Historic site.
Chase County Courthouse, Cottonwood Falls (Chase County) – Merit Award
As Chase County is largely a rural setting, the Courthouse is one of its more grandiose structures, designed by the architect John G. Haskell, architect of the Kansas State Capitol Building. Its Italian Second Empire style is quite unique to the area. Not only is it a local point of pride, but it should be recognized statewide as an example of Haskell’s work, along with being the oldest continuously operating courthouse in the state. The nature of its historic significance is both artistic and of civil service.
One of the Chase County Courthouse’s most striking features is its 150-year-old mansard roof clad in red terne metal. Last re-painted in 2000, the roof was in need of repair by 2019. The terne metal roof needed repair and repainting and select areas at the chimneys needed re-pointing. Ben Moore Studio researched methods for terne metal repair, as this method of roofing is not commonly used in modern construction. The team helped the owner find contractors who were comfortable performing the historic method. To complete construction drawings, our studio utilized a drone to capture footage of the areas of the roof difficult to reach. The design team challenged themselves to create a step-by-step manual for the old terne metal repair technique, rather than a standard set of construction drawing.
Citizens National Bank Plaza & Lofts, Emporia (Lyon County) – Merit Award
Citizens National Plaza & Lofts is a multi-use adaptive reuse project with multi-family residential and commercial use components in downtown Emporia, KS. Before the project, the building housed a bank on the first floor and basement levels while the upper four stories were rented office spaces. The multi-family portion of the project includes 20 units, two of which are ADA units.
Common Ground Coffee Co., Fort Scott (Bourbon County) – Honor Award
The single story building was fully rehabilitated to bring the building from a vacant structure to a fully operational and vibrant business that enlivens the street in Downtown Fort Scott. The exterior primary stone façade (north) and the red brick secondary facades were fully repointed. The north stone façade was labeled and disassembled from the storefront lintel to allow for full repair of the significantly deteriorated underlying steel support frame at the storefront opening. New back-up steel was installed and concealed by the original historic materials. The original stone was then reinstalled in its original location. All the stone was restored. Where the material was too deteriorated to be reinstalled, replica units were created at Phoenix Marble to match the original stone in size, profile, and material.
Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity,
Manhattan, KS (Riley County)– Honor Award
The proposed project is focused largely on a historic interior rehabilitation of the 1907 building including finish and fixture upgrades in common areas and man rooms. Additionally, the scope includes upgrades to building systems including installation of a sprinkler system and bathrooms and kitchen in both 1907 and 1958 wings. Exterior scope is limited, involving primarily repair and replacement of damaged guttering systems, trim, and brick masonry.
Fresh Air Baby Camp, Wichita, KS (Sedgwick County)– Honor with Distinction Award
The Fresh Air Baby Camp in Wichita, Kansas may possibly be the only extant purpose-built and permanent baby camp structure in the United States.
In 2007 the building had been out of use for several years and the City Park and Recreation Department had not been able to maintain it. The Wichita Office of Historic Preservation listed it on the historic registers in that year and the Kansas Preservation Alliance added it to its annual list of Most Endangered Places. A small group of concerned citizens formed Friends of the Historic Fresh Air Baby Camp, Inc, a not-for-profit corporation and signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the City Manager, vowing to raise all the money and do all the work to rehabilitate the building for the good of the community.
Klock's Grocery & Independent Laundry, Lawrence (Douglas County) – Merit Award
Following the death of Helmer Klock, R.M. Reeves, a well-known local grocer, purchased the property and operated the store as Reeves Grocery until 1959. After Reeves Grocery, the store was converted by Ed Elam to a laundry facility for the Independent Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Company. Elam’s company had been founded in Lawrence in 1930, and it was quite a significant enterprise. During its time as Independent Laundry, the building underwent several modifications that reflect the trend of mid-century modernization and industry changes that took place throughout the 1960s. The west portion of the building continued as a self-service laundry until the summer of 2018 when it was purchased by Brad Ziegler and rehabilitated in 2020. The character of the Klock’s Grocery & Independent Laundry is preserved through its interior configuration which pays homage to its historic configuration and its rehabilitated historic materials such as the ceiling’s pressed tin panels. The building is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building has been rehabilitated for a new commercial use as a restaurant. The building has been analyzed to configure the restaurant in such a way to show deference to both historical uses. The areas that were public for both the grocery and laundromat are still the public areas of the restaurant, and the “back-of-house” areas are now used as the restaurant’s kitchen. All existing materials that were able to be retained were incorporated into the rehabilitation. Visible historic materials that were deteriorated beyond usability were replaced with matching-in-kind materials.
Lee Hardware Lofts, Salina (Saline County) – Honor with Distinction
The HD Lee Mercantile Company Building, the north building in the complex, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Register of Historic Kansas Places in 2008. The entire complex is nationally significant in the areas of Commerce and Industry because of the building's association with Henry Daniel Lee. Lee founded the HD Lee Mercantile Company and HD Lee Hardware Company, although ultimately, he is best known as the founder of the world’s largest clothing manufacturer, and the maker of Lee Jeans.
The building was vacant when the Overland Property Group/Flint Hills Holdings Co. purchased it in 2018. They developed a plan to repurpose the large warehouse building as a mixed-use building with a large commercial space on the first floor and fifty-three apartments on the floors above. The rehabilitation of this building is the first of two phases to convert the entire complex to an active resource that once again contributes to the vibrancy of this historic industrial core of Salina.
Little Stranger Christian Church, Leavenworth, KS (Leavenworth County) – Honor with Distinction
The adaptation of the church to meet the community’s needs over time is a markedly unique component of its history, and evidence of its importance to rural residents. The church remained an active meeting spot throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s until interest and resources for maintenance dwindled. In the mid 2010s, interest in restoring the church gained momentum. Staying true to history, the community has been working together to restore and re-open the church once again.
In addition to the church’s notable sociological history, its architecture is also of historic significance. It is a good local example of an early vernacular wood building, featuring a front-facing gable roof and a symmetrical appearance. It was constructed by the original congregation using local labor and materials. Its prominent visibility on the corner of a well-traveled county highway continues to bring Kansas history alive to the public.
Manhattan Brewing Company, Manhattan, KS (Riley County) – Merit Award
The Smith Building has been occupied by many different businesses throughout its time. The earliest record of that location states it was an attorney’s office, when Walters redesigned the building, it was used for a furniture store. From there the building was converted to hardware stores, a clothing store, and for a time was used for a piano sales store. The history of the Smith Building has developed over time providing Manhattan’s community with different services and continues today.
The rehabilitation of the Smith Building for the Manhattan Brewing Company in Manhattan, KS did not change the exterior features and did minimal change on the interior. A few interior walls were removed to open the space up and bring back to the original layout. No replacements were made. The historic ceilings were preserved and the previously removed, original metal ceiling panels were reinstalled.
Mueller-Schmidt House, Dodge City, KS (Ford County) – Merit Award
Built in 1880, the Home of Stone today serves as the museum for the Ford County Historical Society in Dodge City, KS. It is a limestone residence with ornate masonry and woodwork at each of its facades. In 2016, the exterior envelope was in need of multiple repairs. Ben Moore Studio was hired to produce a report of necessary repair work for the Ford County Historical Society to use for grant applications and alternative funding. The Historical Society later received a Heritage Trust Fund grant from the State Historic Preservation Office. The firm was then hired to complete construction drawings and bid documents for the repair work and to perform construction administration. The repair work included masonry repointing, window and door repair, porch roof repairs, foundation waterproofing and repair, and regrading of the soil to direct water away from the building. Ben Moore Studio was involved with bidding and contract negotiation as well as performing construction observation visits. We worked closely with the client and contractor to work out details accurate to the historic construction of the residence.
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Topeka, KS (Shawnee County) – Medallion Award
The Church parish involved with the present preservation effort are descendants from the original founding German parish who had the Church constructed in 1900. Many of the same German names are still found in the Church registry. The Catholic Church is still planning to use the Church as it was designed in 1900. Changes to the Church since construction have been mainly superficial, such as painting, adding a Narthex wall, adding an elevator in one of the towers, modifying the Church for HVAC, additional lighting and finishing out the basement for a hall which originally had a dirt floor.
Union National Bank, Manhattan, KS (Riley County) – Merit Award
The building was completely renovated to its current footprint in 1905 by the Stringley Brothers. The expansion created a number of office spaces that were occupied by various professionals over the years; these included doctors, dentists, realtors, and attorneys. When the bank moved into new facilities at 7th and Poyntz in the 1970’s, this building was converted to retail on the ground floor. The upper floor was converted to rental office space and remains in this function today.
The proposed project was focused largely on a historic rehabilitation of the 1905 building including window replacement.
Douglas County Heritage, Douglas County, KS – Advocacy Award
In an effort to enhance natural and cultural heritage initiatives within Douglas County, the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners approved the creation of the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council in 2011. One initiative of the Heritage Council was to conduct a county-wide historic resources survey. Because surveying the County in one year was extremely expensive the Council implemented a systematic multi-year survey approach that would focus on one township at a time.
Over seven thousand buildings have been entered into Kansas Historic Resource Inventory (KHRI) over the last decade under the supervision of the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council and with the assistance of SHPO staff.
Mike Marsh, Overland Park, KS – Advocacy Award
Mike has dedicated much of his career to the advancement of historic preservation in Kansas through the establishment of tax credits in support of historic preservation. He was involved in helping to shape Kansas legislation to promote preservation by testifying during the review process for statue #79‐32,211, which started the Kansas
preservation tax credit program. He additionally helped guide the process to create accountability in the review process, effective in 2002. The state historic preservation credit initiative ultimately became a movement to finance the transformation of historic facilities throughout the state of Kansas. Additionally, Mike has served as a speaker at numerous conferences over the years, supporting the advancement of education of the program and use of the credits. His thought leadership has undoubtedly helped inspire and guide preservationist projects across the state.
