2022 KPA Awards Projects
Each year the Kansas Preservation Alliance, Inc. recognizes exemplary efforts in historic preservation across the state of Kansas. The 2022 Awards for Excellence were presented at the Kansas State Capitol Building, in the Old Supreme Courtroom, where the following projects received awards.
Limerick Building, Alma (Wabaunsee County) – Honor Award
The Limerick Building was constructed in 1890 and housed the Bank of Alma that J. F. Limerick owned with his brother, G.W. Limerick of Wamego. The building was also known as the Limerick and Crafts block, as druggist, Fred Crafts, joined the building venture and operated his drug store in the south building in the structure. The Limerick brothers also owned a land office, insurance business, a brokerage business, and a coal mining enterprise. The bank would fail and close on November 9, 1890. Although Limerick would leave town after the bank failure, the Limerick block is one of Alma's prominent stone landmarks. In 2009, the building housed Alma's City Hall, the Alma Antique Mall, and the Alma Post Office.
Exterior rehabilitation had been completed by a former owner. The 2021 project involved rehabilitation of the second floor, converting the existing unused space to seven apartments leaving the northwest corner flexible for office and co-working space. Access to the upper-floor apartments utilized an existing street entrance on the north and developed a small rear lobby utilizing the original wood staircase from the first floor.
With its most recent use as a hatchery, features from the original second-floor offices had long been removed; however, the apartment project utilized a number of historic doors found in the building and retained all extant historic finishes and features including plaster walls, wood trim, and the historic wood staircase. The apartments take full advantage of the natural light from perimeter windows and the volume of the space with tall ceilings and offer a variety of plan configurations designed for the building’s configuration and windows.
Wellsville Bank Building, Wellsville (Franklin County) – Merit Award
The Wellsville Bank Building is a two-part commercial block with a single-story west addition. The original portion is a simple two-story brick building whose main ornamentation is its applied, pressed metal, High Victorian Gothic entablature on the primary façade. It is one of a few remaining commercial structures built in Wellsville in the 1880s and it served as a bank until 1902. It subsequently housed various businesses including insurance, real estate, and newspaper offices, and produce, seed, and feed stores.
The Wellsville Historical Society purchased the Wellsville Bank Building in 2013. Since then, two Heritage Trust Fund grants have been completed, three tax credit projects have been completed, and the building has become the Wellsville Historical Society Museum. Rehabilitation work has included: pointing of all exterior brick masonry, all new roofing, restructuring of the roof by sistering with new light-gage metal joists, restructuring of the 2nd story floor by sistering with new LVL wood joists, installation of a new 1st story concrete floor with wood-sleepers and hardwood flooring. There has also been rehabilitation of the cast-iron threshold across the entire 1st story storefront, rehabilitation of the 1st story beaded-board ceiling, rehabilitation/reconstruction of 2nd story wood windows, conversion of the rear single-story addition into office and storage space, and installation of new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems.
Zimmerman Steel Building, Lawrence (Douglas County) – Merit Award
Zimmerman Steel was built as an industrial manufacturing business for fabrication and sales of structural steel and architectural metal components for the building construction industry. It is comprised of a steel fabrication shop (1959) with an attached one-story office addition on the north end (1963). The steel fabrication shop is an industrial and utilitarian style rigid-frame steel building and the office addition is a mid-century modern style. Lee Zimmerman operated his family’s steel fabrication business out of this facility from 1959 to 2013 when the company was liquidated.
In 2020 Banks Street LLC (whose members are also part of MarLan Construction) purchased the Zimmerman Steel Building, and in 2021 they completed its rehabilitation, turning it into their company headquarters. Rehabilitation work included careful rearrangement of the office area to provide larger private offices while maintaining the spatial effect created by the folded-plate structural-steel roof deck exposed to the interior. It also included expanding new office space into the fabrication shop area without detracting from the interior volume of the production area of the building. Specific rehabilitation items included: installing thicker roof insulation at the office and tapering it close to the roof edges so the original aluminum fascia is retained, adding interior storm windows to the aluminum storefront windows, replacing the insulated panels in the storefront windows with new insulated panels, installing new epoxy flooring in the main office entry area that matches the original epoxy flooring in that area, and rehabilitation of original light fixtures on the front of the building.
Leavenworth Local Hotel, Leavenworth (Leavenworth County) – Merit Award
The historic Immaculata High School was originally constructed in 1922. From 1923-2017, the Sisters of Charity provided instructions to students, until they had to officially close their doors due to continuing enrollment problems and rising tuition costs. After the building sat vacant for a number of years, slowly deteriorating, Exact Partners announced they would be opening the Leavenworth Local Hotel.
Leavenworth Local is located in the heart of the Leavenworth Downtown Historic District. The historic renovation brought life to a blighted site and activates the downtown commercial district with increased flow of people and visitors. There are several past pieces still displayed for all to see. Guests can book a converted classroom, with the original chalkboards, for a night or an extended stay. They can host a conference or a large group gathering in the fully functional theater. The hotel also boasts the ability for guests to use the gymnasium for social work time and the use of the pickleball court.
Community House, Manhattan (Riley County) – Merit Award
The Manhattan Community House was built by Mont Green from H.B. Winter’s 1917 plans. It was the first permanently constructed community house in the United States, built to serve the soldiers during the war and the community afterward. A plaque on the building is inscribed, “1917 Manhattan Camp Funston-Community Building-A Tribute from the Citizens of Manhattan and the Rotarians of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma-To Our Soldiers He profits most who serves best” (Camp Funston is the name of the WWI camp at neighboring Fort Riley). The building was federally owned until after World War I. The city owned it between the war years. During World War II, the federal government purchased the building from the city and used it as a USO building.
A variety of clubs and organizations have used the building for meetings throughout the years. The City implemented a renovation project in 1987 (Brent Bowman and Associates) the converted it to a community rec center. Sold to private developers in 2019, the building now houses offices on the lower level, apartments in former offices and craft rooms as well as the formerly enclosed stage, and Turbine Training Center, a flight training company occupies the gymnasium.
Today the building closely resembles its original appearance with new windows matching the historic style and no significant exterior modifications. The architect’s design focused on retention of key character-defining features including the front entrance and main stair, and basement fireplace. Existing offices and craft rooms were developed as new apartments, flanking the main/front stair. Additionally, the stage and backstage area that had formerly been enclosed and used as an activity room, was converted to a two-story apartment. Basement offices are centered around a shared central space with the original fireplace. The open gymnasium presented the biggest challenge but owners secured a new tenant that could use the entire space with minimal enclosures needed. Glass walls were used to create a two-story office pod in front of the enclosed stage and flight simulators were located on the open gymnasium floor.
Kelly Gourley, Lincoln, KS – Advocacy Award
Kelly Gourley has a Bachelor of Interior Architecture from Kansas State University. In her career, she has been active in the preservation of downtowns including stints with the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office as a Design Specialist for the Michigan Main Street Program. After moving back to Kansas, Kelly has been active in preserving Lincoln's historic buildings, including obtaining programming and funding for the downtown area. She served on the Kansas Preservation Alliance Board for many years and has given multiple presentations throughout the State on the importance of historic preservation. She currently is the Executive Director of The Lincoln County Economic Development Foundation, a rural economic development non-profit helping businesses and communities grow. The LCEDF collaborates with local governments, community organizations, and volunteers on important issues such as improving housing opportunities, developing travel and tourism into the county, and attracting and retaining youth to the county.