In this issue:
-Varsity house update
-900 New Hampshire
-Register Nomination Project
-Old House Warming at the Baird’s home

Varsity House update
After a year and a half of difficult discussions between the developer, LPA and the Lawrence Historic Resources Commission (HRC), Fritzel Construction Company surprised the city by choosing to relocate the Varsity House at 1043 Indiana by completely dismantling it.  The historic Dutch Colonial structure, built in 1908, was in the way of a massive apartment project and had originally been slated for demolition.  Fritzel then proposed moving the house to the north end of the project, which LPA could not accept.  Hours before a pivotal hearing at City Commission, Commissioner Mike Amyx brokered a compromise to keep the house on the project’s south end by moving it closer to the corner.  It was important historically that the House retain its corner location.

While the method of relocation wasn’t spelled out in the agreement, moving the structure in one piece was assumed.  An out-of-state contractor working for Fritzel convinced him after the agreement was reached, that the best way to proceed was to completely dismantle Varsity House.

Dismantling is accepted by the U.S. Parks Service as a relocation method, but it’s usually done in cases of log or masonry structures that can’t be easily moved in one piece.  Careful removal and cataloging of each building component is necessary to ensure that the structure will be put back together as faithfully as possible.  This form of “moving” a building is rarely done, and if done correctly, is prohibitively expensive.

The applicant did work diligently with staff and the HRC to minimize the impact of the large apartment house project on the Oread National Historic District.  While not acceptable to many preservationists, the final design of the infill portion is light years ahead of the original proposal.  But for the Varsity House, now sitting in pieces in a warehouse, it seems likely that it will come back this spring more replicated than authentic.  Will it still be the Varsity House, or a lesser version of itself, a Junior Varsity House, unable to reflect to occupants and visitors the proud moments of its past?

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900 New Hampshire
The same night the Fritzel group met with the HRC for the last time about the Varsity House, another group led by Doug Compton and Treanor Architects unveiled a mammoth 6 story design for the vacant lot at 9^th and New Hampshire. They told the HRC they were unwilling to make any substantive changes, and essentially asked for a denial from HRC so that they could proceed to the City Commission on appeal. The multi-use proposal, included an extended-stay hotel, apartments, retail, upscale restaurant and a rooftop party pool. It would be built lot line to lot line, except for a drive-through next to the concrete wall on the north side of the Lawrence Arts Center. The east side or back of the building was to be 60 feet tall (same height as Weavers) and built right up to the alley. The 17 foot wide alley is all that would separate this large structure from homes in the residential North Rhode Island National Historic District.

With HRC’s denial in hand, the developers did agree just prior to the City Commission hearing to work with neighbors and the HRC. To date LPA has provided strong testimony at two HRC hearings and one City Commission, and is working with neighborhood leaders as well as Rhode Island residents in an attempt to alter the proposal. So far, the drive-through next to the Arts Center and the use of the alley to channel development traffic has been scuttled, and the bikini-and-heels pool is tucked inside, away from the collective gaze of the kids at the Arts Center. New building renditions headed for HRC on February 16 are expected to be 5 stories on New Hampshire and 3 stories on the alley.

What would downtown neighborhoods be like without the collective hard work of neighborhood organizations, professional planning staff, HRC and LPA regarding in-your-face development designs that meet the letter of the city’s zoning laws about height and mass, but not the spirit of neighborhood/commercial cooperation?

UPDATE: 9th and N.H. project rejected by the Historic Resources Commission. Now it will likely go to City Commission. (LJW article)

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Registration Nomination Project
Aided by a $9,000 grant from the Douglas County National and Cultural Heritage Grant program, LPA has begun a project to conduct historical research and prepare nominations to the National Register of Historic Places for three historic Douglas County properties. LPA is also seeking a consultant to design an educational program with materials that can help explain the importance and benefits of historic register listings.

After seeking partners throughout the county last summer, LPA chose three from requests submitted. These include the 1892 landmark commercial building at 707 Main in downtown Eudora, the B’nai Israel Cemetery, established in 1859 by German Jews on the outskirts of Eudora, and the Robinson Oakridge Farm Barn, owned by the University of Kansas and the only significant structure remaining from Governor Charles Robinson’s farmstead north of Lawrence.

LPA purposely sought properties outside the city of Lawrence, in keeping with the county commissioners’ desire to protect cultural resources countywide. Eudora, which will also benefit from a cultural resources survey that the county is undertaking currently has just one property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

LPA is providing a $500 match to the $500 from each of the three property owners to help fund the project. LPA will act as a project manager and will hire consultants to research and document the history of the three properties, working with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to confirm each property’s eligibility for listing, and if confirmed, complete a written nomination to the register.

Two other county groups who have in the past received support from LPA were also awarded County grants. Black Jack Battlefield Trust won the major grant of $163,000 to rehabilitate the Robert Hall Pearson 1890 farmhouse that sits on the battlefield property. And Vinland Preservation LLC, which has been working to rehabilitate the Vinland Presbyterian Church for almost a decade, received $30,000 to help with the important step of restoring the steeple and the front façade of the building.

These projects are all partially supported by funds from the Douglas County Natural and Cultural Heritage Grant Program.

UPDATE: We just learned that the issue of whether to continue to fund the Douglas County Heritage Grant program and/or de-fund the current year will come up at the County Commissioners meeting next Wednesday (Feb 22) at 6:30. Supporters of the program who can attend and make brief comments on the value of the program are needed. Our current projects mentioned above will be funded.

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Old House Warming at the Baird’s home AND Trettle home
625 Walnut/618 Walnut
Sunday, April 15th, 2-4pm

Historic and Modern meet. The next Old House Warming will be a double tour as the LPA and the Lawrence Modern group collaborate!
625 Walnut (1870 victorian owned by David Baird) and 618 Walnut (2009 modern house owned by architect Scott Trettle).

We will start at 625 Walnut and then move everyone to 618 around 3ish.
Light snacks and refreshments waiting at 618. Enjoy a presentation and tour of two distinct homes across the street from each other.

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Lawrence Preservation is published quarterly by the Lawrence Preservation Alliance. Our mission is to preserve historically significant buildings and natural environments, and to educate the community about the benefits of historic preservation. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions.

In this issue:
-Varsity house update
-2011 LPA Annual Meeting
-Old House Warming at the Michael D. Greenlee House
-In Memoriam Carolyn Bailey Berneking
-Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area

Good news regarding the Varsity House!
Your attendance at the city commission meeting tonight is not required on behalf of Lawrence Preservation Alliance to support the LPA position on the Varsity House. There was a decision made last night by Stan Hernly, Dennis Brown, and Mr. Warner that they feel is agreeable. Therefore, there is no need to make public comment or to show up to support the Varsity House. The house will either remain where it is, or be moved 40′ to the south. It will not be demolished, nor will it be moved to the north as recently proposed. The ARC will get to review the final construction plans prior to the development of the adjacent lots. Thank you to everyone involved in this long battle and thank you to everyone for your support!
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2011 LPA Annual Meeting
The LPA will host their annual meeting at the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Exhibit in the Carnegie Building on Sunday, October 16th, 2pm-3:30pm. Paul Stuewe will speak about some of the people and events from our turbulent territorial history. He will take us around the room, explaining the layout, the texts and photographs.

Paul Stuewe served on the Committee that put together the Heritage Area and this exhibit. He taught history at Lawrence High and at the university level for 36 years, and continues teaching in Kansas City.He has a M.A. in History and a M.A. in Education from KU, served on the Historic Resources Commission, chaired the History Committee of the Lawrence 150th Commission, was President of the Lawrence Schools Foundation and has made many tours and presentations on Lawrence history.

Prior to the presentation by Paul Stuewe, LPA will hold a very short annual business meeting, consisting of a quick overview of our work during the past year, an election of a slate of officers recommended by the board, and election of board members, all of whom have served during the past year.

Light refreshments will be served.
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Old House Warming at the Michael D. Greenlee House
947 Louisiana
Sunday, October 23rd, 2pm-4pm

The Greenlee house at the top of the hill at 10th and Louisiana will be the site of the next Old House Warming sponsored by LPA for its members and guests. Currently it is the home of Candy Davis and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it has many of the distinctive characteristics of turn of the 20th century Queen Anne architecture.

The house was built in 1902-03 by Michael D. Greenlee, a prominent businessman in a local insurance firm and a former County Clerk. Greenlee died in 1904, thus he only lived in the house for one year. After his death various family members lived there or rented it out and from that date to 1984 it was home to any owners or renters, including several faculty members, most notably Raymond Eastwood. In 1984, after years of neglect Duane Schwada bought it to demolish it and build apartments for students. This was the beginning of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance’s active involvement in saving structures from the wrecking ball. With money gathered from those first members, LPA bought the house and was able within weeks to find a buyer, Todd Pederson, who wanted to restore and renovate the tattered building.

Today, with the work of the Pedersons and more recently, the work of Candy Davis, the house stands as a tribute to what careful restoration can do for a seemingly derelict property. Most of the interior trim is original, some windows are original and all the openings are intact, most of the shingles and siding is original, and the unique roof line has not been altered.

Come spend a fall Sunday afternoon with us as we tour the house at 947 Louisiana and learn more Queen Anne architecture and the early days of Lawrence Preservation Alliance.
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In Memoriam Carolyn Bailey Berneking
Carolyn Bailey Berneking died on August 11 of this year. She had been the first recipient of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance Award for Excellence in 2009, which honored Carolyn for her ground breaking work and energy in historic preservation in Lawrence and Douglas County.

Between 1993 and 2005, Carolyn successfully researched and wrote seven nominations to the National or State Historic Registers for properties in Lawrence. For those of you who haven’t done this, it is something like researching and writing a long term paper, but with many meeting, emails, hearings and commission deadlines. To have achieved seven listings of properties in 12 years is amazing. Among the properties are the first two buildings on the University of Kansas’ campus to be listed: Bailey Hall and Strong Hall. Other listings are South Park, Snow House, E.H.S. Bailey House, The Old Post Office, and in Douglas Co. the Black Jack Battlefield site. All this is more astonishing because these preservation activities were begun by Carolyn when she was 78.

Carolyn was born in 1915 in Kansas City, MO. She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. William Bailey and the granddaughter of E.H.S. Bailey, professor of Chemistry and originator of the Rock Chalk Chant. She graduated from KU with a music degree and maintained her interest in music and played piano all her life. She was librarian in various universities and schools around the US, and for 10 years was librarian at Central Jr. High. Her historic preservation career came at the end of a lifetime of work and service.

LPA has received several donations from people wishing to honor Carolyn and her work. The board will direct these and any other contributions in her name to go to the LPA grant fund. The money will go to help others in their work to protect and preserve buildings and green spaces as a part of our Lawrence heritage. Make checks payable to LPA, with “Carolyn Bailey Berneking” in the memo line.
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Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area
The Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, encompassing 31,000 sq. miles in eastern Kansas and western Missouri, was established in 2006 to recognize historic sites, share authentic stories and educate the public about our cultural heritage from pre-territorial times to the present. From the time when Kansas was Indian Territory to the formation of Kansas Territory in 1854 that sparked a bloody border war between two factions with opposing ideologies regarding the institution of slavery, and on to more modern social conflicts, the message of Freedom’s Frontier is that these diverse stories, spanning more than two centuries are interwoven and have national significance.

The effort to create Freedom’s Frontier, one of 49 heritage areas in the US, took over 15 years of work by community leaders from all 41 participating counties. In Lawrence, federal Judge Deanell Tacha, Judy Billings of the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau, and city commissioner David Dunfield with the help of many other were instrumental in completing this significant task. Douglas Co. and the city of Lawrence supported the project with important financial help.

After the city of Lawrence rehabilitated the historic Carnegie Library building, it became the home to the main exhibit for Freedom’s Frontier and office of the coordinator, Destination Management Inc.

Learn more about Freedom’s Frontier at their website

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Lawrence Preservation is published quarterly by the Lawrence Preservation Alliance. Our mission is to preserve historically significant buildings and natural environments, and to educate the community about the benefits of historic preservation. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions.

In this issue:
-LPA Seeks Properties eligible for listing on the State or National Registers
-Fuller House at 1005 Sunset & Lane-Duncan Stable
-Kansas Historic Preservation Conference: June 1-3, 2011

 

Attention County Residents, LPA Seeks Properties eligible for listing on the State or National Registers
LPA is seeking historic structures and sites in Douglas County, but outside Lawrence city limits, for inclusion in a nomination project to the State or National Registers of Historic Places. LPA will accept up to five separate sites for the project, and is hoping to find compelling sites spread throughout the county.

Once the sites are chosen, LPA plans to submit a grant application for Douglas County Natural and Cultural Heritage funds to complete the project. For each site chosen LPA will donate $500 towards the nomination process, and will require each partnering owner to also provide $500. Researching and writing individual nominations to the National Register of Historic Places typically costs about $3,000.

Benefits of listing on the State or National registers are substantial and include eligibility for grants and tax credits for qualified work. Interested owners of historic properties need to contact LPA by June 15, 2011 and include your contact information, a description of the property, its historical significance and pictures, if you have them.

LPA will evaluate the responses, select the properties to be included in the project and apply for the grant in late August. If our grant is approved, LPA will act as project manager to contract for and oversee the research and writing of the nominations.

So come on, Douglas County residents! If you own an historic property and you’ve always wondered about listing it, it’s never been easier or more economical to do so. Email us through or Write us at P.O. Box 1073, Lawrence, KS 66044 or. We want to hear from you.

Fuller House at 1005 Sunset & Lane-Duncan Stable
One of the earliest built structures in Lawrence was accepted onto the Kansas State Register of Historic Places in February 2011. And a substantial outbuilding a short distance east has been documented and awaits nomination later this year.

The Fuller House, 1005 Sunset, is a wood frame National Folk style residence built in 1864 on an 80 acre parcel that was a full mile west of the Lawrence city limits. Set back on what is now a double lot and framed by large native cedars, this structure could be a surprise to many who think that they’ve seen all the city’s historic structures.

Ferdinand Fuller arrived in the first party of the New England Emigrant Aid Society in August 1854. As the first architect in the state, and credited with coining the term “Mount Oread”, he designed North College, the first building at KU, the Free State Hotel, burned by bushwhackers in 1856, and Round Corner Drugstore. Steven Scannell, Assistant Director of Design and Construction Management at KU, who now lives in the Fuller house with his wife Lynn, prepared the extensive nomination.

Slightly down the hill, on KU grounds, is a building that most locals remember as the student radio station KJHK. It was built possibly as early at 1861 as a stable on Senator Jim Lane’s property. Shelley Hickman-Clark, an Associate Professor at KU and a previous LPA board member, prepared the nomination for the Lane-Duncan stable at the request of professor Frank Baron of the Max Kade Center for Germanic-American studies. The stable, unusual for its native stone construction, went from Lane to the Duncan family and later was sold to Dr. Mervin Sudler, who built a house next to it in 1927 and converted the stable into a garage. Sudler was a professor of surgery and anatomy, and in the early 1920s was Dean of the University of Kansas Medical School. The State Sites Review Board will take up the nomination after KU completes the environs definition of the stable, and the nomination and environs definition passes review by the Campus Historic Preservation Office. KU’s future plans for the structure include a rehab for office and meeting space.

Kansas Historic Preservation Conference recap: LPA takes home award
We hope you joined us at the annual Kansas Historic Preservation conference June 1–June 3 at the Kansas Historical Society facility in nearby Topeka.

On June 1st, three free pre-conference sessions explored how to identify and document historic properties in your community, steps to getting a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places and funding for preservation with information about grants and tax incentives to owners of listed properties.

Then on Thursday and Friday workshops and discussion groups explored the themes of the conference: Kansas vernacular architecture and practical rehab techniques for working with historic properties. Among the presenters were the following Lawrence presevationists: Dennis Domer spoke on “Kansas Territory: An Architectural Review”. Dennis Brown discussed LPA’s recent collaboration with Tenants to Homeowners in restoring 1120 Rhode Island. Mike Goans and Dennis Brown demonstrated how to restore wood windows, Judy Billings and others talked about how to market historic properties to the tourism trade.

Kansas Preservation Alliance (KPA) held a reception and Awards ceremony on Thursday at the Florentine Room of Jayhawk Towers. Of the eight awards, four went to Lawrence projects and people:
Honor Award for Rehabilitation to the Lawrence Preservation Alliance–1120 Rhode Island
Preservation Stewardship Award to St. Luke AME Church–St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church
Medallion Award for Rehabilitation to the City of Lawrence–Carnegie Library
Preservation Advocacy Award to Judy Billings
Go to the Kansas Preservation Alliance website for more info about the awards.

In this issue:
-Annual LPA awards event
-Douglas County Commission approves Heritage Conservation Fund
-New LPA greeting cards
-Old House Warming
-New Executive Director of Douglas County Historical Society

Annual LPA Awards Event — save the date
Castle Tea Room — 1307 Massachusetts St.
Wednesday, May 4, 7-9pm
Save the date so that you will be able to join us to celebrate at the Castle Tea Room. Tickets are $25 per person. Enjoy Hors D’oeuvres, drinks and live entertainment by local band Cathy Hunt and the Jump House Band!
This years recipients are Katie and Ken Armitage as well as The Black Jack Battlefield Trust. Come celebrate our past and our future! Invitations will be mailed to you in April, or you can register online! More information here.

Douglas County Commission approves Heritage Conservation Fund
The Douglas County Commission has approved $350,000 in their 2011 budget to help fund the conservation of the county’s natural and built historic resources. An additional $350,000 was approved for economic development. This innovative proposal was championed by Commissioner Nancy Thellman and supported by Commissioner Mike Gaughan. While Commissioner Jim Flory agreed with the proposal’s goals, he objected to the funding mechanism, preferring instead to seek a locally approved sales tax. The funding is in place for 2011 only, but the hope is that heritage conservation will receive continued funding in the future.

The commission appointed a Natural and Cultural Heritage Task Force to present a report, due in March, detailing what steps the commission should take and what criteria should be used to grant funding to projects. The preliminary report suggest funding for a mixture of projects, including historic structures, natural areas, heritage farms, Freedom’s Frontier themes and pre-settlement history. On or two major project each year would receive the bulk of the funding, with project having matching resources and encompassing more than one goal (a heritage farm, for instance could include historic structures and natural areas) would receive priority in evaluating proposals.

A major goal for this year is for the county to work with the Kansas State Preservation office (SHPO), to establish a county preservation ordinance that creates a Certified Local Government (CLG), and a Heritage Conservation Council. There are currently 15 CLG communities in Kansas, including the city of Lawrence. CLG communities are eligible to access federal funds set aside annually by the SHPO, usually for historic survey work.

This would allow the county to obtain grant funding to conduct a county-wide inventory of our heritage resources, a goal strongly supported by LPA. To date there have been piecemeal surveys done, primarily in Lawrence, but by no means complete, up to date, or all in one place. This is a crucial database to collect before project dollars are allocated.

The Heritage Conservation Council, proposed to have seven members, could be appointed by late May. The Council will administer the grant application process and forward their funding recommendations to the County Commission. For 2011, applications for funding are proposed to be accepted between August 1 and October 31.

This landmark initiative by the Douglas County Commission is a major step forward in understanding and protecting our historic cultural resources, in the year that we commemorate 150 years of Kansas statehood and celebrate the official formation of the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area.

New LPA greeting cards
The LPA has printed fine greeting cards with ten beautiful color photographs of architectural details such as windows, doors, porches and ceilings in historic old houses of Lawrence. These will be for sale for $3.50 each at the various events sponsored by LPA. Pick some up and send a “hello” to someone the old fashioned way!

Old House Warming
Bishop Vail House — 505 Ohio
Sunday, April 10, 2-4pm
The Vail House, one of the first large residential structures built in Lawrence after Quantrill’s raid, will be the site of LPA’s next Old House Warming. It is now the home of Katie Armitage, a local historian and author of the recent book Survivors of Quantrill’s Raid, and her husband Ken Armitage. The house was built in 1866-67 by W.O.K. Cone, a military attorney, and from 1868-1890, it was owned by Thomas Vail, the first Episcopal Bishop of Kansas. (Survivors of Quantrill’s Raid can be purchased at the Watkins Museum Gift Shop, the Raven, and other local bookstores.)

This beautiful Italianate with a five-sided bay window facing south and a wraparound porch on the east and south sides is a contributing property to the Pinckney 1 National Historic district.

Come spend a spring Sunday afternoon with us as we tour the house and learn more about this outstanding Lawrence property and about 19th century Lawrence history.

Steve Nowak is the new Executive Director of Douglas County Historical Society and Watkins Museum
On Feb 28, 2011, Douglas County will have a new Executive Director of the Historical Society and the Watkins Museum. Steve Nowak comes to Lawrence from the Toledo Museum of Art, where for 22 years he served in a variety of roles, most recently as the director of education and community outreach and a curatorial consultant in decorative arts. He was a member of that museum’s senior management team and oversaw school tours, teacher resources, art classes, public programs and outreach programs. The Douglas County Historical Society hopes Mr. Nowak will help to put renewed focus on the “important struggles for freedom that have been an ongoing part of local history” and to strengthen their relationship with the newly formed Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area.

You are invited to meet him at a reception at the Watkins Museum, on Sunday March 6, 1pm-3pm.

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Lawrence Preservation is published quarterly by the Lawrence Preservation Alliance. Our mission is to preserve historically significant buildings and natural environments, and to educate the community about the benefits of historic preservation. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions.

In this issue:
-Annual Meeting for LPA
-Election of LPA Board members
-Old West Lawrence survey
-Old House Warming
-Varsity House at 1043 Indiana

Annual Meeting for LPA
Ecumenical Christian Ministry building — 1204 Oread
Sunday, September 26th, 1:30pm-3:30pm
We hope you will join us to celebrate another strong year for the Lawrence Preservation Alliance at our annual meeting to be held at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries (ECM) building, on the north end of Jayhawk Blvd, near campus. The building is a terrific example of modernism architecture in Lawrence and is on the National Register of Historic Places. ECM is also in the midst of a capital campaign to support building rehabilitation. The LPA board recently approved a $250 donation to the campaign.

To highlight various aspects of Lawrence Modernism, Professor Dennis Domer will give a talk about this building and the stylistic elements that make it such a strong example of the modernist style prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s. Rev. Thad Holcombe, the leader at ECM will also talk about the building and the programs sponsored by ECM. Tours of the building will follow the talks and then we will hold a brief annual meeting for election of LPA board members at 3pm.

Election of LPA Board members
The LPA board will recommend a slate of board members for approval by the general membership at the annual meeting on September 26. Current board members seeking another term are Kate Dinneen, Dale Slusser, Rev. Verdell Taylor, Jr. and Carol von Tersch. Weston Norwood, currently working overseas, has resigned his term. Nicole Sabatini, having served six great years, is also leaving us. The board is recommending four new members: Josh Davis, Joni Hernly, Anne Marvin, and Chris Millspaugh. Josh is a construction administrator for Treanor architects, Joni works with her husband Stan at Hernly associates, an architecture and environmental consulting firm. Anne works with KU Continuing Education and has just finished a long term on the Lawrence Historic Resources Commission. Chris is art director at the KU Endowment Association and also serves on the board of the Kansas Fiddler and Picking Championships.

Old West Lawrence survey
A new historic architectural survey of Old West Lawrence under the guidance of Professor Dennis Domer, LPA emeritus board member, will get underway in mid September. Student workers will re-survey all the homes in the blocks of OWL between 6th and 9th Streets and Kentucky and Michigan. The survey will include photographs, interior floor plans, and archival information about past ownership and date of construction for each house. The results will have a depth of detail previously not available, and for the western portion for the neighborhood will be documented for the first time.

Professor Domer and students are just now finishing a survey of East Lawrence, which documents most of the buildings in that neighborhood and many of the people who lived there over the past 150 years. The information about the area is and will continue to be invaluable for historians, planners and descendants of residents of this area.

Old House Warming
The Miller House — 1111 East 19th St.
Sunday, October 17th, 2pm-4pm
Join us to tour the Miller House (now the home of Dennis and Judy Dailey) that was built and occupied in 1858 and is the only residence in Lawrence associated with both the Underground Railroad and Quantrill’s Raid.

Robert and Susan Miller came to Lawrence from South Carolina in 1858. Their son, Josiah Miller had been in Lawrence since 1854 as a newspaper man and political activist. Both father and son were strong advocates of early efforts to have Kansas join the Union as a free state. Their house was involved in Underground Railroad activities and they hired free black people to work on their farm. On August 21,1863, Quantrill and his men stopped at the Miller home prior to the raid and talked with the Margaret, the Miller’s daughter. Apparently Quantrill had stayed briefly at the Miller home and possibly the reason their house and family were not harmed.

The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the early 1980s and in 2005-06 major restoration work was done on the house. A short talk about the history and architecture of this important place will take place at 2:45pm.

A tour of the house and the grounds will follow at 3pm.

Varsity House at 1043 Indiana
The Dutch Colonial Revival style house at 1043 Indiana has a long and distinguished history connected to both the city and especially to KU. Unfortunately in the last few years it has fallen on hard times and a year ago was sold at auction to developer Thomas Fritzel.

Mr. Fritzel has filed an application to demolish the house, apparently to clear the way for a massive infill project for most of 1000 block of Indiana. At press time an actual site plan has not been filed, though it is believed to consist of high-density rental housing with underground parking.

Varsity House is in the environs of the Hancock and the Oread Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places. Both the demolition request and the proposed development must be reviewed by the Lawrence Historic Resources Commission to determine if either action would damage the historic districts. The applicant can appeal an unfavorable ruling to the City Commission to determine if there is no feasible alternative to demolition.

Varsity House was built in 1908 by Constant Construction Co. The house’s designer is uncertain, though it is probably either William Alexander Griffith or Harriet Tanner an early designer and builder in Lawrence, and the mother of Edward Tanner, the chief architect of the classic Country Club Plaza in Kansas City MO. More research remains to be done to verify the designer.

It was built for Professor William Christian Hoad, a distinguished professor of Civil Engineering, whose pupil and a renter at 1043 Indiana was Tom Veatch, founder of Black and Veatch. And in later years, it housed various living groups and departments at KU, most notably as a residence hall for football players during the 1950s, called Jock’s Niche. (see KUHistory.com).

Architect Stan Hernly, who is compiling an architectural survey of the stadium area for the city, toured the property with three LPA representatives. The house is in good condition and restorable and likely eligible for state and federal tax credits. LPA believes that a renovated Varsity House would be a desirable signature element in any infill plans for that block.

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Lawrence Preservation is published quarterly by the Lawrence Preservation Alliance. Our mission is to preserve historically significant buildings and natural environments, and to educate the community about the benefits of historic preservation. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions.