LPA Announces Spring Preservation in Progress Awards

For our spring Preservation in Progress awards, LPA recognizes a mixed-use rehabilitation project in North Lawrence, an urban barn rehabilitation near the river in Pinckney and a whole-house rehabilitation in Old West Lawrence.

401 Elm Street

A key commercial corner property in North Lawrence is benefiting from a rehabilitation project begun early this year. 401 Elm, a stucco-clad 25x50-foot two-story structure with snazzy decorative window drip caps and masonry corbeling along the front-facing roofline, was built around 1870 as a broom factory. From 1920 until 1960 it was Wiley’s Grocery, then became shop space for several service industries before finally, in the past few years, facing an uncertain future. 

As the building’s use changed over time, owners didn’t destroy what they had already built; they simply reinforced what was already there and added on so that the structure retained its character. By the mid-1900s, the second floor had been converted to residential use, and a one-story shop extension added on the north side.

This mixed-use project, led by some of the same folks who received a February 2019 PIP for another mixed-use project at 1101 Massachusetts Street, will offer an open-floor commercial space at street level, with renovated residential space upstairs. 

The project has provided welcome winter work for Lawrence tradespeople. An extensively damaged roof was replaced and the living spaces have been updated for energy efficiency and increased natural light. Numerous previous repairs and alterations that did not meet today’s building codes were systematically and painstakingly addressed. 

While maintaining the longtime building footprint, massing, facade and materials, the structure will also retain its commercial/residential use in this traditionally working-class area. Close to other similar historic properties a block north, 401 Elm can now continue as a strong contributor to the neighborhood. LPA salutes all who are combining their talents to preserve this historic piece of North Lawrence’s past.

424 Indiana Street

A turn-of-the-century urban barn within easy walking distance of City Hall has a new lease on life thanks to a local couple who have experience with previous building rescues. The barn sits just behind an old farmhouse at 424 Indiana, purchased in December 2019 by Summer and Nate Wedermyer. It is one of four contiguous long-vacant properties there, and the most historic. The house at 432 Indiana is to be demolished by its new owner, and the outcomes for 420 and 418 Indiana are unsettled at this time. Summer and Nate were able to purchase 424 from longtime owner Marguerite Risley after assuring her that they would save the house. 

As they evaluated the property, saving the barn was not such an obvious choice. There was a gaping hole in the roof, the bottom sill plate and lower ends of the wall studs were toast, and a decision the Risleys had made in the mid-70s to bump out a lean-to addition on the west wall to accommodate a vehicle had severely compromised the building’s load-bearing capacity. The Wedermyers considered removing the damaged north end and rehabbing the rest, but after spending time removing debris and understanding the issues, they decided they could rehab the whole building, minus the lean-to.

The new roof and wall framing is now complete, and they are awaiting installation of a galvanized metal roof similar to those used on shop buildings back in the day. At floor level, getting to the damaged framing members involved removing several layers of flooring, including a concrete layer installed over a wooden layer. Once that removal was done, they poured a new concrete floor and installed a new bottom sill plate. They were able to jack up the slumping frame to straighten it (some parts of the structure were as much as 5-6 inches out of level), and cripple new studs to the existing balloon frame structure to complete the repair.

When work on the barn is complete, it will be used as shop and storage space as work shifts to the house, which is in horrible shape inside. Once the entire project is completed, the barn will be used as professional shop space and storage.

Saving the structures of this old farmstead (there is one more small utility structure on the property with a unique story to tell), will be an amazing accomplishment and a great benefit to the historic integrity of the neighborhood. This will be the second PIP award given to Summer and Nate (646 Rhode Island in March 2013), and the first barn rehab ever to receive a PIP.

637 Indiana Street

J-D and Molly Boyle are no strangers to big projects. Having renovated homes in Mission Hills and Fairway, they set their sights on Lawrence to be closer to family and to raise their three children, Ainsley, Everett and Thayer. They landed at the home at 637 Indiana Street, a contributing property to the Old West Lawrence Historic District, seeking to transform a longstanding duplex back to single-family use.

Built in 1908, the two-story Colonial Revival home features a gambrel with cross gable roof and plenty of historic charm. The home originally was constructed by the Wilder Brothers, who owned 643 Indiana (J.F. Wilder House) next door, as a home for their father, Frank Wilder. The Wilders were proprietors of the historic Wilder Brothers Shirt Factory, located at 612 New Hampshire Street (later the Reuter Organ factory). The house was converted into a duplex rental around 1960, with the addition of back entrances and another internal staircase, and had retained that legal non-conforming use prior to the Boyles’ purchase.

The Boyles opted to pursue a historic rehabilitation of the original home, relocating the internal stairwell to a location consistent with historic floor plans for the house type. Working with the local Historic Resource Commission and the Kansas State Historical Society as a state tax credit project, the Boyles began the process of peeling back several decades of deferred maintenance and rental-use related improvements.  

Local contractor Chris Cabanas of Form and Function Home Remodeling was an ideal fit for the general contractor role. Under his stewardship, the construction team has restored more than 20 original counterweighted windows, uncovered and refinished original wood floors, and balanced the house with additional structural bracing throughout. Perhaps most importantly, the project restores the single-family use and floorplan.

This preservation achievement is hard to overstate. Congratulations to the Boyle family on breathing life back into a key contributing property in Old West Lawrence.