City Commission Votes to Add Five Properties to Lawrence Register of Historic Places

leezim.jpg

The City Commission has voted to give preliminary approval to add five properties to the Lawrence Register of Historic Places. The LPA was honored to work on four of the nominations, including the Lee Zimmerman House, pictured. We'll share more about these properties in the coming weeks, but for now, cheers to all those that helped make this happen!
.

Fall 2017 Preservation in Progress Awards

LPA recognizes two older properties where new owners performed whole-house rehabs using a sensitive and sensible touch. Congratulations everyone!

Workshop, Nov. 6: How to Write a Successful National Register Nomination

workshop2.jpg

Amanda Loughlin, National Register Coordinator for the State of Kansas, will hold a workshop at Lawrence Public Library on Monday, Nov. 6 at 1:30 pm on how to write a successful nomination for the National Register. Loughlin will provide insights into how to research and complete the nomination forms.

The workshop may be of interest to those who own historic homes or business buildings or those who have interest in having a church or historic site placed on the state or national register. Buildings on the state or national register may be eligible for state tax credits.

The workshop is free, but advance registration is required. There is limited seating. To register, contact Jan at JShupertArick@Douglas-County.com, or at 785-330-2878, by Oct. 31. More information is available here.

Scenes from the LPA Walking Tour of Historic Haskell Indian Nations University

Stephen Prue, Baron Hoy, LPA President Dennis Brown and Caroline Wiseman.

Stephen Prue, Baron Hoy, LPA President Dennis Brown and Caroline Wiseman.

Many thanks to the more than 60 people who toured Haskell Indian Nations University with us on Sunday, Oct. 1. And special thanks to our excellent tour guides: Stephen Prue, Caroline Wiseman and Baron Hoy, who took us around campus to point out and explain the many historic buildings, beginning with the famous Haskell Stadium arch and including the fantastic Art Deco Haskell Auditorium. Photos from the tour, which preceded the LPA annual membership meeting, are in the gallery below.

Haskell's Historic Hiawatha Hall Gets New Roof

Great news from Haskell Indian Nations University: A new roof has been put on Hiawatha Hall, a big step toward saving and reviving this historic building, the oldest on campus. Please join us on Sunday, Oct. 1, at 1:30 for a walking tour of Haskell, passing by Hiawatha Hall and many other significant buildings, followed by the LPA annual meeting. Details are here.

LPA Annual Meeting to be held Sunday, Oct. 1

The Lawrence Preservation Alliance is excited to announce a mid-autumn afternoon walking tour of the historic Haskell campus as part of our Annual Meeting of membership.

The Annual Meeting will be held Sunday, Oct. 1, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence.

Stephen Prue, Executive Assistant to President Venida Chenault, will be our guide, along with several ambassadors representing student clubs. The tour will include a number of historic buildings, and will also take us inside several of them for special looks at artifacts and works of art. It ends inside the old auditorium, where we will hold a very brief business meeting.

Here are the details:

Arrival: 1:30 pm. Take Barker Avenue south from 23rd Street to the intersection of Indian Avenue. You now know the way to the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum! Please park in their free lot next to the Museum.

Campus Tour: 1:45-2:45 pm. We will gather at the Haskell Arch at the west entrance to Memorial Stadium, and begin the tour from there. The ¾ mile route will allow us to visit twelve historic sites, and end close to where we started, at the old Auditorium just south of the Arch.

Alternative Route: For those not wishing to walk that far, the first seven sites are in very close proximity. Then you can break away from the group; refresh and relax in the Auditorium, one of the most beautiful large rooms in the city. We’ll help you find your way and make you feel at home!

Student Ambassadors: 3:00 pm. Brief remarks from Haskell student leaders who will accompany us on the tour!

Membership Meeting: 3:15 pm. The LPA Board promises fifteen minutes or less…all meetings should be this fast!

LPA Publishes Guide to Owning a Historic Home

The Lawrence Preservation Alliance has published a Guide to Owning a Historic Home in Lawrence. The short guide includes basic information for owners of historic structures in Lawrence. It includes information on historic listings and preservation, information on dealing with Lawrence city officials, and tips for caring for a historic home. The guide is available here and also can be downloaded as a printable PDF.

Study Shows Millennials' Desire to Connect With Historic Places

A new study by the National Trust for Historic Preservation finds that the millennial generation has interests that go far beyond the newest technology, music or clothing. In fact, almost the an overwhelming majority of the millennials have an appreciation for the value of historic preservation. The survey finds millennials tend to value a mix of old and new buildings where they live, dine, shop and travel, and more than a third take a particular interest in activism to preserve historic structures and places. Read more about the survey here.

Karl Gridley, Shelley Hickman Clark, Depot Redux and Diane Stoddard Receive LPA Preservation Achievement Awards

A happy crowd of more than 100 people welcomed 2017 Preservation Achievement Award winners Karl Gridley, Shelley Hickman Clark, and Depot Redux with Diane Stoddard, at the Cider Gallery the evening of May 25. Presentations to the award winners were given by Dr. Dennis Domer, Jody Meyer and Dennis Brown, respectively. Generous in-kind contributions by board members helped LPA to raise $1,000 for our general fund. Is word about to get out that an LPA Awards Event with eats prepared by Jeanette Spencer, David Frayer and friends is the best $30 ticket in town?

Shelley Hickman Clark with her 2017 LPA Preservation Achievement Award.

Shelley Hickman Clark with her 2017 LPA Preservation Achievement Award.

Carey Maynard-Moody of Depot Redux speaks after receiving the lpa preservation award for preserving the lawrence amtrak station..

Carey Maynard-Moody of Depot Redux speaks after receiving the lpa preservation award for preserving the lawrence amtrak station..

2017 LPA Preservation Achievement Award winner Karl Gridley with his broth Mark and mother Marilyn.

2017 LPA Preservation Achievement Award winner Karl Gridley with his broth Mark and mother Marilyn.

LPA President Dennis Brown honors Depot Redux and Lawrence Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard with a 2017 Preservation Achievement Award.

LPA President Dennis Brown honors Depot Redux and Lawrence Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard with a 2017 Preservation Achievement Award.

Assistant city manager diane stoddard accepts the lPa preservation achievement award for her work in helping to preserve the Amtrak depot in Lawrence.

Assistant city manager diane stoddard accepts the lPa preservation achievement award for her work in helping to preserve the Amtrak depot in Lawrence.

Santa Fe Depot Project On Track

Photo by Tom Harper

Photo by Tom Harper

Santa Fe All the Way
The next steps in a $1.7 million rehab of Lawrence's Santa Fe Depot, including funding and construction documents, are in place, and work should begin later this summer. A refurbished Santa Fe station will be perfectly positioned to benefit from either a comeback by personal rail travel, finding its place through some future use as an important civic building, or both.

In a critical step, the City Commission voted on May 2 on a revised plan to take ownership of the depot. That action may have caused everyone who had worked for that day, from volunteers who washed the station’s windows to city officials who worked with huge government and corporate entities, to stop and think “wait, how long did all that take?” In all, it took nine years, but the Santa Fe Depot, an important piece of 1950s-era architecture, is near to the next stop in its history.

Depot Redux has spent those nine years working incrementally to make the building cleaner, safer, and more accommodating to visitors and resident travelers alike. Staging fun and informative events both impromptu and planned, the group shone a light on an important component of our architecture and history that had been allowed to fall into the shadows. Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard was there every step of the way, persevering through complex negotiations among a web of national corporations and government agencies who were stakeholders in the project. The neon "LAWRENCE" signs on both ends of the platform canopy (exact duplicates of the originals), now shine every night.

For their work on the Santa Fe Depot, Depot Redux and Stoddard have been chosen as winners of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance's 2017 Preservation Achievement Award.

The key funding piece was a $1.2 million grant from KDOT. The city match, after the sale of historic tax credits, will be about $160,000. Amtrak will kick in another $200,000 for ADA improvements. Amtrak had previously invested $1.5 million in the loading platform and exterior lighting upgrades several years ago.

Hernly and Associates developed the construction documents, which were also paid for by a grant with the city matching a small percentage of the funds. In fact, every step in this process (certainly one reason it took so long), where the city spent funds to get to this point, a greater amount of funds was leveraged from state or federal sources.