Join the Lawrence Preservation Alliance as we host “After La Yarda”, a historic walking tour of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Streets with our guide, Brenna Buchanan.
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On Sunday, May 1, Lawrence Modern and Lawrence Preservation Alliance will join forces to celebrate the awesome rehabilitation-- and successful nomination to the National Register of Historic Places-- of the iconic Zimmerman Steel Building at 701 E. 19th Street by new owner Mar Lan Construction.
In 1959 Lee Zimmerman, a leading Lawrence figure in the midcentury-modern movement, designed the shop space that is now the back portion of the building—with his company fabricating the steel frame—as he moved his business from its previous location at 1832 Massachusetts Street. In 1963 he added the classic modern-style office portion in front. Zimmerman built his home at 200 Nebraska in the same style, and his company over the next several decades also supplied steel and fabricated components for most of the midcentury-modern residential, commercial and institutional building projects in Lawrence, the University of Kansas campus and other locations throughout the eastern part of the state.
You know it’s going to be a great party whenever LPA and Lawrence Modern get together to celebrate! Make plans to stop by, say hello and join in the festivities.
LPA has launchd a directory of craftspeople with expertise in preservation who work on historic properties in the Lawrence and Douglas County area.
This listing is provided as a courtesy to local contractors and potential customers, but companies and individuals listed in the directory are NOT endorsed or vetted by LPA If the business provides financial support to LPA through annual membership, it is indicated on their listing.
Before hiring a contractor, LPA highly recommends that interested customers::
1) Request and check references, including references from individuals currently working with these craftspeople.
2) Check the contractor’s city license status. To check for license status, see: https://lawrenceks.org/pds/contractor-license-search/ Contractors who are required to hold a city license include general, building and residential contractors, framing, concrete, roofing, mechanical (HVAC), plumbing, electrical, fireplace and energy conservation inspectors and companies. (For more information on licensing requirements, see https://assets.lawrenceks.org/pds/devservices/bsd/licensing/pds-bsd-Art-15-9634.pdf) Some craftspeople are not required to hold a license, including those working as a painter, tile setter or “handyperson.” If you are not certain if a license is needed, call the City of Lawrence: (785) 832-7700.
3) Ask for proof of insurance.
Again, the LPA Contractor Directory is provided as a courtesy to local contractors and potential customers. Companies and individuals listed in the directory are NOT endorsed or vetted by LPA
If you are a local contractor who works on historic properties and would like to be listed in this directory, click here.
Courtesy Jamee Fiore--KSHS
The John Kelly Stone Building at 777 N 1750 Rd. has been approved for listing on the Register of Historic Kansas Places (KHRI #045-4566). Nominated for its association with the early settlement of Douglas County, this agricultural building—with an attached wood-frame addition creating an “ell” on its west side—has characteristics of the longhouse style. It sits on a historic farmstead that also is recognized for historic Oregon-California trail ruts on the property.
The structure was in serious disrepair, with some walls caved in, when owner Gary Price began a reconstruction project in 2013. He collected and organized the fallen stones, searched for artifacts, and stabilized the walls that were still intact. Along with carpentry work, the project required the services of an expert stonemason. Karl Ramberg of Lawrence, working in phases over several years, was able to replace the fallen walls stone by stone using historically compatible mortar. “It was interesting to me,” Ramberg says, “because Gary didn’t have any particular use for the building. He just wanted to see it restored.”
This is an excellent example of a rural property owner recognizing a site with territorial significance and restoring it as a labor of love for future generations. Congratulations to the Price family for this historic listing and a job well done.
The splendor of stained glass is returning to St. Luke AME Church this week.
WORKERS REINSTALLING THE STAINED-GLASS WINDOW IN ST. LUKE’S WEST WALL.
After more than a year of restoration work, Hoefer Custom Stained Glass of Hutchinson is reinstalling the large stained-glass windows on the north and west sides of the historic structure on the corner of 9th and New York streets.
The restoration was made possible in part by a fundraising drive by Lawrence Preservation Alliance that raised more than $43,000 in membership dues and donations to pay for the work on the church, which also included restoring its brick walls and other details. The effort was spearheaded by a $10,000 challenge grant by Jeff and Mary Weinberg and was combined with a $90,000 Kansas Heritage Trust Fund grant and a $87,750 in grants from the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council to repair years of deterioration of the building.
SCOTT HOEFER OF HOEFER CUSTOM STAINED GLASS TALKS WITH ST. LUKE AME TRUSTEE EUGENE HUNTER OUTSIDE THE CHURCH AS THE WINDOWS ARE INSTALLED.
In addition, a recently announced $25,000 no-interest loan from LPA and $15,000 in donations from the Weinbergs and the Shelley Miller Trust will cover the cost of completing restoration work on the building’s two west towers. That work is now underway.
The restored stained-glass windows, which are nearly 20 feet tall and more than a century old, will be installed this week by Hoefer. The project was overseen by Hernly and Associates, the architecture firm that wrote the grant applications for the building’s restoration.
St. Luke AME was built in 1910 and has been in continuous use by a predominantly Black congregation since. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the Kansas and Lawrence historic registers. St. Luke AME has long been associated with the struggle for racial equality in Lawrence and is one of the few remaining Lawrence buildings with documented ties to the celebrated writer Langston Hughes. Since 1991, when the possibility of historic listing for the structure was first discussed, LPA has been supportive of St. Luke AME as a cultural site that needs to be preserved.
DUSTIN FROM HOEFER CUSTOM STAINED GLASS HOLDS A PANEL READY TO REINSTALL.
Great news: Funding for the ambitious and extensive St. Luke AME Church preservation project is now complete, thanks to additional money from three funding sources that have helped from the beginning of the brick and window rehabilitation work on the historic structure.
Work on the windows and wood louver openings on the two west towers will now be completed, thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Shelley Miller Trust and a $5,000 donation from Jeff and Mary Weinberg. A six-month no-interest loan of $25,000 from Lawrence Preservation Alliance will pay final construction bills while state rehabilitation tax credits that have been accrued during the project are awarded and then sold to repay the loan.
Last year, $43,000 raised by LPA members—spearheaded by a $10,000 challenge grant by the Weinbergs—was combined with a $90,000 Kansas Heritage Trust Fund grant and a $57,750 grant from the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council to repair and repoint the brick walls on the north, south and east sides of the church, as well as restore the two large stained- glass windows. But once that admittedly huge step was done, a significant amount of work on both west towers remained with no money to fund it.
The stained-glass Windows are in the process of being restored at Hoefer’s Custom Stained Glass in Hutchinson.
This spring, the Heritage Conservation Council provided a second grant of $30,000 to repair the brick on the south tower. Some contingency funding was left over, and GKW Restoration Group, the Kansas City masonry contractor, lowered its cost so that the brick work could include the north tower while the job setup was still in place. That left only the tower windows and louver openings—some in very poor condition—to fund so the project could be completed.
The masons have completed their work and left the site. Now all that remains is to finish the window and louver work on the towers and reinstall the stained-glass windows that are currently in the shop of Hoefer’s Custom Stained Glass in Hutchison.
The project had a modest beginning in 2019 when Hernly and Associates, the architecture firm that wrote all the grant applications and has been generous with its throughout, designed an accessibility improvement project for the basement entry on the church’s north side. That achieved cost savings by coordinating with city improvements to 9th Street that were occurring at the same time. To help fund that work, LPA provided a $2,500 grant and the Shelley Miller Trust provided $5,000. From that point on, a partnership of granting agencies, preservationists and the St. Luke congregation has been able to keep the ball rolling to get the job done.
The stained-glass Windows are in the process of being restored at Hoefer’s Custom Stained Glass in Hutchinson.
St. Luke AME, built in 1910 and in continuous use by a predominantly Black congregation since, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the Kansas and Lawrence historic registers. St. Luke AME has long been associated with the struggle for racial equality in Lawrence and is one of the few remaining Lawrence buildings with documented ties to the celebrated writer Langston Hughes. Since 1991, when the possibility of historic listing for the structure was first discussed, LPA has been supportive of St. Luke AME as a cultural site that needs to be preserved.
Once these final tasks on the windows, louvers and stained glass are complete, everyone who has participated in this great project over the years can take satisfaction in knowing that this historic community structure is now in the best shape it’s been in since at least the 1960s.
LPA will be having an Old Housewarming members-only event at the Dudley Wiggins House, 840 W. 21st Street, on Sunday, Oct. 31.
Please come help us congratulate Randy and Wanda Breeden in caring for this handsome brick farmhouse in the Centennial neighborhood. Built in the mid-1860s and listed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places, it has been beautifully rehabbed by the Breedens, who just recently completed a sale of the property.
LPA saved this house from a demolition proposal in 1985 by purchasing it for $25,000, raised from personal loans given by 33 LPA members. Its condition had fallen a long way from being serviceable as a family home. The Breedens, looking for a project house, were told of its availability by LPA board member Katie Armitage. So they took the plunge and purchased it from LPA.
Their first task was to create some semblance of an upstairs bedroom for their young daughter while they turned the rest of the house into a DIY construction zone. Their initial walkthrough with a city inspector gave them a long list of critical tasks to complete. Fortunately, they had the skills necessary to do the work, as well as friends and family members to help them along the way, Randy is a professional designer and a solid carpenter; Wanda (Puderbaugh) is from a family of woodworkers and builders, including her father Perry and her brother Allen.
Now it’s 36 years later, their family has been raised with a lot of great memories, and the couple is moving on—to a place with less upkeep! But their pride in and love for the home still is evident: They just recently completed a concrete project in the basement. It’s time for a round of applause!
Lawrence Preservation Alliance Old Housewarming (Members Only)
Dudley Wiggins House
840 W. 21st Street
Sunday, October 31
1:30 to 3 p.m.
This is a free event for LPA members. Masks will be required inside the house, and also on the porch if many people are congregating there.
The property is set back on the north side of 21rst Street, between Louisiana Street and Naismith Avenue. We recommend parking on the 2200 block of Carolina Street, which intersects with 21rst very close to the house. An LPA sign will be posted near the street.
Please join us on October 9 for LPA’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Membership at the newly restored Winter School on Farmers’ Turnpike between Lawrence and Lecompton. We are excited to see the results of this recent rehabilitation project undertaken by members of the Winter family.
This open-house event begins at 1:30 p.m. and will be held in two sessions to allow as many members as possible to visit and congregate safely. Brief presentations by members of the Winter family will be made in the schoolhouse at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. LPA board members will be at tables in the courtyard throughout the event to visit with you and listen to your ideas and comments. Members arriving at 1:30 are encouraged to depart by 2:30 so that folks arriving later can participate.
Masks will be required in the schoolhouse and encouraged in the courtyard. Meeting materials, including president and treasurer reports and the new LPA strategic plan, will be emailed to members on Tuesday, October 5.
Winter School is located at 744 N. 1800 Road (Farmers’ Turnpike), about 1 mile west of the I-70 interchange, on the north side of the road just past Heritage Baptist Church. If you reach Berry Plastics while driving west, you’ve gone a bit too far.
Winter School, 744 N. 1800 Rd. (FarmerS’ TURNPIKE)
This rural schoolhouse just east of Lecompton has been a Winter family project since Mathias “Ship” Winter donated the land for its construction in 1869. The school opened in 1871 and served the surrounding farming community until 1949. A nearby farmer purchased the property in the mid-1950s, and the schoolhouse began an unfortunate reuse as an agricultural building, which greatly accelerated its deterioration. In 1984, members of the Winter family formed Winter School Preservation and bought it back, knowing that a long road of stabilization and preservation work lay ahead.
The family hired the design-build firm Rockhill and Associates in 1986 to do limited stabilization work to the building. In 2018, when the Winters decided they wanted to restore the property for educational and gathering use, the family worked further with Dan Rockhill and his longtime associate David Sain to create a rehabilitation and new construction plan. Wint’s daughter Katie—who grew up in Lawrence, left as a young adult, and then moved back with her family—tells us that the Winter family enjoyed this planning process in which Dan and David were able to share their extensive knowledge of old stone buildings and their creative design ideas. The project was aided by a grant from the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council.
The leaky roof and eaves were repaired. The rotting floor and missing windows were replaced, and original windows still existing were repaired. The original limestone walls were tuckpointed and the historic stucco coating was repaired. After a new water meter and septic system were added, a 14x20-foot outbuilding was constructed to house two unisex bathrooms and complete a wonderful rural public space.
As Katie helped with this family endeavor, she remembered all the civic work her dad and his father, Wint Sr., have done during her lifetime. “But the cool part for me” she says, “is how interested people in Lecompton are about it. They are so thankful and have shared stories about what it meant to their family. I have also been able to make this part of my children’s upbringing, and that is special to me.”
While the pandemic has slowed the opening of this facility to the public, Katie’s background in education for museum and non-profit platforms will help inform future use of the schoolhouse. It soon will be open to families for self-guided tours, and later to groups through arrangements with the Lecompton Historical Society.
For our September Preservation In Progress Awards, LPA is excited about a downtown rehab that allows a Lawrence favorite to move to Massachusetts Street, a city-owned parking lot resurfacing project that took a historic turn, and a mid-century modern commercial rehab that brings back memories of an iconic business and its owner.
It would be hard to imagine two businesses more different than an ax-throwing entertainment venue and a bookstore. But the transition from one to the other — through a crucible of fire — has brought new life to the Newmark Building at 809 Massachusetts Street.
Built in 1865, the building reopened recently as the new location for longtime Lawrence bookseller The Raven. The previous tenant of 809 Massachusetts was Blade & Timber, an ax-throwing attraction that was forced to close in October 2018 after an electrical fire broke out in the building. While the fire caused extensive damage, according to a report in the Lawrence Journal-World, Dalton Paley of Paley Properties & Investments, the building’s owner, was committed to ensuring that the structure maintained its historic character.
“I’ve been fixing up historic buildings since I started working with my dad, and he did it before me,” Paley said. “Every building we own right now is on the historic registry. This type of rehabilitation project preserves the character of downtown, and to me, downtown Lawrence is the heart of our city.”
Working with Hernly Associates Inc., Paley Properties & Investments was able to restore the limestone façade on the back of the building, including two original windows; maintain most of the original wood floors on both the first and second floors of the building; and reinstall the first floor’s original tin ceilings. Paley also rehabilitated the Massachusetts Street storefront, restoring the transom above the front doors to let more light into the space. In addition to space for the relocated Raven Book Store space on the first floor, the building now has two new one-bedroom apartments upstairs.
“We were really excited to honor both the history of The Raven and the history of this space,” said Danny Caine, owner of The Raven. “The whole concept is to merge a traditional historic storefront bookstore with a bold and exciting kids section in the back.”
“Much of the end product is thanks to Danny’s vision,” Paley said. “We like to take on projects with a specific tenant in mind, and The Raven was a perfect match, combining our interest in preservation with a lot of smart thinking about what will attract retail shoppers to Lawrence.”
Sometimes a truly amazing discovery can sprout from mundane beginnings. Back in March, a contractor hired by the city began work on a routine parking improvement project just east of the historic midcentury-modern Amtrak/Santa Fe Depot at 413 E. 7th Street. Farmer’s Excavating was scraping away layers of dirt and gravel that had been there for years when they uncovered something that was certainly curious: an intact layer of red brick underlying almost the entire surface. Rather than continuing with the excavation and adding the brick to the debris pile, the contractor stopped work and alerted city engineer David Cronin.
Was it an abandoned brick street? The bricks were mortared together, which would not have occurred in typical brick street construction. Diving into research on the newly discovered brick, Cronin contacted Historic Resources Administrator Lynne Braddock Zollner; Stan Hernly, the project architect for the depot rehabilitation project that had been completed in 2019; members of the volunteer group Depot Redux, which had worked for years to save the modern station; and nearby East Lawrence neighbors, some of whom had lived in the area for many years.
The answer provided a link to the property’s historic past. The brick surface — nearly the length of a football field — was the floor and loading platform of the old freight depot that stood next to the original two-story depot until that structure was demolished after the great flood of 1951. Today’s modern version of the depot was built in 1956, and it is believed that the freight building survived into the 1960s.
Once the historic material had been identified, the city’s attention focused on whether it could be incorporated into the plan for the new lot. It was determined that the brick surface had a good base and an acceptable slope for drainage. Keeping the brick as usable surface on the lot’s north side could accommodate 17 parking spaces next to the east end of the depot, and the brickwork could be incorporated as a key element of the larger parking lot project.
As he worked through the preservation of the brick, Cronin moderated an email chat with more than a dozen community stakeholders to discuss various aspects of the project. Several details were thoughtfully worked out by this ad hoc group. One of particular interest was the appearance of a 10-foot-wide slash that ran diagonally through the brick field. It was determined that there had been a rail spur there to a warehouse just south of the site, but the rails had been removed at some point. The group analyzed three different options to preserve this facet of the site’s history before deciding on a concrete outline inlaid with brick, running counter to the direction of the brick in the rest of the lot.
Work has begun again, and what would have been a typical parking lot will now help current and future generations understand East Lawrence’s rich railroad history through a long-hidden physical connection to its past. City staff and the contractor followed a preservation best practice when a surprising and possibly significant historical element was uncovered: Work was stopped, experts and neighbors were engaged to discuss and resolve the issues presented, and plans were modified to allow the historic material to exist within the new project. LPA cannot applaud this preservation effort loudly enough.
COURTESY OF HERNLY ASSOCIATES.
The old Zimmerman Steel Building, a much-loved local midcentury-modern commercial structure that sits just east of the Burroughs Creek Trail at 701 E. 19th Street, is looking mighty fine these days. And there’s a good reason why: its new owner/occupant is cut from the same fabric as Lee Zimmerman himself, who acted as his own general contractor to build the structure circa 1960 to house his company. Now this iconic structure is owned by Mar Lan Construction, a commercial general contracting, design-build and construction management firm, and just as Zimmerman built it, Mar Lan has now rehabilitated it.
In 53 years of business at the 19th Street location, Zimmerman Steel fabricated and sold structural steel and architectural metal components for many prominent buildings in Lawrence, on the KU campus, and throughout northeast Kansas. Many of the midcentury-modern buildings in Lawrence were built with metal pieces purchased at Zimmerman Steel.
The Zimmerman Steel Building was built in two phases in the mid-20th century as Lee Zimmerman moved his operation from 1832 Massachusetts. The shop space came first, in 1959, and Zimmerman designed and fabricated the steel frame himself. In 1963, Zimmerman added office space to the north that was designed in the midcentury-modern style by the architectural firm Robertson & Ericson. Zimmerman enjoyed this modern style, as he had built his family home at 200 Nebraska — now listed with LPA help on the Lawrence Register of Historic Places — in the same style in 1955.
Founded in Lawrence in 1999 by Gale Lantis, Brian Lantis and Kevin Markley (James Allen was added later as a fourth partner), each principal in Mar Lan has a life in construction that goes back more than 30 years. When the company began looking for centralized space, it had an office at 1008 New Hampshire and storage and shop spaces in two other locations.
“We wanted something unique and different,” Markley says, “and we had always admired the Zimmerman Building back to the days when we were customers of Zimmerman Steel.” But when they inquired about a possible sale or lease from what was then the property’s third owner, they were told no.About two years later though, that owner reached out to see if they still had interest in a purchase, and Mar Lan leapt at the opportunity.
Evaluating the site, they could see that a lot of updating was necessary, but Markley remembers it was important to “keep the original concept and layout sacred…the spaces seemed like they were made for our programming.” They contracted with Hernly Associates to write a nomination to the Kansas Register of Historic Places and were approved for listing in February. Listing on the National Register of Historic Places followed. This allowed Mar Lan to take advantage of the federal and state tax credit programs for rehabilitation projects for listed historic properties.
The project involved installation of new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, new bathrooms and all new finishes. The office roof was replaced, new insulation was added and the storefront windows got new insulated panels at top and bottom and new interior storm windows. We had to ask Stan Hernly about the work scope, because a lot of it isn’t immediately evident when looking at the building today. He remarked that “I like when people can’t tell by looking how much work has been done on a historic rehabilitation project—it means the preservation architect has done a good job!”
One thing did need a complete overhaul, however. “The site was a real mess,” Markley says. “Landscaping was a big thing for Lee Zimmerman, so we thought it was paramount that we pay careful attention on how this was managed.” From curb to gutter to landscaping, it was a complete site makeover. Mar Lan staff designed and installed this aspect of the work, and the personal pride they took in it is evident.
Mar Lan never left Lawrence, but with their cool new digs, LPA can honestly say, welcome home Mar Lan! And thanks to you and Hernly Associates, welcome back to the Zimmerman Steel Building!
The city’s revised plan for the refurbished parking lot at the Amtrak/Santa Fe depot shows the restored brickwork, in red, that was the floor and plaza of the old freight house on the site.
A contractor for the city has resumed refurbishing the parking lot next to the Amtrak/Santa Fe depot in East Lawrence--and the project will incorporate a large swath of historic brickwork that workers uncovered earlier this year.
The brick area, almost the size of a football field, appears to be have been part of the floor and platform of the old Santa Fe freight house that was removed from the site in the mid 20th century. The adjacent two-story Santa Fe depot was severely damaged by the great flood of 1951 and torn down. The station was replaced by what is now the modern Amtrak depot in 1956; the freight house remained in operation a few years longer. Over the years, the brick was covered by dirt and gravel until it was rediscovered when the city began expanding the parking lot earlier this year.
To the delight of local historians, work was stopped immediately in April while the city assessed the status of the old brick and determined that it could be used as part of the surface of the new parking lot. A slash through the brickwork about 10 feet wide--the remnant of a former rail siding that cut through the site—will be filled in with similar brick but highlighted to show that aspect of the site's history.
"The updated plans still accomplish the original goals outlined in the project, while maintaining the historic brick surface," the city said in a statement. "Many thanks are owed to those who gave their personal time to help understand the historical aspects and give context to this unique discovery."
The redesign to preserve the brick and provide proper drainage will require the contractor to replace an adjacent storm sewer line. The city expects the project to be completed by late October or early November.
