Changes abound at the Turnhalle!

Turnhalle is coming back! After being shuttered from public use for the past nine years, this landmark German-American community building, built by the Lawrence Turnverein in 1869, is beginning a major rehabilitation project.

Image provided by Hernly Architects

New owners Zarif and Mamie Haque purchased the property at 900 Rhode Island Street from Tony Krsnich in March. They plan to bring Turnhalle back to its original use as an entertainment and community social center. They’ve hired local preservation design firm Hernly Associates to plan and coordinate a rehab program using federal and Kansas historic tax credits. The project already has received approvals from LPA, the Lawrence Historic Resources Commission (HRC), and positive feedback from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

 The architect team of Stan Hernly and Mike Myers are very aware of the significance of this project. “I’m excited that we’ve been entrusted to create the plans for Turnhalle’s rehabilitation as a surviving cultural artifact from another generation,” Mike says. “Older buildings have often seen so many disparate uses that one must peel back several layers of material to discover the true nature and original configuration. With Turnhalle, there are no extra layers of anything. It’s as if it has been suspended in time since the Lawrence Turnverein sold it in 1938.”

In addition to repair of character-defining features, a key component of the project will be to install modern plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems, as well as safety systems like fire suppression, elevators, stairs and ramps—and doing all this in ways that won’t damage historic materials or compromise historic integrity.

One new component of the plan is a small two-story addition behind the east end of the building that will house accessible bathrooms, kitchen prep and greenroom areas that can support the mixed-use performance and event space the new owners envision. The addition is appropriately sized and will keep those essential activities out of the main hall interior and the stage, while allowing the use to be very similar to its original historic one.

Image provided by Hernly Architects

Protecting the Turnhalle as a viable rehab candidate has been a prime focus of LPA since 2012, when it purchased the property because of grave concerns about its failing condition. LPA led a stabilization project, largely funded by a Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council grant, that corrected a major structural defect between the stone and wood frame sections of the building and addressed numerous water infiltrations. In 2018, with Turnhalle still in need of a larger project to return it to public use, LPA intervened again by purchasing the parking lot across 9th Street to preserve a parking option in hopes that a time like this would come.

Stan Hernly recognizes these efforts that gave Turnhalle another decade of life and a chance to come back. “Lawrence is really lucky to have retained this building for so long when its use since the 1930s has been so marginal,” he says. “It could easily have been demolished or fallen so deeply into disrepair that rehabilitation would have been prohibitive.”

It's possible that this work couldn’t happen to a more deserving building in Lawrence right now. LPA’s thanks and best wishes go out to Zarif and Mamie Haque for taking it on and making it happen.