Awards of Excellence:

Limerick Building

The Limerick Building was constructed in 1890 and housed the Bank of Alma that J. F. Limerick owned with his brother, G.W. Limerick of Wamego. The building was also known as the Limerick and Crafts block, as druggist, Fred Crafts, joined the building venture and operated his drug store in the south building in the structure. The Limerick brothers also owned a land office, insurance business, a brokerage business, and a coal mining enterprise. The bank would fail and close on November 9, 1890. Although Limerick would leave town after the bank failure, the Limerick block is one of Alma’s prominent stone landmarks. In 2009, the building housed Alma’s City Hall, the Alma Antique Mall, and the Alma Post Office.

Exterior rehabilitation had been completed by a former owner. The 2021 project involved rehabilitation of the second floor, converting the existing unused space to seven apartments leaving the northwest corner flexible for office and co-working space. Access to the upper-floor apartments utilized an existing street entrance on the north and developed a small rear lobby utilizing the original wood staircase from the first floor.

With its most recent use as a hatchery, features from the original second-floor offices had long been removed; however, the apartment project utilized a number of historic doors found in the building and retained all extant historic finishes and features including plaster walls, wood trim, and the historic wood staircase. The apartments take full advantage of the natural light from perimeter windows and the volume of the space with tall ceilings and offer a variety of plan configurations designed for the building’s configuration and windows.