Topeka – Page 2 – Kansas Preservation Alliance

Endangered:
Sumner Elementary School

Year(s) Listed: • 1996 • 2009 | City/Town: • Topeka

Constructed in 1936 this Art Moderne style building is the school Oliver Brown’s daughter was denied admission to in the historic Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 19554.

Awards of Excellence:
Richard Pankratz

Year(s) Listed: • 2008 | City/Town: • Topeka

Dick Pankratz spent 34 years at the Kansas State Historical Society and was the agency’s first full-time staff person dedicated to the historic preservation program.

Endangered:
Bethany Place Landscape

Year(s) Listed: • 2007 • 2008 | City/Town: • Topeka

This year’s list includes eight historic places, including the Bethany Place Landscape in Topeka, Kansas. Started in the 1860s as the College of the Sisters of Bethany, Bethany Place was the first women’s college in Kansas. Georgia Neese Gray, the first female US Treasurer is one of the college’s most notable alumnae. The present day campus still retains …

Endangered:
Constitution Hall Topeka

Year(s) Listed: • 2006 | City/Town: • Topeka

Located on Kansas Avenue in downtown Topeka, the original 1855 construction of Constitution Hall is hidden behind a 20th century façade. Under construction in 1855 as a commercial building, it was turned into Constitution Hall before it was completed as the need for a meeting place for the free-state legislature was urgent. The activities and events …

Awards of Excellence:
Great Overland Station

Year(s) Listed: • 2005 | City/Town: • Topeka

The former Union Pacific Railroad Station is a grant neoclassical passenger depot, designed by noted architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood who designed at least twenty-six Union Pacific stations and depots. It has a spectacular interior, typical of the grand stations of the early part of this century. Once a bustling center of the capital city, the …

Awards of Excellence:
Curtis Junior High School

Year(s) Listed: • 2004 | City/Town: • Topeka

After Sitting vacant for more than ten years and with few panes of glass remaining in the windows, Curtis Junior High was purchased by real estate Developers, Pioneer Group, Inc. of Topeka, rehabilitated and reopened last December as senior apartments. Architect One was the architect for the project, Woltkamp Construction the General Contractor.

Awards of Excellence:
Fire Station No. 2 – Topeka

Year(s) Listed: • 2003 | City/Town: • Topeka

Owned by Legacy of Justice Foundation serves as offices for Kansas Trial Lawyers Association; GLMP Architects, Lawrence, Kansas Building Systems, General Contractor.

Awards of Excellence:
Friends of the Free State Capitol, Topeka

Year(s) Listed: • 2003 | City/Town: • Topeka

Greg Allen, Chair of the Friends of the Free State Capitol, Topeka has received the Advocacy Award for outstanding efforts of preservation for the 2003 Awards of Excellence.

Awards of Excellence:
Landon House

Year(s) Listed: • 2002 | City/Town: • Topeka

Photo by CJ Online It is reported that Kansas Governor Alf Landon (1933-37) completed construction of the white, brick house (on Westchester in Prospect Hills) in 1937 for his wife Theo because, although he had lost the presidential election (to Roosevelt), he felt that she deserved to live in a “White House.” Current owners David and …

Awards of Excellence:
House of Representatives Hall

Year(s) Listed: • 1999 | City/Town: • Topeka

When Representative Hall was under construction in 1880, it was reported in the Topeka Commonwealth that the new west wing of the Kansas State Capitol, would feature “medallions of Kansas men who have been prominent in the history of the State, and are now gone to their final rest.” The reporter acknowledged that “the selection was bound …

City: Topeka