Endangered: Phyllis Wheatley Children’s Home
Endangered:
Phyllis Wheatley Children’s Home
Awards of Excellence: Fresh Air Baby Camp
The Fresh Air Baby Camp in Wichita, Kansas may possibly be the only extant purpose-built and permanent baby camp structure in the United States. In 2007 the building had been out of use for several years and the City Park and Recreation Department had not been able to maintain it. The Wichita Office of Historic …
Awards of Excellence: Colorado Derby Building
The Colorado Derby building, a 9-story example of modern movement architecture, was completed in 1960. The building was designed as a speculative office building but was fully occupied shortly after it opened. It is named after the Colorado Oil & Gas Co., which was the first company to occupy the building. In 2014 it was …
Awards of Excellence: McCormick School Museum
Built in 1890, and the reflective half constructed in 1910, the McCormick School is still owned and maintained by the Unified School District 259 of Wichita. This makes the building the oldest school in Wichita. Having recently undergone re-pointing work on the native limestone and weatherproofing around the foundation, the project has been submitted this …
Awards of Excellence: Luling’s City Laundry
The Luling’s City Laundry building was constructed in 1924 with the west addition completed in 1936. Newspaper articles lauded the company’s industrial advances with a water softener promising “clothing washed in softened water has a sweet-smelling freshness that is a constant delight”. Ironically the 1936 expansion coincided with the home washing machine industry’s eclipse of the industrial laundry …
Awards of Excellence: Fairview Apartments
Built in an uncommon U-shape configuration, this 1924 low-rise apartment structure borders downtown Wichita’s north end industrial region. A block west of North Broadway on 18th street, the Fairview apartments exude a much greater streetscape than its previous condition thanks in part to brick cleaning and spot re-pointing of deteriorated mortar. The inherent geometry of the buff brick …
Awards of Excellence: Ambassador Hotel – Union National Bank Building
Upon completion in 1926, the Union National Bank building, financed by Chicago’s Edith Rockefeller McCormick Trust, has proudly occupied the intersection of Main and Broadway. The prominent fixture in Wichita’s skyline is best known for its contribution to Civil Rights history. In July of 1958, a youth member of the NAACP was refused service at …
Awards of Excellence: Kansas Aviation Museum
The original Wichita Air Terminal and subsequently the main administration building for McConnell Air Force Base and then administration and training facilities for the Kansas Air National Guard had fallen into disrepair with imminent demolition. Closed in 1982 and severely deteriorated, this historic Kansas aviation landmark was threatened with destruction when a small group of …
