Treanor Preservation

On November 15, The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association presented Topeka developer Pioneer Group the Judges Award for Honorable Mention at the J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation for the adaptive reuse of Eisenhower Ridge Building 19. The award, given in the category of best commercial/retail/non-residential project, was announced at the NH&RA’s annual ceremony in Boston.

The “Timmy Awards” honor outstanding real estate projects that involve the rehabilitation and preservation of older and historic buildings nation-wide. Building 19 was awarded in the category of Best Commercial/Retail/Non-Residential Project. The project rehabilitated a 125-year-old ...

Building 19 After Construction

Treanor Architects is proud to announce the launch of its new Sustainability Committee. The committee was formed as a grassroots effort within the company to serve as a resource and advocate for environmental sustainability. Through the incorporation of sustainable practices, educating employees and clients, and creating an environmentally responsible outreach program, this committee will address firm-wide needs in the area of environmental consciousness.

The group is led by two sponsoring principals and also of representatives from each of Treanor’s design studios:

• Justice – Sponsoring Principal Andy Pitts, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
• Interior Design – Sponsoring Principal Audrie Wenger, IIDA
• Student ...

City Celebrates Building’s 75th Anniversary

Kansas City’s iconic Municipal Auditorium has received a face lift just in time for the building’s 75th anniversary celebration.

After 75 years of continuous service, the historic Art Deco building was showing its age. The City of Kansas City initiated a project in 2010 to restore the building’s exterior to its former glory.

Completed ahead of schedule, the project wrapped up in time for the building’s 75th anniversary celebration. The event marks the building’s formal dedication by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on October 13, 1936. Hosted by the Kansas ...

Municipal Auditorium After Exterior Restoration

The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association announced Eisenhower Ridge Building 19, located in Leavenworth, Kan., as on of the finalists for this year’s J. Timothy Anderson Awards For Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation.

The annual “Timmy Awards” honor outstanding real estate projects that involve the rehabilitation and preservation of older and historic buildings nation-wide. Building 19 was named as one of two finalists in the category of Best Commercial/Retail/Non-Residential Project. The project rehabilitated a 125-year-old mess hall that historically served Civil War veterans as part of the Western Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Now, the building serves ...

Five things you thought you knew about historic preservation

The very idea of preserving an older, historically significant building for a new, modern use can start some heated conversations. The problem is, a number of the “facts” that many believe to be true about historic preservation projects are actually false.

Here are five of the most common beliefs about historic preservation and rehabilitation— and the reality:

It’s just for 80-year-old buildings.Actually, age is just a starting point. The National Park Service says any building that is 50 years old and historically significant based on its usage, its role ...

On August 31, The Central Plains Consolidated Patient Account Center hosted a ribbon cutting at its new location in the renovated historic mess hall building on the Dwight D. Eisenhower Veterans Affairs Medical Center campus in Leavenworth Kansas.

Many people from the community as well as the local and state governments attended the ceremony. Honored guests Governor Sam Brownback, Senator Pat Roberts, Gary Million, VA deputy network director, and Gary Baker, VA Health Administration chief business officer, cut the ribbon on the front steps of the historic building.

Left to Right: Gary Million, Gov. Sam Brownback, Gary Baker, and Sen. Pat Roberts cut the ribbon.

Left to Right: Vance Kelley, Treanor Architects principal, Gov. Sam Brownback, and Bobbie Bower, Kansas Preservation Alliance board member, and Ken Bower discuss the Eisenhower Ridge Building 19 rehabilitation project.

Left to Right: Krissy Buck, Treanor preservation/LEED specialist, Julie Cawby, Treanor project manager, and Commissioner Davis Moulden, Leavenworth City Commission talking after the ribbon cutting.

As we mentioned earlier, Treanor was one of eight design teams that participated in last week's Eco Abet Summer Charrette, and provided civil engineering services for another team as well. Each team collaborated to generate solutions for the specific design needs of Kansas City non-profit organizations that cannot afford professional design services.

Treanor's charrette team focused on the design needs of The 816 Bicycle Collective located at 31st Street and Cherry. With the mission of educating and empowering metro residents to utilize self-reliant transportation, 816Bike purchased an older building in a high-traffic, underserved location. The building, although usable ...

816Bike building at 31st & Cherry and design concepts.

On July 12, 2011, Treanor Architects participated in the Eco Abet Summer Charrette and fundraiser. The event provided a platform for collaboration between Kansas City non-profit organizations and the design community to generate solutions for design needs within the local underserved community.

Staff from Treanor’s Kansas City and Lawrence offices attended the charrette, providing both architecture and civil engineering services.

Eco Abet Summer Charrette Poster

Registration at the 2011 Kansas Preservation Conference has officially started. The conference, a three-day event that provides training and presentations on historic preservation, runs from July 1-3 at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka.

Treanor Architects is proud to be a special gear sponsor the event and participate in two of the conference presentations. Vance Kelley, principal, will present "Phasing a Large Historic Preservation project: The Kansas Statehouse" and Todd Renyer, project manager, is co-presenting "Installing New Systems in Historic Buildings."

Joy Coleman (left), Treanor principal and Kansas Preservation Alliance finance committee chair, and Linda Glasgow, Kansas Preservation Alliance president, at the registration table.

History can be experienced by visiting places that matter to you! The survival of these historically significant places can be attributed to the hard work of preservationists and historians across the nation.

Use the days left in May to appreciate our nation’s history, and those who preserve it, by celebrating National Preservation Month. Some of the ways you can observe the month-long celebration include:

• Visiting a National Park, National Historic Landmark or National Register of Historic Places site
• Volunteering time for your community preservation organization or historical society
• Joining the National Trust of Historic Preservation
• Taking a history based ...