2016 Honor Awards

Osmund Overby Award

Historic Missouri Roadsides, Bill Hart

City of St. Louis
Historic Missouri Roadsides is a richly illustrated travel/history/photography book, consisting of several tours of Missouri on mostly two-lane roads and highways. Varying greatly in length, most of the tours mark their beginning points near Kansas City and St. Louis, making them attractive to Missouri “staycationers” who are eager to get out of the city. Illustrated with photographs from the author’s personal collection, the six tours outlined in this book highlight the historic buildings, local places to eat and stay, and area attractions or events in communities around the state. Author Bill Hart grew up in Perry County in southeast Missouri. After pursuing a degree in historic preservation from Southeast Missouri State University, Bill did his graduate coursework in architectural history at the Savannah College of Art and Design. His interest in small towns and roadside attractions in Missouri was fostered by his work for the past several years with Missouri Preservation, where he currently serves as executive director. This book features a wide variety of roadside architecture in an effort to bring awareness to some of Missouri’s vanishing building types in addition to bring heritage tourism dollars to smaller communities statewide.

Patty Maher, Tiger Lily Development, LLC

City of St. Louis
Patty Maher has be rehabilitating old, forgotten, historic buildings in south St. Louis for the past twenty-five years. With a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Missouri at Columbia and a master’s degree in Religious Studies from Washington University, Ms. Maher’s graduation from the Ranken Technical College in carpentry completed her well-rounded education. As developer, general contractor, and property manager, Ms. Maher coordinates all aspects of the rehab project. The typical project begins as an uninhabitable, derelict building that has been boarded up, often vandalized and stripped, and unoccupied for many years. These buildings are often over one hundred years old with massive limestone basements, brick walls, and timber framing. In addition to meeting historic standards, these rehabilitations also meet Energy Star standards for high efficiency as well as the Secretary of the Interiors Standards for historic rehabilitation. Ms. Maher also enjoys working with communities and residents that are thrilled to have these once vacant properties restored and once again contributing to the life and character of their neighborhoods.

Boo Cat Club

City of St. Louis
Patrick and Carol Schuchard restored the former St. Louis Artists’ Guild building at 812 Union Boulevard in St. Louis. Constructed in 1908, the building served the St. Louis Artists’ Guild as a center for meetings, exhibits, and performances for artists in the St. Louis community until 1980. While it later served as a neighborhood youth services center, the building had undergone major interior alterations. The recent rehabilitation removed layers of non-historic materials, restoring its original appearance. Work included replacing the asphalt shingle roof with a more appropriate clay tile roof; replacing non-historic windows and doors to more closely match historic windows and doors visible in historic photographs; and restoring the skylights in the gallery and theater. The sensitive rehabilitation restored this building to its former grandeur. It now functions as an event venue

The Arcade Building

City of Saint Louis
The Arcade Building, constructed in 1906 and 1919, is unique as one of the largest mixed-use retail and office complexes in the Midwest. Deluxe retail stores lined the two-story grand arcade with its thirty-five-foot ceilings and wide promenade. Over the years, building owners and tenants modernized the storefronts, completely covering its signature arched openings. The first story closed in 1978 and the entire building was vacant by the early 1990’s. The rehabilitation of the historic Arcade Building, featuring 80 luxury lofts and 202 affordable artist apartments, is the largest new residential development in Downtown St. Louis since the opening of Mansion House in 1965. Work included the complete restoration of the faux tile finish of the Arcade’s vaulted ceiling and the installation of new glazed terra cotta to match historic terra cotta lost to earlier storefront modernizations. The project also restored the entire two-story arcade, four floors of interior storefronts, and ten floors of historic corridors.

Heer’s Luxury Living

Springfield, Greene County
Heer’s Luxury Living occupies the former department store that anchors the northwest corner of the public square in downtown Springfield. The eight-story, 1915 building with its three-story 1951 addition functioned as the Heer’s Department Store until 1995. Selective demolition initiated during three previous failed renovation attempts (in 2003, 2005, and 2008) left the interior in significantly deteriorated condition. Water infiltration and prolonged vacancy caused extensive damage to plaster walls and ceilings and to hardwood floors. With strong support of city officials and civic leaders, anxious to convert another blighted building into productive downtown space, the Dalmark Group initiated a project to restore the building with residential living units, tenant amenities, and unique commercial spaces. Historic photographs guided the design of new windows and exterior ornament to match the appearance of elements removed when a screen was installed in 1967 and removed in 2002. The wide open floor plates were easily converted to residential apartments. The crowning achievement for this project was the rehabilitation of the first floor lobby for commercial tenant use, where the historic 1915 coffered ceiling and the 1951 mezzanine balcony convey the historic volume of the space as well as the layers of historic alterations. The sensitive rehab of this monumental commercial building enhances the on-going revitalization of the downtown square and brings new energy to the historic center of Springfield.

Historic Truman Courthouse Interior Renovation

Independence, Jackson County
The Historic Truman Courthouse was originally constructed in 1826 and underwent five substantial renovations. The purpose of this project was to restore the interior to the 1933 design, the renovation Harry S. Truman oversaw when he was Presiding Judge of Jackson County. The phased renovation included the abatement of hazardous materials such as lead paint and asbestos; the removal of all non-original construction and only the partial removal of three small original walls, two of which were in the basement. Design features include the preservation of all common areas; the restoration of the original high plaster ceilings throughout the building; the cleaning and restoration of existing woodwork, doors, and hardware; the restoration of the bell tower, and the restoration of the original flooring, including the existing “battleship linoleum.” The interior renovation reorganized spaces to provide efficiencies in County departments and updated security and information technology systems. County officials praised the renovation as an investment in the future while honoring the past.

Linwood Area Ministry Place

Kansas City, Jackson County
The 1923 Linwood Presbyterian Church and 1931 Home for Convalescent Employed Women had been unoccupied since the mid-1970s. This project represents the culmination of over two decades of planning and collaboration to create a center for social services on Kansas City’s distressed east side. The church building had deteriorated significantly during the 30 years it sat vacant. Work in the 1990s stabilized and secured the structure for future rehabilitation. Most of the historic windows had been removed and the openings boarded up when the congregation sold the building in the 1970s. Little plaster remained on walls or ceilings due to extensive water infiltration. In 2012, Linwood Place Development, LLC embarked on a sensitive rehabilitation of this unique space, retaining key historic elements of the church, with particular attention to the volume and extant ornament in the sanctuary, while accommodating the functional and physical needs of multiple tenants with distinct requirements. The buildings now house multiple non- profit tenants, including the Heartland Presbytery, the Front Porch Alliance, and ReDiscovery. Together these groups bring 60 jobs plus much needed social services for children and adults to the area. Their efforts will support the resurgence of the Linwood corridor and the Ivanhoe neighborhood. The delicate rehab of this unique building proves that the reuse and repurposing of religious buildings is possible with thoughtful planning and design.

Linwood Lawn

Lexington, Lafayette County
Linwood Lawn is widely recognized as one of the finest antebellum mansions in the Midwest. When completed in 1859, this magnificent structure contained the latest mechanical features available at the time, including hot and cold running water, a forced air heating and cooling system, an indoor bathroom, its own coal gasification plant, a speaking tube and bell system, and a built-in wood-burning cook stove. Decorative features include fireplace mantels imported from Italy, sterling silver door knobs, and gasoliers from the Philadelphia based lighting company Cornelius and Baker. While most of the historic fabric was intact, broken water pipes caused damage to several plaster ceilings. Restoration work included repairing plaster ceilings and elaborate wood trim, rewiring chandeliers, and repairing and refinishing the heart pine and marble floors. Non-historic alterations were removed and historic finishes were painstakingly restored.

St. Charles Old Post Office

St. Charles, St. Charles County
The building operated as a post office from the time it was constructed in 1909 until 1960 when a new post office was constructed and this building was converted to office use. The rehabilitation project included removing the non-historic second story and restoring the first floor’s vaulted ceiling, installing a new roof with the half-round dormers that originally graced the building’s roof, upgrading the heating and cooling systems, and installing fiber optics. As a new co- working center for the emerging digital startups district in the western region of St. Louis, the 10,000 square foot Old Post Office building provides regional startups with affordable workspace and access to mentors, potential investors, programming, educational resources, and a community of local entrepreneurs. Early-stage companies can use this space as needed, rather than entering a more traditional lease, a tremendous asset for nascent IT companies. After six months of operation, the Old Post Office housed more than twenty-five startups.