Juanita Strait always planned to donate her big, white house to Kansas University when she died.

But she figured KU officials wouldn’t want to deal with the aging home, which was built in 1892.

“Her greatest fear,” said longtime friend Jackie Shmalberg, “was they would tear it down and build a parking lot.”

In the end, Strait’s fear was unfounded.

Strait’s home, 1346 La., will be turned into a community gathering space for KU’s scholarship hall residents, the university said Tuesday. She bequeathed the home to the university when she died in 2002.

The announcement was welcomed by local historians, who fought KU for two years to save several other century-old houses on the block. The houses ultimately were demolished in 2002 to make way for new scholarship halls.

“Anytime they can keep the historic fabric of an area intact, it makes a huge difference in the quality of the neighborhood and the whole city,” said Marilyn Gridley, former president of the Historic Mount Oread Fund. “We praise the university for doing it, since they have a mixed record of saving things around the edges (of campus).”

In addition to being 112 years old, the home sits on a site once owned by Charles Robinson, first governor of Kansas, and William H. Carruth, a professor of German whose name graces Carruth-O’Leary Hall at KU.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the decision to renovate the house — rather than demolish it — was meant to send a message about the university’s commitment to being a good neighbor.

Juanita Strait, who taught piano for decades in Lawrence, bequeathed her home to Kansas University when she died in 2002. She is pictured in this photo taken shortly before her death.

“The rehabilitation of this property is a highly visible demonstration of a good-faith initiative toward preservation of this historic neighborhood,” Hemenway said in a statement.

Students’ friend

Strait befriended generations of KU scholarship hall residents during her 60 years in the house. She often was invited to dinner at the halls, and students were regularly at her home visiting. She also taught piano lessons for decades.

“She never had her own children,” said Bob Hammer, a KU student in the 1940s who kept in touch with Strait the rest of her life. “The students became her children. That was the story of her life.”

Hammer said Hemenway called Strait a few years before her death to tell her KU planned to someday renovate the home.

“She called me just bubbling with ecstasy,” Hammer recalled.

Strait’s bequest, including her house and half her estate, totaled about $400,000. At least part of the remainder of her estate went to her alma mater, Ottawa University.

The monetary portion of the KU gift will go to fund a multimedia enhanced classroom in Joseph R. Pearson Hall, home of the School of Education. Strait’s husband, Reginald “Reg” Strait, was a physical education teacher hired by legendary basketball coach and professor Phog Allen. Reg Strait died in 1979.

The estate also will create a scholarship fund for female fine arts students and provide additional support to the Reginald G. Strait Physical Education Scholarship, created in 1974.

New life

The Strait home will be renovated with a $300,000 gift from Tom and Jann Rudkin, KU alumni from Sunnyvale, Calif.

KU plans to use the house at 1346 La., donated by Juanita Strait, as gathering space for scholarship hall residents. A gift from former scholarship hall residents will pay for the renovations.

Needed repairs include foundation work, replacement of plumbing and wiring, and construction of a new roof, patio area, siding, widows and porches. Renovations likely won’t begin until next summer.

The Rudkins graduated from KU in 1973, and both lived in scholarship halls while on campus. Tom Rudkin is a self-employed software consultant who was one of two engineers to write the first version of PowerPoint. Jann Rudkin is a self-employed information designer.

The home will be a meeting place for KU’s 500 scholarship hall residents. Scholarship halls provide students with reduced-rate room and board in exchange for performing chores.

The offices and programs of the halls’ governing body, the All Scholarship Hall Council, will be moved to the house from other locations around campus, and the lawn will incorporate park benches and green space dedicated to the Straits.

“There’s no sense of a community place for scholarship halls,” Tom Rudkin said. “They have no place to meet. Having a sense of community seemed like a good idea to everyone we talked to.”

He said the fact that KU was willing to save the old house made the project even more attractive.

“Unfortunately, the house needs quite a bit of repair,” he said. “Obviously in some people’s minds, they might say, ‘Why bother to save it if it’s not really that good?’ Jan and I have always loved older homes, and it’s quite a treasure. That aspect of it appealed to us very much.”