A 76-ton,114-year-old house that used to call 1309 Ohio home is trucked down the steep incline of 13th Street, with the top of the Kansas University Campanile visible in the background. Workers with Valley Moving of Wamego moved the house in March 2004 to 1033 Ky. The house's former site will be home to a new KU scholarship hall this fall.

The old white paint peeling off the weathered siding is a sharp contrast to the bright new panels of Dupont-Tyveck insulation on the Ad Astra Student Cooperative House at 1033 Ky. The missing staircase to the front porch directs visitors around the back of the house where a mound of torn-out carpet, plastic sheeting and spare planks of wood accompany a large pile of limestone rocks.

Inside the house, random patches of antiquated wooden slats, the kind used to support plaster walls before the age of drywall, peek out from behind the unfinished interior.

“It turned into a bigger project than we expected, and it’s taken about twice as long,” said Greg Seibel, project manager. “But despite what you see here, we’re almost ready to open.”

The Ad Astra house is scheduled to open for the fall semester. The house itself was originally located at 1309 Ohio and was moved at the end of March 2004. The house was originally built by Alexander Wilcox, KU professor, in 1890 and was later home to James Hunter, another KU professor.

Along with Seibel, Marci Francisco and Aaron Paden, all members of the project’s board of directors, are responsible for saving the house from destruction.

“We were looking at different houses and found out this one was being torn down,” Paden said. “This is the one that had some historic KU value and was the one that was in the best condition.”

The Ad Astra house will be the third cooperative house renovated by the board along with the Sunflower House, 1406 Tenn., and the 1614 Co-op, 1614 Ky.

The cooperative living environments offer residents a unique experience in student living.

“It’s an affordable option, but the main thing is having more control over their living situation,” Seibel said. “Running the place themselves, fixing things themselves and finding new people to move in. Things you would do for yourself if you owned your own home.”

Laura Adams, a Kansas University senior from Overbrook, is majoring in civil and environmental engineering and was looking for a house where she could do real-world engineering and architectural design projects.

“I view this house so much as a project house that I feel like it complements my education,” she said.

Designing and creating projects isn’t the only thing that attracted Adams to the Ad Astra house.

“I wanted to live in a house that was connected to the community. Somewhere where I could walk into the living room and always have something going on,” Adams said. “Living in a group like this with ten people is another sustainable alternative to a traditional family or apartment housing environment.”

The Ad Astra Student Co-operative House will be featured on the Douglas County Sustainable Homes Tour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds. For more information about the tour, call 832-3030 or go online at www.visitlawrence.com.