Don’t tell Dennis Brown that buildings don’t matter.
It was on a December afternoon in 1984 that Brown became surprised at how much they do matter. He had picked up a copy of the Lawrence Journal-World and read that a demolition permit had been filed for the Union Pacific Depot in North Lawrence.
Brown didn’t have any intimate knowledge of the building, but he knew he liked it. He had always liked stone buildings, which is kind of odd for a house painter who probably would be out of business if everybody had built from stone.
But even Brown was surprised at how the news of this building’s pending demise struck him.
“I just remember thinking that I couldn’t hold my head up and still live here if I didn’t do something about this,” Brown said.
Brown had been living here since 1977, and this seven-year Lawrence adventure hadn’t treated him too well. Then along comes this building that perhaps was feeling a bit like he was.
“My personal life was going really bad,” said Brown, who left it at that. “I didn’t know it at the time, but I thought it was easier to save the building than work on what was wrong in my own life.”
By the mid-1990s, the building’s malaise was over. Back on that December day, Brown had written a letter to the editor that ran in the next day’s paper. Several others ran too, and before you knew it, a group had formed and Brown was part of it. After a multi-year effort that involved everybody from City Hall leaders to U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, the building had been refurbished and reinvigorated.
It would be fun to say that the building’s rebirth led to one for Brown. But Brown is a stickler for historical accuracy.
“That would be life as a fairy tale, and it is not,” Brown said.
But Brown had his day, too, and don’t think that the building didn’t play some role in it.
“I certainly didn’t save that building,” Brown said. “Lots of people were involved in that. But there’s probably seven to 10 people in this town who can say that if they hadn’t done what they did, that building probably wouldn’t be there. I’m on that list and that makes me proud.”
• • •
Not everybody in Lawrence uses the word pride to describe historic preservation efforts. Sometimes it is described as more of a pain.
Brown understands that better than most. Today, he is the president of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance. He’s been the group’s president for the last four years and recently was re-elected to another term.
He’s missed only one of the city’s monthly Historic Resources Commission meetings in the last seven years, and he long has been the fellow who often stands up at a microphone and asks city officials to slow down on approving a project that involves building in a historic area.
He knows that doesn’t always make him the most popular guy in a development community that frequently laments of a process that is “business unfriendly.” But he said he does it with good reason.
“When you are going to make an irreversible change, it behooves you to take a moment and make sure you know what you have,” Brown said.
These days there are plenty of opportunities to stand up. Brown recently was instrumental in a compromise that appears destined to save the old Varsity House in the Oread neighborhood while still allowing a new apartment complex to be built on the site. Brown also will be watching plans for a new hotel in historic downtown, a major redevelopment of an old warehouse district in east Lawrence, hopes for the renovation of the old Santa Fe Depot, and a host of other projects that don’t garner nearly as many headlines.
But to Brown those lesser-known structures that maybe weren’t the home of anyone prominent have become an important cause to trumpet.
“I know grand old buildings like the Castle Tea Room or the depot are often the introduction to historic preservation for a lot of people,” Brown said. “But it needs to go beyond that. Historic preservation shouldn’t just be about rich white men. Stories of all types need to be told.”
Fellow historic preservationists who serve with Brown said that even though Brown is often described as quiet, you can bet he’ll find a way to tell those stories.
“He really has just made this his life,” said Carol von Tersch, who serves on the LPA board. “That is really what he brings to this.”
Von Tersch said she can see the efforts of Brown and others beginning to pay off.
“I think there are a lot of people in Lawrence who are a whole lot more knowledgeable about historic preservation than they used to be,” von Tersch said. “I’d like to think that is in part because of the LPA and people like Dennis.”
• • •
Maybe it is surprising that a man who loves old buildings so much was raised in Johnson County — a place that seemingly has more Hummers than history. For awhile it didn’t make sense to Brown either. Growing up in the early 1960s, he would build tree houses with the scrap lumber from the new homes that were constantly popping up around his once rural neighborhood near 87th and Pflumm.
“It wasn’t until high school that I realized I was watching a major cultural change, and I really didn’t like it,” Brown, 59, said.
But old houses were different. Brown likes hearing the stories about how some old homes used to come with a knot-hole guarantee. The builder would pay the homeowner a dollar for every knot found in a piece of lumber.
“Think about how broke you would be today,” Brown said.
But there is more to this fascination than straight lumber and heavy timber. At some point, Brown discovered that an old home could become a canvas. That was an important discovery for a man who had toiled at becoming a short-story writer — a man who read Kerouac and searched for ways to give more layers to words.
A short-story writer, though, had better have another job or a very small stomach. So while in Northern California, Brown met an excellent house painter who taught him the trade. When he returned to Kansas, he brought the trade with him. But even then he wasn’t sure it would be for him. He remembers being frustrated by the dullness of painting a house a single color. Finally he began to persuade a few Lawrence residents to let him add a few extra colors to their house — at no extra charge.
He remembers how his job on one large house in Old West Lawrence produced a steady stream of cars to see the progress. Today, many of Lawrence’s most prominent “painted ladies” have come from the brush of Dennis Brown Painting — a business that he runs with his son Duncan.
“Now I kind of think of what I do as street art that is available to view every day, including Christmas,” Brown said.
Brown isn’t the first to treat a house as a canvas. He realized that one day when he was working on the old home at 701 La. He was painting the shingles that sided the gable above the front porch. Near the top, there was triangle of diagonal shingles placed in a pattern unlike any other on the house.
“I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then I realized that these guys who built this house so long ago had signed it,” Brown said. “They were saying: ‘We were here and we’re damn proud of it.’”
Buildings matter for a lot of reasons — sometimes because they speak for people who no longer can.
“I painted those shingles with a different color,” Brown said. “It was my way of saying: ‘I understand.’”
Comments
Richard Heckler 4 years, 11 months ago
I'm all for historic preservation but I am NOT for school district tax dollars to become part of tax rebates,abatements or any other tax dollar give away program that has come to our tables in 2011.
Richard Heckler 4 years, 11 months ago
It could be that these older homes are better constructed than a lot of newer homes that our children dubbed as cardboard houses such that they were building in our living room.
Hats off to the LPA. Older buildings and homes have good resale value and are attractive to buyers. In fact I speculate that spending $200,000 on a rehab home project would be the better dollar value over buying a new constructed home for the same price that which not much is known about the quality of construction behind those walls.
At least in a rehab project one can take a peek and fix if necessary.
Flap Doodle 4 years, 11 months ago
+10
ivalueamerica 4 years, 11 months ago
never understood why only the illegal immigrants are called lawbreakers, but not the US Citizens who profit from them or enjoy the benefits of paying lower prices for their houses, roofing, vegetables as a result?
I find it very absurd that it is always THEY who are evil, when in fact, they would not be here if WE did not hire them or demand lower prices.
I do not support illegal immigration, however, I do not support ONLY attacking the illegal immigrants and I do not support the fact that so many who join this debate use the real issue to promote racist agenda. For example, Falsestatement, excuse me, false hope make this a nationality issue, not a general issue while we have illegal immigrants from over 112 countries and upwards of 35-40% are not from Mexico.
pizzapete 4 years, 11 months ago
Good points value. Illegal "is the latest in a long line of euphemisms that politicians use to signal their antipathy to a reviled racial or ethnic group, in this case, Latinos." from Peter Beinard of the Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/24/mitt-romney-rick-perry-herman-cain-why-the-gop-demonizes-illegals.html
Mike Myers 4 years, 11 months ago
Keep up the great work Dennis and thank you.
blindrabbit 4 years, 11 months ago
Wish Dennis was not around when they decided to demolished the old Santa Fe Train Station.
Mike Myers 4 years, 11 months ago
Blind is right.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
Yes, old Fraser Hall was in really bad shape! About 1978 I was driving for the airport shuttle from MCI aka KCI to Lawrence and had quite a lengthy conversation with an older woman passenger who remembered old Fraser Hall very well.
She had been a student here at K.U. in the 1930s. During the course of our conversation, I pointed out to her that from looking at old photographs, old Fraser Hall appeared to be a very interesting looking building when it was still standing.
Her first reaction was agreement, followed by laughter. Then she told me that when she was a student here old Fraser Hall was scary, in terrible condition, and pieces were falling off of it. And, that was in the 1930s!
The building was in use for almost 30 years after that.
Clipped from: http://www.kuhistory.com/proto/story.asp?id=45 "As early as December 1885, responding to complaints of poor ventilation and the settling of both interior and exterior walls, KU Chancellor Joshua A. Lippincott asked State Architect John G. Haskell to “make a complete and careful survey” of Fraser Hall. In his report, Haskell, who ironically had been the building’s original architect, admitted that he found “not only the foundation in a very bad condition, but likewise partitions of the walls of the superstructure, the latter caused by the defective foundations.” He wrote of water seepage, “serious cracks and disturbances,” and, in general, of the “treacherous and unstable nature” of what was then only a 13-year-old structure. “Sooner or later, it will be necessary to strengthen the foundation in order to preserve the building,” although, he confessed, “we cannot see the hidden elements of danger, those which might cause a wall to crumble and fall.” "
"“These boulders out of the blue, plus several ugly cracks in the north and east walls of the oldest building on campus,” noted the Kansan on February 7, 1949, “have led many to believe Fraser is not long for this world.”
After the decision had been made to remove old Fraser in 1962:
"In any event, once contractors began inspecting Fraser Hall, they became “convinced with each passing day,” according to Kansas Alumni magazine, “that the problem confronting them” was not of a sentimental or historical nature, but merely “a matter of keeping Fraser standing long enough to evacuate the people, furniture, equipment, and salvageable artifacts.” "
Sometimes, old structures are beyond repair! But, it would have been possible to construct a visual duplicate of it, I suppose.
collared_greens 4 years, 11 months ago
The old Santa Fe station was destroyed by the 1951 flooding of the Kansas River.
verity 4 years, 11 months ago
While I am all for preservation of worthwhile structures and recycling, making as small a footprint as possible, etc., it seems to me that not every structure is worth saving.
For instance the house pictured above---I know it went over budget, but no one could/would answer my question about how much it actually cost to renovate it. As far as I know, it has no particular historical value as far as design or events happening there. I was shocked to see the interior of the house after the renovation---it seemed to me that cheap materials were used and many things were not done well.
On the other hand, the (sort of rent to own) structures put up in the empty lots next to this house looked pretty slapped together quickly. I didn't see the interiors after they were done, but looking at some of the work done outside I suspect that there are going to be structural problems pretty quickly. They are also not designed or oriented to make the best use of sunlight. I have no idea what they cost in relation to the renovation---does anybody have those figures?
danriedemann 4 years, 7 months ago
I was the contractor that originally worked on the home at 1120 RI. I can tell you it did indeed go way overbudget, and it was the fault of the self appointed "Project Manager(s)" Mike Goans and Dennis Brown. Instead of allowing me to bring in all of my subs, and manage the jobmyself, as I do on all of my 3/4 million Dollar custom homes, LPA appointed "Project Managers" whom had never done anything like this in their lives. Mike Goans and Dennis Brown brought to this project such a lack of management skills and lack of experience that the job was doomed from the beginning. Dennis had a "favor" he owed to a concrete contractor who Dennis gave the foundation contract to. I fought to use my foundation contractor, but Dennis insisted on using his. This individual "borrowed" foundation forms from another company and put in the worst foundation I have ever seen. Then, Mike Goans, the original project manager, had a nervous break-down and had to leave town. (That is according to Dennis Brown). At that point, Dennis Brown made himsef project manager rather than to give the job to someone qualified. He spent like a drunken sailor. Upgrades everywhere, on the tightest budget I've ever had to work with. I was willing to donate some, but Dennis wanted to determine how much we donated to the job . Never once did anyone on the LPA board with any management experience even try to help out. It was in my contract that Mike Wildgen (an LPA member) would be at every meeting acting as a contract mediator, but Dennis quickly pushed him towards resignation so he could appoint another social misfit to the executive board to surround himself with like-minded people. I tried to set up a meeting with the board to get the job under control and remove Dennis, but they circled their wagons around him and never would let me have my meeting. I was, however, generously offered by the treasurer that he would "forward" an email from me to the "appropriate" board members, but no meeting to discuss Dennis' mis-management. The LPA has lost it's vision. It needs a complete overhaul. There are great people on the board, but the executive board needs a make-over. They've become a group of socially inept people who pass work within their little community. Its time for change.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
There was a very interesting house in my home town that was demolished in 1963 or 1964 that can never be replaced. It was a sod house within the city limits of St. Francis, Kansas just west of the bowling alley. Some of us remember it stoically sitting at a 45 degree angle on a lot within the town that had grown up around it.
Yes, it could have been preserved, its condition was really not that bad in 1963. But, it's gone now. Along with one of the small homes that had been constructed from an old railroad boxcar on the west side of Scott Street on the 600 block. I remember that one well, when I was young it was right across the street.
A small home built from an old railroad boxcar was featured in the film 'Harold and Maude'. They are rarely seen today.
Today, there are no sod houses or old railroad boxcar homes in St. Francis at all. But fortunately, there are a few still standing in other locations.
roadwarrior 4 years, 11 months ago
plenty of wood to paint on a stone house...pfft...never seen stone doors, eaves or windows anywhere but on the flintstones cartoon. Well done Dennis.....enlighten on the passion of protecting what was created by those that came before us with respect for that craftsmanship. It truely is a labor of love.
Alceste 4 years, 11 months ago
These fancy pants "historic professionals" do NOT work for the working class or working people. Get a bid for painting a single story house built between 1910 and 1930, in decent condition all things considered from Dennis Brown Painting and hold onto your shirt. Only the 1%ers can afford it.....
This outfit, LPA, wants to restrict what a person can or cannot do to their own owner occupied home and yet won't buy it off of you to demonstrate they're so all REALLY concerned. Piffle.
dontcallmedan 4 years, 11 months ago
You must not have a clue what the 1% make.
dontcallmedan 4 years, 11 months ago
You must not have a clue what the 1% make.
dontcallmedan 4 years, 11 months ago
You must not have a clue what the 1% make.
Pastor_Bedtime 4 years, 11 months ago
Just like having to shovel their walks, right?
Janis Pool 4 years, 11 months ago
Right on!
kshiker 4 years, 11 months ago
A career made out of telling other people what to do with their own property. Why are we celebrating this?
FlawontheKaw 4 years, 11 months ago
We should celebrate because these homes have significant human and social value far beyond your mere materialistic evaluation of them. They have served as a sanctuary and a place to call home for many different families through many different generations. Within their walls many stories of hope, love, tradgedy, and triumph have played out over the years with one thing in common--They have always been in the same place--Within Lawrence and a part of the community in which it stands. People come and go, but the houses always stay. This is pure history happening. With funding cuts to the Arts and social programs and the present economic situation so dire it seems like a good idea to preserve what we already have here and take care of it for future generations.
Alceste 4 years, 11 months ago
....PROVIDED it's what the OWNER of the house wants and not what some fancy pants cmte. wants, right? That ain't the way it works in Lawrence, though:
Heck, city workers in the "non-planning department" will tell you what you can and can't do with your very own 1910 built house when you're wanting to sell it. If I own it and I want to sell it, that's my business, right? Nope, not in Lawrence: These "historic" simple Simons have to "review" what the buyer might be doing after I sell! I don't care if they raze the sucker....I'm done with it. FlawontheKaw.......what you've written reads like a Norman Rockwell painting, but it don't reflect America: If I want to sell what I have why can some city worker or some silly ssa cmte. be able to get in my way? I'm done with the thing! I want the money to buy something else or go on a "lost weekend" or five! It's MY HOUSE!! ALL things come to an end, ya know? Don't be telling me what I can or can't do with my own stuff!!
If these "planners" and "preservationists" and "historical society" people want to axe my business deals they should be prepared AND compelled to buy the structure at the price I had accepted from my buyer.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
You were aware of the fact that Lawrence is a community that values historic significance when you bought property in this community. Or, are you claiming that you couldn't read when you signed the papers to buy the property?
Alceste 4 years, 11 months ago
Excuse me, Ron, but I do strongly believe that me and mine and been here far longer than you and yours? "Historical value" has it's place, but when every nook and cranny becomes "historical" because some Bush League "historians" say so.....oh, my word........
Did you say you wanted to buy one of our houses? More than I venture you and yours would care to realize are making efforts to get the hey out of Dodge, but are preventing from so doing by "them". Bear in mind: "WE walk amongst you.....".
Lawrence doesn't really value much of anything or have any values that amount to much. At this point in the "history" of Lawrence, Kansas.....one would have to put University of Kansas basketball at the top of the list relative to "historical value": This place can't even get the Wm. Clarke Quantrill "friendly visit payback" stuff right: Men from Lawrence raided into Missouri many, many times before Wm. Clarke came to town ariding on his pony.
We're just a dinky little nowhere town. No more, no less. Lawrence would be a lot more enjoyable were it not for all your the self-important four flushing. You live in Kansas, do ridiculous things all day, come home, and then gripe at each other about who is to blame for your lot in life. Have the courage to see yourselves as you are and your "city" as it is. Try to make it better if you can, and embrace the people who share your desire to make the "city" a better place to live. Discuss things, but don't act like they are the most important darn things in the whole world. They're not. This silly little suburb is a small speck of nothing in the middle of nowhere. Don't let it be your universe.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
I have been all over the United States. I like it here.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
"I do strongly believe that me and mine and been here far longer than you and yours?" Really? You were here before 1881?
Alceste 4 years, 11 months ago
Our family was, YES. On BOTH sides.....sit down and be quiet, now....or buy our properties.....fairly priced at that I might add.....we'll be out of your hair in no time. Lawrence, Kansas is a has been place as is all of Douglas County, Kansas. We seek to spend our "golden years" where we won't be constantly bothered by more than one taxing authority; and that includes KU who "taxes us" by infusing the community with hooligans.
Daniel Dicks 4 years, 11 months ago
Thanks Dennis and the other people for looking out for Lawrence. This town has heart.
Janis Pool 4 years, 11 months ago
Thanks to Dennis for all you and your group does. Seriously, How can I join?
kansasplains 4 years, 11 months ago
Thanks for your wonderful work. It is great to see houses with different colors-a lot like San Francisco. Even in the wintertime, these houses attract your attention.
Flatonthekaw-you are right on, as is RonHolzwarth.
Flatonthekaw, you are so right - this is real history happening! Not something in books alone from times past.
And RonHolzwarth, you are right on too - Lawrence is a community that VALUES HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE!
kansasplains 4 years, 11 months ago
Oh-I forgot to mention - Ron, where are the locations of these houses which are still standing, which you mention?
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
There is an old railroad boxcar home standing just south of Lyndon, Kansas just east of the the highway that passes north/south of Lyndon, Kansas. However, its origins are quite well hidden by the add ons that have been made to it. You would have to recognize the style to recognize what it is.
And, there are at least three sod houses in good repair standing near, but not within, the city limits of St. Francis, Kansas. But, one of them is entirely covered by siding and a modern roof, so you would have to be literally inside it before you realize what it is. The last time I saw it, it was being used as a garage for a 1957 Ford sedan in very good condition.
One of those sod houses is owned by a member of my family, and there is absolutely no intention of removing it.
For another, one of my high school classmates grew up in it, but I can give you no further directions that it is east of St. Francis. I never saw it myself.
As well as those, there are remnants of a couple more that are beyond repair near St. Francis.
Also, there is one standing at a museum complex near Colby, Kansas.
i am sure that none of them are unique.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
That reminds me of one of the most unique homes I have ever seen in my life. For reasons that are known only to one wealthy gentleman, he reached the decision that he would like to live in an old fashioned steam train that was seen to be rolling across the Kansas prairie from a distance. But, you cannot look it if from very close, because it is all on private property. However, you are free to admire his home from a distance.
It is located quite a few miles south of and just a bit east of Lawrence.
I saw it about twenty years ago. At that time, he had a caboose, a freight car, a dining car, and a passenger car, all appearing to be rolling across the Kansas prairie, however they were not moving at all. From the inside, they were a modern home, although with a rather lengthy floor plan that was in a straight line.
The last I heard he was looking for a locomotive to complete his train set of a home, but he had not been successful in locating one.
The train locomotive in the park here in Lawrence, is far, far to new for his purposes.
roadwarrior 4 years, 11 months ago
Sorry your having trouble getting rid of your historic Alceste. I'm not sure what your referring to but it sounds like 'who you sell it to' has some restrictions. ...I hope you can find a historic loving home-owner for your home.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
She may have made the decision to have her home listed on the Register of Historic Places.
There are pros and cons to that to that decision. For a pro, you are then eligible for federal money to restore your home, and some people are very willing to pay quite a lot more money for the property. Case in point, the Powtin area in Topeka.
And for a con, you cannot make any changes to the exterior of the building.
I believe that far too many people only consider the pro of more money right now, and don't consider the possible cons that might arise later.
Getting on the Register of Historic Properties is pretty much a one way trip. It's best to consider what you are getting into before you have your property converted converted into one. At that very least, she already owns a property right in the middle of one. Perhaps should should have purchased a property in Carbondale, Kansas, which as far as I know, has none.
Mike Myers 4 years, 11 months ago
Actually you can make some changes to the exterior of a listed structure. They have to be reasonable though. Think about the recent addition to the Carnegie Library.
Ron Holzwarth 4 years, 11 months ago
Many times I have driven out of town guests around Lawrence. In every case, they were all very awed and impressed by the sheer number of classic structures that have withstood the test of time.
Very, very few have gasped in awe at our modern Walmart or any of the new subdivisions that have sprung up lately.
In fact, I can't remember a single one that did.
Alceste 4 years, 11 months ago
Any of them so "....very awed...." that they might want to make an actual PURCHASE????
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