photo by: Richard Gwin

This side-by-side comparison shows an artist's rendering of Liberty Memorial High School. At left is the painting after the first of three restoration phases; at right is the restored painting, which hangs in the hallways of what is now called Liberty Memorial Central Middle School.

As workers prepared to tear through a wall at the nearly 100-year-old Liberty Memorial Central Middle School, they found a surprise: a deteriorating painting of the school building, the figures in its foreground dressed in the pleated skirts and brimmed hats of another time.

The year was 2005 and whether the painting was actually inside the wall or just discarded alongside it is not known for certain, but what is clear is that it had been forgotten.

“I think it was just not known,” said Liberty Memorial Principal Jeff Harkin. “I don’t think it was known to the school that it existed.”

photo by: Richard Gwin

This painting, found in 2005, is the original architectural rendering of Liberty Memorial High School. The painting is pictured here after the first of three phases of restoration.

What the workers — who were beginning renovations to the school — had found ended up being the original architect’s rendering of the building, which was completed in 1922. The painting was in bad shape — stained, warped and with areas that had aged to a reddish brown.

Art conservators with the Kansas City company that restored the painting said it had apparently spent time in the school’s boiler room, resulting in a high level of damage.

“It had gotten wet repeated times, and had been splattered with stuff coming out of the boiler and everything else,” said Thomas Edmondson, of Heugh-Edmondson Conservation Services. “The board that it was on had become very badly warped; there was mold contamination.”

“I had colleagues who just thought I was out of my mind for even agreeing to take it on, and my attitude was, well, when you start with nothing you can end up with something,” Edmondson said.

Over the past 10 years, the painting has gone through three phases of fundraising and restoration efforts. The Liberty Memorial parents group, alumni group and a local conservation group made contributions toward the approximately $4,000 needed to repair the painting, according to Nora Murphy, who was involved in the parents group.

photo by: Richard Gwin

A painting of the architect's rendering of Liberty Memorial High School, which was completed in 1922, went through three stages of restorations over a period of 10 years. The fully restored painting is now hanging in the main hallway of the school, which is now Liberty Memorial Central Middle School.

Murphy said that both the architect on the project, William B. Ittner, and the artist hired to complete the architectural rending, Francis Woolrych, were known in their time. Ittner was known for the monumental look of his school buildings, which contrasted with some of the more simplistic designs of the day. The interior of Liberty Memorial, for example, includes railed staircases, crown molding and stained glass.

Mary Lou Wright, a former school board member whose two children attended the school, was involved with the school’s parent and alumni group in the past and helped gather donations for the restoration project. Wright said the painting is important to the school’s and city’s history.

“To say that a painting is a document is sort of a strange thing to say, but it really is an important document,” Wright said.

Repairs to the painting consisted of three stages. The first was to begin stabilizing the painting, which included removing it from the warped board it was mounted on and giving it an initial surface cleaning, Edmondson said. The second and third stages involved more extensive surface cleaning, followed by extensive washing and finally in-painting with watercolors and pastels to replace small spots where the paint was missing.

“We were very fortunate that all of the detail from the school building on down through the foreground was, I would say, probably 95 percent intact, it was just obscured with soot,” Edmundson said.

The restoration process stopped and started as funds ran out, but eventually enough money was gathered to complete it — the majority of it coming from donations by school alumni.

“They’re always there for us, supporting our efforts, and we appreciate it very much,” Harkin said. “There’s not a line in our budget to preserve history, so we count on them to do it.”

The painting marks the beginning of the school’s long history in Lawrence. The school was originally Liberty Memorial High School, named in honor of the 19 Lawrence high school alumni who died in World War I. When Lawrence High School was built about 30 years later, Liberty Memorial became a junior high and lost its historical name. In 2011, the school’s original name was incorporated into its current one.

In addition to individual donations raised by school groups, the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council also contributed a $1,250 grant toward the final stage of the painting’s restoration.

The now brightly painted and newly framed rendering was recently hung in the school’s main hallway among other mementos.

“I think it’s just another layer that complements our proud history here,” Harkin said. “I think it’s something we’ll be able to highlight to students.”