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Baden
Hall Winfield Courier Article click here for an acrobat version of the article. |
Baden Hall Renovation Pictures |
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Winfield Courier, Mon., Nov. 21, 2011 Baden Hall Remodel Almost Complete Winfield Daily Courier, Mon. Nov. 21, 2011 By Dave Seaton
There are two three-bedroom, six two-bedroom and 16 one bedroom apartments in the building on four floors and in the basement. All are served by an elevator. Johnson said apartments can be rented only to those who meet income guidelines of USDA Rural Development, the agency of the department of agriculture that has guaranteed loans for the project. There are no fixed rents, Johnson said. Rather, renters will pay 30 percent of their annual incomes. The maximum income for one person is $22,560 and the maximum for two people is $25,800. The developer, Metro Plains of St. Paul, Minn., is using historic preservation tax credits to help finance the project. Metro Plains also developed the Mundinger and Rehwinkel Apartments at Baden Square. Construction at Baden Hall is 99.9 percent complete, according to preservation committee members, which first met 20 years ago, raised $200,000 for the project in the community and from St. John’s alumni. A parking lot for more than 60 vehicles is under construction by the city of Winfield south of Baden Hall. There will be some parking spaces for the handicapped in the lot and a few just east of the building, according to Gary Mangus, assistant to the city manager. The contractor for the building is Key Construction of Wichita. The contractor for the parking lot is Bryant & Bryant of Halstead. Grass will be planted in the separation plots in the lot, Kyle Kadau, city engineering services specialist, said. Led by Larry Junker, executive director of the St. John’s College Alumni Association, about a dozen preservation committee members, spouses and friends entered the building through its new stone entryway off of College St. and flowed through the building. That entryway leads directly to the elevator. Stairways from the ground floor entryway take visitors down to the basement and up to the first floor. There are iron stairways to the fourth floor on the east and west ends of the building. Walls are painted in what one committee member called a “rosy beige”, with lighter and darker shades for contrast in the apartments. Doors and window frames are stained cherry. This color scheme is carried through all of the apartments, where carpets are a lighter gray than in the corridors. Kitchen appliances have a stainless steel look, though they are not stainless steel. Kitchen sinks are stainless steel, however, and counter tops are Formica with a sandy, faux granite appearance. Some kitchens have stand-alone counters that separate them from living areas. Lighting is both suspended and recessed and overhead lights illuminate kitchen sink areas. Kitchen cabinets and drawers are stained cherry, and their number varies from apartment to apartment. The tone of the interior is impressive and the apartments are “very attractive”, according to Nancy Tredway, a committee member, who toured with her husband, Richard. They were impressed with the way designers worked around the original structure of the building. That structure included a chapel with a high ceiling and rounded windows at the east end of the old upper floor. Now that space is one of the larger apartments, still with rounded windows, only the top parts of which have been preserved.
On the south side of the new top (fourth) floor, those windows overlook Baden Square and its neighborhood. “I liked the windows,” said Fritz Barnard, whose wife Adelaide, is honorary chair of the Baden Hall Preservation Committee. All of the windows are iron with double panes of glass and inside screens. They have small, screened “boxes” to cover the handles used to push them open or pull them closed. Adelaide Barnard is the granddaughter of John Peter Baden and his wife, Adelaide, who gave the money to start St. John’s College and build Baden Hall in 1894. Adelaide said she was impressed that the building would now last for many years. “I think my grandparents would be delighted,” she said. Each apartment has its own washer and dryer; most are stacked units but a few are separate. Most apartments have showers and bathtubs, but some have only showers. Johnson said an open house was planned but no date had been set. She is also the property manager for the Rehwinkel and Mundinger Apartments. Metro Plains Management operates the Osage Apartments in Arkansas City, as well. Wally Behrhorst, who chaired the Baden Hall Preservation Committee following the death of its originator Frankie Cullison, said he was pleased the project had progressed to the present stage, “since at times, it looked like it might not happen.” Behrhorst praised the city for sticking with the project. Other early members of the preservation committee were Marilyn Johnson and Arlene Oglesby. St. John’s College closed in 1986. Alumni of the college, called “Johnnies”, contributed the majority of private funds for preserving Baden Hall.
For more information on apartments at Baden Hall, contact Leslie Johnson at Rehwinkel Apartments, 1415 E. Sixth Ave., 221-2231 Dave Seaton is a member of the Baden Hall Preservation Committee
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Date:
12-8-11
Date: 11-08-11
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