Project Details
- Project Name
- Wabaunsee County Homestead
- Architect
- El Dorado
- Client/Owner
- David Dowell
- Project Types
- Single Family
- Project Scope
- Renovation/Remodel
- Size
- 1,500 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2014
- Awards
- 2018 AIA - State/Regional Awards
- Shared by
- Madeleine D'Angelo
- Team
-
David Dowell, Principal
Sean Slattery, Project Manager
Gavin Snyder, Design Staff
- Consultants
- Structural Engineer: Genesis Structures
- Project Status
- Built
- Cost
- $150,000
2020 RADA Award Winner
Renovation, Citation
Wabaunsee County Homestead
Alma, Kan.
El Dorado
Straddling the romantic and the functional, the cosmopolitan and the local, El Dorado’s design for the Wabaunsee County Homestead demonstrates the possibilities of adaptive reuse. The Kansas City, Mo.–based firm started the project (for one of the firm principals and his family) with a promising yet challenging site—an 1893 homestead just east of Manhattan, Kan., in the middle of one of the last remaining patches of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem that once dominated the region.
El Dorado preserved and restored the two-story masonry house, using the space for an oversized master bedroom with a lofted ceiling that runs clear to the former second floor, its height accentuated by a stovepipe from the floor-mounted heating unit. An interstitial glazed foyer connects the older volume to a newly constructed secondary building that runs parallel to its neighbor and contains the residence’s living room, kitchen, and master bath. The contemporary wing is as true to the spirit of the place as its 19th-century counterpart, with its envelope of corrugated steel, rough wooden interior finishes, and stone-hewn patio all exuding a rough-and-ready, pioneer spirit. In a seemingly endless expanse of flatland, the house is especially laudable for its spatial economy, clocking in at 1,500 square feet but still feeling, thanks to its broad windows and clean lines, as wide open as the prairie itself.
PROJECT CREDITS
Project: Wabaunsee County Homestead, Alma, Kan.
Client/Owner: David & Kathy Dowell
Architects: El Dorado (David Dowell, AIA, Principal; Sean Slattery, AIA, Project Manager; Gavin Snyder, Design Staff)
Structural Engineer: Genesis Structures
General Contractor: Don Hendricks
Size in Square Feet: 1,500 sf
Cost: Withheld
MATERIALS AND SOURCES
Appliances: Fisher-Pykel dishwasher drawer and Liebherr refrigerator
Cabinets: Custom Siematic cabinets (kitchen); custom-built cabinetry in mud/laundry/bathroom areas
Ceilings: Poplar tongue & grove ceilings
Countertops: Cesarstone Tops
Exterior Wall Systems: Kansas limestone and corrugated siding
Flooring: Wide plank, douglas fir
Walls: Bathroom: True waxed venetian plaster
Windows and Doors: Solid Core Doors throughout home
Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
The Wabaunsee County Homestead sensitively modifies the primary structure of an 1893 homestead for contemporary use, adding a new building that both compliments the character of the historic structure and connects a new interior experience with a profound landscape. The project illustrates the power and continued usefulness of historic structures, extending the value of embodied energy already present in material and craftsmanship. New construction is a combination of locally harvested, repurposed and durable / low maintenance materials. The home is sited within the Tall-grass Prairie in eastern Kansas – one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet with only 4% remaining – and both celebrates and responsibly engages this context.
