Brookings Mayor Oepke “Ope” Niemeyer and the Brookings Historic Preservation Commission presented the following awards at the Mayors Holiday Celebration and Awards Event on Dec. 6:
Category: Excellence in Restoration
Awardee: Zoilo and Agnes Lansang
Location: 326 Main Ave.
The Mayors Historic Preservation Award for Excellence in Restoration is a recognition program of the Brookings Historic Preservation Commission. The award recognizes exemplary restoration of historic structures. An accurate restoration project depicts the form, features and character of an historic building as it appeared at a particular period of time. Restoration requires sensitive upgrading of mechanical systems and other code-required work to make the site functional.
The first recipient is Agnes and Zoilo Lansang, of 326 Main Ave. Since ownership of the 326 Main Ave.building, the Lansangs have made significant improvements to the entire building, most notably for today the faade renovations to the Main Avenue facing storefronts to beautify the building, improve accessibility, and improve the marketability and usability of the building for prospective tenants. Work included new curtain windows and transom above with new storefront systems, new masonry base veneer below, and an improved entranceway with a ramp from sidewalk grade to entrance door. All this was done while maintaining the original metal awning projection seen below the transom windows.
They are especially fond of the original wood flooring throughout the building, and hope to highlight it with further planned renovations.
Agnes and Zoilos devotion to this large downtown building represents a success story of building maintenance for a net gain both to her business and the downtown community.
Category: Excellence in Restoration
Awardee: Chuck and Larissa Bennis
Location: 630 Sixth Ave.
The next Excellence in Restoration was presented to Chuck and Larissa Bennis, of 630 Sixth Ave. The historic districts nomination description labels the house as a one and one-half story frame house with Colonial Revival elements expressed through the size, massing, and roof pitch. The structure features a large enclosed front porch with a decorated pediment over the spindled porch entrance.
Chuck and Larissa Bennis purchased the home in January 2022 and in such a short window of time have performed an extensive eight-month renovation. When purchased, the house had fallen into a state of disrepair. Among the various project aspects, the most labor-intensive parts of the renovation were restoring the hardwood floors on the main level, and plaster repair in nearly every room of the house. The entryway, kitchen, bathroom, laundry room and bedrooms also got an aesthetic refresh. When finished, every square inch of every room was given some attention.
The majority of the restoration efforts were performed by Chuck and Larissa themselves, with some assistance by Complete Plumbing, electrical by Joe Tschetter, and porch leveling by Peder Haugan. They have also removed non-historic exterior elements and have plans for a replacement to the existing garage in an historically appropriate manner.
In addition to substantial restorative efforts, Chuck has performed his own impressively thorough review of the history of the house with local sales records and other forensic methods. Historically named the Clay Smith House and built in 1894, Chuck believes that the house was built by a George Morehouse of Bank of Brookings, and at the time was on the corner of Brookings Street (now 6th Avenue) and Ada Street (now 7th Street).
Chuck and his family have put in months of sweat equity to make this old house shine again.
Category: Excellence in Restoration
Awardee: Daniel and Nancy Scholl
Location: 710 Fifth Ave.
The third Excellence in Restoration Award is presented to Daniel and Nancy Scholl, of 710 Fifth Ave. The Scholls moved from Quebec to Brookings in August 2011 to work at SDSU and fell in love with the charm of this impressive house and the historic neighborhood. They have maintained the property by the book, with their more recent efforts to replace the non-historic aluminum windows with custom wood windows to match the aesthetic of the original design, 18 windows in all.Gary LaJoi of Built Rite Construction installed most of the windows and matching storm shutters, supplied by Dubuque Window & Door Co and DeVenco Shutter Co. out of Dubuque, Iowa. All original exterior and interior trim was kept in-tact.
When asked why to replace with wood windows, they replied it was the logical option, and looks more appropriate for the architecture.
Category: Excellence in Restoration
Awardee: South Dakota State University
Location: Lincoln Hall
The final Excellence in Restoration Award was presented to South Dakota State University for renovations of Lincoln Hall. Lincoln Memorial Library was dedicated in 1927 by former President Calvin Coolidge and has served SDSU well for more than 90 years, anchoring the south end of the historic campus green.
The impressive structure features classical detailing with proper proportions, including stone entrance columns, entablature, and cornice at the main entrance, and is one of the best examples of neoclassical architecture on campus. The craftsmanship featured in the exterior detailing can also be found in the fine interior finish work, common to the era of the original construction.
Lincoln Hall had served SDSUs Music Department since 1978 until recent renovations started in 2017 to convert it into the new home for the College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences and the School of American & Global Studies. The renovated building will also accommodate the university archives, general classrooms, and academic support spaces.
The recent renovations to Lincoln Hall were extensive. The design firm Koch Hazard Architects was contracted by SDSU to help realize the overall vision and final execution of the project within a phased construction approach. The exterior of the building envelope was improved without any impact on historically significant architectural features, including masonry, stone, fixtures, and window updates. The interior renovations included adaptations to fit the new program spaces. The modifications have improved the efficiency, functionality, environmental quality, and accessibility of the historic building.
The improved flow and consolidation of spaces will enhance wayfinding for visitors, students, and faculty. Other interior upgrades include mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lighting, fire sprinkler, and opening the enclosed reading room skylights. All upgrades were done with intention and Lincoln Hall remains an incredibly important asset to the historic character of Brookings and the SDSU campus.
Category: Excellence in Rehabilitation
Awardee: Kevin Grunewaldt
Location: 411 Fourth St.
The Award for Excellence in Rehabilitation is presented to Kevin Grunewaldt, of 411 Fourth Street. Meeting the call for additional housing downtown, Kevin has cleverly retrofitted the second floor of the Threads of Memories building to provide a series of apartments.
To meet building code requirements, two stairs were required to the second floor, one of which required a modification of the street-facing, western storefront glazing to assume an exit stair to the sidewalk, which also presented minor changes to the Threads of Memories business space. Local ordinances dictated new egress-compliant windows to be provided in the second floor wall openings, which now match the general patterning of the original single-hung, mulled-together windows. These were provided not only on the street-facing side, but also the alley and rear side of the building.
Category: Adaptive Reuse
Awardee: Kara and Mike Grayson
Location: 419 Main Ave.
The Award for Adaptive Reuse wass presented to Kara and Mike Grayson, of 419 Main Avenue. This represents the most recent of the projects being awarded this year by BHPC, as work was just complete yet this summer.
In Karas words, Kara was the brains and Mike was the brawn of the project, prior to their purchase in 2022. Their recent work involved a general faade renovation and window replacement of the entire Main Avenue facing faade of the building. This was in part for much-needed brick tuckpointing / replacement and other long-standing maintenance concerns, as well as an opportunity to modernize the building appearance to todays current trends. The work was carried out while maintaining the modern massing and patterning of the former building appearance, a necessary requirement of the historic preservation efforts of the project. As evidenced in the photo, the new building image features light brick and matching light mortar, in heavy contrast with new black storefront windows, creating a captivating and sleek image. In addition to the work shown on the picture, a black awning was installed above the glazing, as the cherry on top for a brand-new, modern aesthetic to compliment the brand image for the business inside.
Notable subcontractors were brick faade work performed by Olson Masonry, Clite Electric, Midwest Glass, and Lens Awning & Canvas out of Sioux Falls.
Kara and Mike researched the building a bit prior to pulling the trigger on the renovation. Their source of research was the Digital Library of South Dakota, in which there are several photos of the building at different time periods. It is most interesting that the new aesthetic of the building very much resembles its appearance back in the 1960s as Stevensons.
Their original research on the property found this building was originally a two-story structure with beautiful architectural detail, specifically at the second floor level.
At the time of record, the second floor housed a doctors office occupied by Dr. O. W. Rood. Through the years, the building housed several different bakeries, a shoe store, and an appliance store.
Their work shows the impact hard work and creativity to just one building can have on the beautification of our downtown historic district.
Category: Stewardship – Residential
Awardee: Lee Gilkerson
Location: 828 Eighth Ave.
The Residential Stewardship Award was presented to Lee Gilkerson, of 828 Eighth Ave. Gilkerson substantially completed exterior restoration of the original structure, as well as a large addition on the east side this past December just in time to host Christmas Eve Dinner with much of his family.
The house was reportedly built by Lees great-great grandfather Niels E. Hansen, who of course was a famous horticultural explorer and the first head of the Agricultural Department at SDSU. The past 18 years, however, the structure sat largely empty and as a result fell into some disrepair.
About 13 years ago Lee and his father bought three rental houses in a row near campus, and by coincidence (maybe), they were right across the street from The Hansen House. Lee lived in one of those houses, and the passion to reacquire and restore The Hansen House entered Lee at that time, which was a dream of past generations in the Gilkerson family. After purchase, Lee and his team went to work.
By custom sawing narrow siding panels and carefully matching trim details, they were able to use modern materials on the garage addition in a manner which compliments the original house. The wood tongue and groove soffit was replaced with matching new wood as well as carefully selected new windows which matched the original size and style and fit exactly within the original exterior trim.
The original badly weathered cedar siding and trim was planed down to good wood, sanded and restored. All of the interior trim had been removed previously. They were able to refinish and reinstall the original doors including 2 sets of beautiful, large double pocket doors. They were able to acquire original manufacturer pocket door hardware parts online from a building in the Seattle area. Much of the original base trim on the main floor of the house has been refinished and reinstalled. Lee is especially proud of a few items in the house including the fruit tree landscape stain glass window that will be reinstalled in the stairway.
He is also fortunate to have some copies and one original painting done by Danish painter Andreas Hansen, N.E.Hansens father, that would have decorated the house in the 1900s.Notable contractors are Dakota Land Design, comprised of Lee, and partners Kyle and Jesyna Rausch and Jeff Borah, who were instrumental in making the project possible. Other key subcontractors in the success are Ideal Insulation, Big Sioux Plumbing, and Flemming Electric.
Another interesting family tie to the house is that during the 70s, Lees mother lived in the Hansen House for a semester while it was student housing for the Lutheran Student Center which owned it at the time, and was around the same time his mother met his father. The Lutheran Student Center had a large church in the backyard at that particular time.
When asked why he did things the way he did, Lee responded My goal throughout the project was to save the house from further deterioration to preserve its legacy, and to create a beautiful home with modern comforts and functionality.
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