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Project Name: Eisenhower Ridge Apartments
Project Location: Leavenworth, Kansas
Completion Date: 2006
Architect: Treanor Architects, P.A.
General Contractor: Straub Construction

DEVELOPMENT

This development project involves the long-term lease and historic renovation of sixteen historic buildings - eleven residential buildings, and five detached garage buildings - that have been a part of veteran services on the Leavenworth VA campus, and are part of a 38-building historic rehabilitation project known as Eisenhower Ridge. All sixteen structures were structurally sound, but were in need of significant rehabilitation, and have been converted into 45 affordable apartment units know as Eisenhower Ridge Apartments.

Through the renovation process, those who live in these apartments now can enjoy modern amenities to include central heating and air-conditioning individualized for each apartment, a refrigerator, range, kitchen exhaust fan, diswasher, and disposal, plus common laundry rooms located in what once served as garage stalls in each area of the complex. Residents also enjoy a number of other amenities, such as: organized recreational activities; access to lots of green space and paved walking paths; bike racks; picnic tables; space available for gardens; access to the internet; a library; community room; exercise equipment; plus storage in some of the other garage stalls.

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE

These residential and garage buildings converted into apartments are on the National Register of Historic Places as the historic district named, "Western Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers." The District qualified for historic listing because of its architectural and historical significance, with additional emphasis on the District's landscape design.

The historic background begins shortly after the Civil War. The VA Leavenworth campus began construction in 1885, as the Western Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. By1890, approximately 40 buildings were erected and comprised a coherent planned community for Civil War veterans, similar to other branches of the National Home. It included barracks, mess hall and kitchen, staff housing, chapel, an administration and library building, hospital, amusement halls, quarters, shops, laundry, stable, greenhouses, agricultural buildings, and other facilities. In 1930, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was incorporated into the newly created Veterans Administration, and this property was designated a VA Medical Center. Since that change, medical programs predominated, rather than home programs.

In 1995, a new domiciliary building was built on the Leavenworth campus, and a majority of the old barracks, mess hall, and other supporting facilities were vacated. With the vacated buildings no longer used to support the medical center’s mission, they became available for adaptive reuse and redevelopment to serve new purposes.

THE NAME - EISENHOWER RIDGE

“Eisenhower Ridge” has been chosen as the name, to designate the dignity and character of this redevelopment. Although this property originally was known as the Western Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and was designed largely to serve the brave “volunteer” soldiers of the Civil War, the campus later was renamed the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center. For consistency and compatibility with the continuing VA operations in Leavenworth, we have chosen to use the Eisenhower name for the redevelopment, and for this group of apartments. Known for his leadership and courage, serving as the commanding general of allied forces in World War II, and later as the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower is a native son of Kansas who has earned the respect of the world.

We decided to combine the dignity of the Eisenhower name with the word “Ridge,” which describes some of the natural and historic character of this development. According to the documents successfully nominating this property for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, the original landscape architect focused the design on accentuating the ridge:

“The 213.97-acre site is characterized by rolling terrain, tree-dotted lawns, a manmade lake, and curving roads. … The original site plan … is thought to have been the design of landscape architect H.W.S. Cleveland. … the design incorporates the natural north-south ridge as the long spine of a roughly C-shape layout of roads and buildings. Franklin Avenue (originally called Front Street) and a secondary road, Back Street, follow the ridge. … The domiciliaries are oriented east-west, perpendicular to the ridge, making maximum use of the linear site and taking advantage of breezes and vistas.”

	Front Staircase in Building 43
Building #115 – Four-stall garage building converted to Community Room (two stalls), Exercise Room, and Laundry Room.
	Photo from inside the two south bays of Building #115, where the two stalls were combined to become a meeting room. This photo shows how the renovation preserved the exterior appearance of the garage doors, still getting natural light through the windows, but now having a wall built inside the historic garage doors. Adding a high-efficiency heat pump for comfort, plus carpeting, modern lighting, and a kitchenette, the “historic” space transformed into a wonderful Community Room.
This photo was taken inside an upstairs back porch off a second floor bedroom of Building #56, looking NNE at another of our buildings next door, and at the scenic Missouri River valley – this building’s back yard.
	This photo shows one of many fireplace mantles preserved in the renovation process.