History

For nearly 40 years the Kansas Historical Society occupied a succession of quarters in the statehouse as its holdings steadily grew. In 1914 the collections were moved to the grand and newly constructed Memorial Building in downtown Topeka. In 1984 the Kansas Museum of History moved to an 80-acre site in west Topeka near the Potawatomi Mission leaving the remaining agencies still housed in the Memorial Building. The historic Stach School later joined the complex, and in May 1995 the mission was reopened as the Koch Industries Education Center. During July and August 1995 the vast collections of library, archival, manuscript, and archeological materials were moved to new facilities in the State Archives & Library on the west Topeka site. This complex reunited the Society at one location.

The magnificent State Archives & Library, designed by architects Abend Singleton Associates Inc. of Lenexa, has been dazzling visitors since it opened in October 1995. The building's innovative design, its use of native construction materials, and its massive limestone conference table continue to draw interest. The prehistoric limestone with its characteristic fossil composition provides the perfect production material for the Kansas Historical Society's structure housing collections of more recent history.

The Building

The Society's extensive library, archives, manuscripts, and photograph collections are housed in the 80,000 square-foot State Archives & Library. The building extends from the Kansas Museum of History to form an L-shaped complex to complement the historic Potawatomi Mission, which is the visual centerpiece of the complex.

The Library's connected staggered box with pitched roof forms are reminiscent of the character and scale of the mission. The subtle, yet finely detailed use of limestone, metal, and wood both outside and in provide a simple elegance befitting the importance and the permanence of the institution and its functions. Visitors enter the stately, open lobby from beneath the exterior glass and metal canopy or through an interior hall connecting the museum and the research building. Skylights, clerestories, and open roof trusses create a light, spacious feeling in both public and work areas.

The two-story, naturally-lit research room overlooking the lobby offers a cheery environment to researchers, genealogists, and students. The Library is also home to many other agency services including archeology, historic preservation, publications, historic sites, and administrative resources.

The Exterior

Cottonwood limestone covers the exterior facade of the State Archives & Library. The limestone was provided from the Chase County quarry by J.T. Lardner Cut Stone. The Lardners honed the surface of the stone to reduce soiling and moisture penetration.

Created 250 million years ago during the Permian Age, the sedimentary Cottonwood limestone withstands the freezes and thaws of Kansas weather. Considered a premiere exterior material, Cottonwood limestone can be found in many of the state's buildings including all but the east wing of the Kansas State Capitol, the Eisenhower Library, and the Kansas Museum of History.

Formed in five-foot-thick ledges in the heart of the Flint Hills, the off-white colored Cottonwood limestone prominently displays the grain-shaped fusulinid and disk-like crinoids that were trapped during its formation.

Extensive use of dark clerestory glass gives the appearance that the roof floats above the massive limestone walls. Standing seam stainless steel terne metal caps the building.

The Interior

The interior lobby walls also feature the light-colored Cottonwood limestone. The horizontal joints of each stone panel have been carefully aligned to match the horizontal joints of the oak panels and other architectural features such as window mullions and concrete beams.

Medium dark Tuxedo Gray limestone was used for the Library's lobby and reception area floors and the treads and risers of the main staircase. The Tuxedo Gray limestone was quarried in Jackson County by Bayer Stone of St. Marys and polished to resemble marble.

Tuxedo Gray is the trade name for the Americus Limestone member of the Foraker Limestone Formation. The stone occurs as a single ledge, in thin layers, one to two feet in thickness near the base of the Lower Permian sequence of rocks in Kansas and is approximately 275 million years old.

The geometric floor pattern was created using Tuxedo Gray limestone and the darker Buckingham Grade A blue-black slate. The Virginia Slate Company quarried the slate in Arvonia, Virginia.

Architectural components and materials have been masterfully woven together to create a sense of beauty, quality, and permanence. Soaring wood trusses; dynamic combinations of natural light, direct lighting, and indirect lighting; pleasing light oak wall panels, doors, and trim; textured sandblasted concrete columns and beams; contrasting tinted glazing; polished aluminum structural connectors; and exposed air ducts; in conjunction with the limestone provide contemporary yet warm and exhilarating spaces congenial to the Library's visitors and occupants.

The Conference Room Table

Created as a functional sculpture, the extraordinary sixteen-person conference room table is a showcase for the prehistoric fossils found in the Tuxedo Gray limestone. Initially designed with a single slab of limestone, the table was created in three matching pieces because Tuxedo Gray occurs only in small thin layers.

Archeological artifacts in the Historical Society's collections inspired the 18-foot long table. As a broken pot would be assembled with a contrasting matrix to reveal missing portions, three separate pieces of the limestone were clamped together with polished aluminum hardware revealing the tabletop's imperfect seams. The three pieces, together weighing more than 7,000 pounds, are set on four large pedestal legs made from the same Tuxedo Gray limestone. Oversize openings have been cut into the tabletop so that the pedestal legs fit flush with the top surface while leaving an oval opening to accentuate the detail. The beveled edges and one curved side add to the user's comfort. The limestone material and the design details of the table are complementary to those of the custom light fixtures, the light oak wall panels, and other architectural components of the conference room.

Because of the table's weight and size, it was installed in the building by crane once the floor was poured but before the roof and finishes were installed. It remained covered in a protective wood box for several months until the building was finished.