National and State Registers of Historic Places
Fairview Apartments
206 E. 18th Street
Wichita (Sedgwick County)
Listed in National Register
2009-12-30
Architect: unknown
Category: multiple dwelling
Thematic Nomination: Residential Resources of Wichita, Sedgwick County, KS, 1870-1957
Built in 1924, the Fairview Apartment building is located a few blocks south of Wichita's North End commercial and industrial district. Through the start of World War I, industrial development in the North End spurred residential and commercial growth. A dramatic rise in population during the booming 1920s, coupled with a desire for safe, sanitary housing and a shortage of building materials and skilled labor, triggered an increase in multi-family apartment construction in Wichita. This conventional low-rise apartment building has sixteen residential units on each of the first and second floors. The design of the Fairview Apartments reflects popular architectural trends in multi-family housing seen in Wichita and nationwide during this period. Apartment buildings typically had brick veneer walls with limestone or cast stone trim applied to fireproof, concrete or even steel structures. This building has a U-shaped plan and features buff brick walls with patterned brickwork at the cornice and a flat roof with a shaped parapet. The bracketed door hoods with exposed rafter tails and multi-light upper window sashes express vernacular elements of Craftsman architecture applied to a multi-family building. The building was nominated as part of the "Residential Resources of Wichita, 1870-1957" multiple property listing for its architecture.
