Hires Construction Firm For Facelift

Like a starlet from the golden age of motion pictures, the Kansas Aviation Museum's architectural beauty has faded over the years. Housed in the original Wichita Municipal Airport terminal, the museum's exterior was once a grand example of aviation-themed art deco. But the building has been in decay for years, its steps crumbling, its window frames rotting.

That's about to change.

The Wichita Eagle reports a locally-based contractor, Rainbow Construction, has been picked to give the terminal a facelift -- a project long-delayed and often in financial limbo. The $835,000 project should get underway within two weeks, according to the paper.

Architect Sam Frey of Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture makes it clear -- this isn't renovation, it's restoration. One look at the building will tell you why. Built in 1929, the 49,000 square-foot terminal has been modified over the years. But Frey says those changes are being stripped away.

"All of the additional stuff will be stripped away to reveal the original exterior wall and the original flight observation deck," Frey told the Eagle. "It will return the building to the look of the days when people would go to the airport just to watch the planes and the people come and go."

In its heyday, the terminal was haunted by the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhardt. The Eagle reports Howard Hughes once threw his lunch onto the floor at the terminal's diner.

But restoring this remarkable example of art and architecture has been difficult. "Progress at the museum has been slow, but there is so much latent potential," Frey told the Wichita newspaper. "There is so much history there, and it's been so hard to get that story out to the public."

Often plagued with money problems, Frey told the Eagle that the federal government finally stepped in to help. "We were fortunate to get the federal grant to help pay for protecting the stability of the building," he said. "We need to continue to work to move things along."

So museum director Teresa Day says she's working on a fundraising drive for both the terminal restoration and a new hangar where rare vintage aircraft will be housed. That effort will be the centerpiece of the fall aviation festival in Wichita, slated for next month.

(Special thanks to photographer Derrick Vogt)

FMI: www.kansasaviationmuseum.org