Sternberg Mansion Color Photo

Photo of the William Henry Sternberg Mansion in Wichita, KS - circa 1976. This is a large 4-story home not including a full basement (w/ basement @ 8,000 sq. ft.), four decorative, corbelled chimney flues and five woodburning fireplaces, walnut staircase, ornate 4-light gas newel post lamp and original hardware throughout. Additional information can be found at: members.cox.net/wichitahpa/sternberg.html. W.H. Sternberg both designed and built residences and commercial buildings across the country (from about 1850 to about 1905). Other Sternberg designed and/or Sternberg-built structures are known to exist in New York and Missouri. Other states such as Indiana and Connecticut are suspected. The very first house ever built in Wichita was at 9th & Waco Ave. and Sternberg Mansion is at 10th & Waco Ave. - in the heart of historic Wichita. Durfee's Ranch, the first trading post in early Wichita, was located a few hundred feet from here. Jesse Chisholm, for whom the famous Chisholm Trail was named traded at Durfee's Ranch. Wichita grew rapidly in the 1860s & 1870s. When Sternberg Mansion was built in 1886, Waco Avenue was the most exclusive residential district in Wichita and grand palatial homes such as this lined the Avenue. In 1886, Sternberg Mansion cost the handsome sum of $25,000 to build. For fledgling settlers making a "go" of it in early Wichita this was a hefty amount indeed. The rest of these upscale homes on Waco Avenue (among them the Charles Smythe residence and the Finlay Ross residence) are now gone and Sternberg Mansion is the last of these grand old Victorian homes in what was once Wichita's most exclusive residential district. W.H. Sternberg was the area's most prolific builder in the last half of the 1800s and was popular not just for his designs and quality of his work but for his reputation as an honest and civic-minded person. Sternberg in known to have donated building materials and labor for worthy causes such as the poor house and the early Masons movement in Wichita. Indeed due to his pro bono work on the old masonic lodge at 1st and Topeka and giving the Masons a place in which to conduct meetings, Sternberg is credited with being one of three people instrumental in reviving the early mason's movement in Wichita - which today is still strong. Sternberg hired only those of the highest character and skill and supervised a full-time crew of approximately 40 laborers. Sternberg only lived in the mansion for 3 years. When Wichita's economy "hit the skids" in 1889, Sternberg sold to a friend but he remained in the area continuing his design and contracting work until 1905. W.H. Sternberg passed away in 1906 at the age of 74. He is credited with many "firsts" in the industry including the first builder to hire an architect (the renowned Stanford White of New York) for purely aesthetics and design of a residence, and unique features catering to the comfort of Victorian homeowners such as the first-ever laundry chute in a residence. As of 04/08/2009 the house is being restored with the intent of opening it as a historic house museum. Present owner (04/08/2009) is open to assistance from interested parties that may help with renovation to a historic house museum.

 

UPDATE: As of 03/2010, the Historic Sternberg Mansion was selected as the "Most Endangered Historic Property in Kansas" by the Kansas Preservation Alliance. Your help is needed to save this historic and architectural jewel from demolition . . .

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