Buildings and Architecture

From four-plexes to shirtwaists, Midtown’s unique architecture sets it apart.

Nutterville Stands Out in Westport

The block between Archibald and 41st Street and between Central and Baltimore today is part of Nutterville, an area of brightly-painted and carefully landscaped homes that have been converted to business spaces by the James B. Nutter company. Homes that once stood on the block along the west side of Baltimore Street are gone, for the […]

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Historic Athenaeum Building Changes Hands

The Kansas City Athenaeum Club said it had sold its 101-year-old building at Linwood and Campbell to the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority DEED Foundation. Both groups describe the transfer of the historic building as a perfect fit for the site , which has a century of history and now has a past and a future involving important women’s

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Old Hyde Park Block’s Fancy Apartment Hotel

Today’s slideshow features the 3400 block of Broadway and Central and the blocks of Armour Boulevard and 34th Streets between Broadway and Central. The Ellison Apartment Hotel at 300 West Armour in 1940. The area includes the historic Ellison Apartment Hotel at 300 West Armour and Warwick Cleaners at 3421 Broadway. In these 1940s photos,

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Nelson’s Country Mansion Became Site of Nelson-Atkins Museum

William Rockhill Nelson is best remembered as the founder of the Kansas City Star, but Nelson once said he enjoyed nothing more than building houses. Nelson the journalist was also an avid real estate developer and planner. He was among the first of the Kansas City elite to move south – helping start the movement

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Midtown Millionaire’s Row at 31st and Troost

When Kansas City pioneer Webster Withers moved his family to this block in 1883, he said he’d decided to move to “the country.” He built his mansion on forty acres of ground on a spot few would recognize today – 31st Street and Troost Avenue. “We were tired of town life,” Withers’ wife told the Kansas

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Row Houses Are Unique Midtown Architecture

This block of row houses is a one-of-a-kind in Midtown. There are several reasons for that. First, it predates much of the architecture in this part of the city, built in the early days of the southward development. And its style – Queen Anne with some Eastlake elements – is also uncommon in Midtown. The

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One of Kansas City’s Tallest Buildings in 1914

The address the Kansas City Star called “the most conspicuous building on the skyline” in 1914 doesn’t stand out that much today. But the St. Regis Hotel, which has stood solidly at the northeast corner of Linwood and The Paseo for 100 years, was once the tallest building outside of downtown and one of the

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