Do you ever get that deja vu feeling while traveling around Kansas City? If a familiar-looking apartment building prompts you to stop and do a double-take, there’s a decent chance it’s an example of what we call the “prolific six-plex.” Even as constituent neighborhoods of the urban core are defined by their diversity, similarities abound among much […]
Repeated Building Designs: The Prolific Six-Plex Read More »
Do you ever get that deja vu feeling while traveling around Kansas City? Even as constituent neighborhoods of the urban core are defined by their diversity, similarities abound among much of the city’s residential architecture. Without discounting the variation in building styles and patterns over a century of development, an informed observer knows that familiar
Repeated Building Designs: Colonnaded Apartments Read More »
Anyone who has combed through reams of Jackson County property records knows that many of Kansas City’s early subdivisions bear the family name of prior owners–often those who, before the advent of development pressures from an expanding city center, had occupied the land themselves. One can all too easily assume, looking in the rearview from
Mary Whiteside, Citizen Entrepeneur Read More »
This photo shows 4118 Mercier in 1940. When the developer of Bonfils Place in the Volker neighborhood died, the Kansas City Journal called him “one of the most colorful survivors of the Old West.” Fred Bonfils, who gave the subdivision his name, started a lottery in Kansas to buy property in Kansas City and helped
Volker Developer Fred Bonfils Lived a Colorful Life Read More »
A new placard has been installed on a 48th St. building located just west of the Country Club Plaza. How might a new sign, simply denoting “708 W 48th St / COTTESBROOK APARTMENTS,” amount to a newsworthy story? The sign, situated on a (comparatively) sleepy cut-through between the commercial district and Roanoke Parkway, is significant
Name Restored to West Plaza, Nelle Peters-Designed Building Read More »
As demolitions of homes in Valentine continue, the mayor is stepping up talk about reducing the burden of privately owned vacant lots on neighborhoods. One idea – taxing vacant lots and buildings to encourage their use. The Kansas City Star reported on the issue on Nov. 25, 2024. “Something like a vacant land tax could
Valentine Demolitions Part of Discussion on Vacant Land Tax Read More »
Updated Dec. 20, 2024 Demolitions continue in the Valentine neighborhood between 33rd and 35th from Pennsylvania to Southwest Trafficway. The Valentine Neighborhood says 23 homes and other structures are being demolished without a plan for what will replace them. According to a recent historical survey of the area, all of these structures would have qualified
Valentine Demolitions Continue Read More »
Photo courtesy KCTV5. The Midtown KC Post is helping to document the loss of 23 homes and other structures between 33rd and 35th Streets from Summit to Pennsylvania that Kansas City Life Insurance is demolishing. On Oct. 28, residents of Valentine and others held a memorial service for the homes that are being lost. The Kansas
Demolitions in Valentine in 2024 Read More »
(This post originally ran on April 23, 2017) When Barbara Bescher bought a lot at the corner of 39th and Main in 1901, the home she built for herself was practically the only thing on the block. But just two decades later, in 1924, the savvy businesswoman sold the property for more than 20 times what
The NE Corner of 39th and Main Holds Layers of History Read More »
Like most of Midtown, people moved in and out of this South Hyde Park neighborhood from the time its small homes and apartments were built in the early 1900s. Owners and their families occupied some of the small bungalows; others were rented from real estate companies. Today, the block bounded by Holmes, Gillham and 43rd
Small Bungalows, Apartments Made Up South Hyde Park Block Read More »