Architecture in Kansas City - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The architecture of Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

and the metro area

Kansas City Metropolitan Area

The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...

includes major works by many of the world's most distinguished architects and firms, including McKim, Mead and White; Jarvis Hunt

Jarvis Hunt

Jarvis Hunt was a "renowned Chicago architect" who designed a wide array of buildings, including train stations, suburban estates, industrial buildings, clubhouses and other structures....

; Wight and Wight

Wight and Wight

Wight and Wight, known also as Wight & Wight, was an architecture firm in Kansas City, Missouri consisting of the brothers Thomas Wight and William Wight who designed several landmark buildings in Missouri and Kansas....

; Graham, Anderson, Probst and White; Hoit, Price & Barnes; Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

; the Office of Mies van der Rohe; Barry Byrne

Barry Byrne

Francis Barry Byrne was initially a member of the group of architects known as the Prairie School. After the demise of the Prairie School about 1914-16, Byrne continued as a successful architect by developing his own personal style.-Biography:Francis Barry Byrne was born and raised in Chicago...

; Edward Larrabee Barnes

Edward Larrabee Barnes

Edward Larrabee Barnes was a American architect.Barnes was born in Chicago, Illinois into a family he described as "incense-swinging High Episcopalians", consisting of Cecil Barnes, a lawyer, and Margaret Helen Ayer, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for the novel Year of Grace...

; Harry Weese

Harry Weese

Harry Mohr Weese was an American architect, born in Evanston, Illinois in the Chicago suburbs, who had an important role in 20th century modernism and historic preservation...

; Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...

; and others.

The city was founded in the 1850s at the confluence of the Missouri

Missouri River

The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

and Kaw rivers and grew with the expansion of the railroads, stockyards, and meatpacking industry. Prominent citizens settled in the Quality Hill neighborhood and commissioned fine homes primarily in Italianate Renaissance Revival style, which continued to be the major influence for new structures past the turn-of-the century. George Kessler

George Kessler

George Edward Kessler was a German American pioneer city planner and landscape architect.Over the course of his forty-one year career, George E. Kessler completed over 200 projects and prepared plans for 26 communities, 26 park and boulevard systems, 49 parks, 46 estates & residents, and 26 schools...

's urban plan for Kansas City with its expansive park and boulevard system, inspired by the City Beautiful Movement

City Beautiful movement

The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy concerning North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of using beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. The movement, which was originally associated mainly with Chicago,...

, made a profound and lasting impact on the city.

The core of the downtown area developed in an early 20th century building boom that continued into the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. The city has several buildings that place it among cities with the ten best examples of art deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

architecture in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Municipal Auditorium, the Kansas City Power and Light Building

Kansas City Power and Light Building

The Kansas City Power and Light Building is a landmark skyscraper located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri...

, and Jackson County Courthouse have been called "three of the nation's Art Deco treasures." J.C. Nichols, a prominent developer of commercial and residential real estate developed the Country Club Plaza

Country Club Plaza

The Country Club Plaza is an upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile...

(by Edward Buehler Delk

Edward Buehler Delk

Edward Buehler Delk was a prominent architect who designed many landmark buildings in the Midwest and Southwest regions of The United States.Delk was born in 22 Sep 1885 Schoharie, New York. He graduated from University of Pennsylvania in 1907...

and Edward Tanner), and was active in the promotion of lasting architectural landmarks such as Liberty Memorial

Liberty Memorial

The Liberty Memorial, located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is a memorial to the fallen soldiers of World War I and houses the The National World War I Museum, as designated by the United States Congress in 2004.. Groundbreaking commenced November 1, 1921, and the city held a site dedication...

(Harold Van Buren Magonigle

Harold Van Buren Magonigle

Harold Van Buren Magonigle was an American architect best known for his memorials.Born in New Jersey, Magonigle worked for Calvert Vaux, Rotch & Tilden and McKim Mead & White before opening his own practice in 1903...

), and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its neoclassical architecture and extensive collection of Asian art....

(Wight and Wight

Wight and Wight

).

A second period of building growth occurred from the 1960s through the 1980s. During this time, Kansas City, Missouri gained much of its modern skyline, including One Kansas City Place

One Kansas City Place

One Kansas City Place is the tallest building located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, bounded by 12th Street to the north, Baltimore Avenue to the west, and Main Street to the east...

, which is currently the tallest building in Missouri at 623 feet. Suburban growth spread into Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County is a county located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. The county is largely suburban, being part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and containing many of its affluent southwestern suburbs. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 544,179. Its county...

with new homes and mid-rise office buildings.

After a period of significant decline, downtown Kansas City has been revived by several major new works of architectural design. Sprint Center

Sprint Center

Sprint Center is a large, multi-use indoor arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The building is located at 14th Street and Grand Boulevard, on the east side of the Power & Light District...

arena (2007), the Power & Light District entertainment development (2007), the Block Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its neoclassical architecture and extensive collection of Asian art....

(2007), H&R Block World Headquarters (2006), 2555 Grand (2003), Charles Evans Whittaker Federal Courthouse (2000), Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. The core of the museum's permanent collection is the Bebe and R. Crosby Kemper Jr. Collection, a gift of the museum's founders. The collection includes works created after the 1913 Armory Show to works by present-day...

(1994), American Century Towers (1991 & 1994), Bartle Hall Convention Center

Bartle Hall Convention Center

Bartle Hall Convention Center is a major exposition hall in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It is named for Harold Roe Bartle, a prominent, two-term mayor of Kansas City in the 1950s and early 1960s...

expansion (1994), and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research (1994) are among the most prominent and recognizable.

Early architecture

The first skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

/highrise in Kansas City was the New York Life Insurance Building (Kansas City)

New York Life Insurance Building (Kansas City)

The New York Life Building is a highrise building completed in 1890 in Kansas City, Missouri. The tower is one of six buildings built by New York Life Insurance across the United States, and it is regarded as the first skyscraper in the city and the first to have elevators.-Background:The building...

, completed in 1890. It stands twelve floors tall at a height of 180 feet (54.8 m) and was the first local building with elevators. After the New York Life Building was completed, Kansas City followed the national trend of constructing a plethora of buildings above ten stories. Within fifty years of the building's construction, over fifty buildings over ten floors were built in and around downtown.

Louis Curtiss

Louis Curtiss

Louis Singleton Curtiss, was a Canadian-born American architect. Notable as a pioneer of the curtain wall design, he was once described as "the Frank Lloyd Wright of Kansas City", Missouri. In his career, he designed more than 200 buildings, though not all were realized...

, among Kansas City's most innovative architects, designed the Boley Clothing Company Building, which is renowned as "one of the first glass curtain-wall structures in the world." The six-story building also features cantilever

Cantilever

A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...

floor slabs, cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

structural detailing, and terra cotta

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

decorative elements.

Art Deco, Terra Cotta and Gothic styles

Kansas City underwent an early skyscraper boom between 1920 and 1940. During this time, notable skyscrapers such as the Power and Light Building, Oak Tower, City Hall, the Jackson County Court House, the Bryant Building, and the Fidelity National Bank building were constructed. Today, many of these buildings are being renovated for various uses, from residential lofts to office spaces. Oak Tower was once a building filled with terra cotta

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

and gothic architecture

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

. In an effort to modernize the then-40-year-old building in the 1970s, however, Southwestern Bell tore down and placed cladding

Cladding (construction)

Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements, or for aesthetic purposes....

over its gargoyle

Gargoyle

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...

Frank Lloyd Wright buildings

Frank Lloyd Wright

designed three buildings currently standing in the Kansas City area: the Frank Bott Residence (1950), the Clarence Sondern House

Clarence Sondern House

The Clarence Sondern House is a historic residence located at 3600 Belleview Ave in the Roanoke neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri.-History:...

(1940), and Community Christian Church (1940).

Community Christian Church

This Frank Lloyd Wright building sits across from the Country Club Plaza

Country Club Plaza

's main shopping district, located on Main at East 46th Street. In April 1940, Community Christian Church came to Wright and asked him to design a new building for them after a fire had destroyed their last church. Wright based his design on a parallelogram

Parallelogram

In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a convex quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equal measure...

including some features previously conceived for his last building for Johnson Wax Company, along with one additional unique feature: a spire of light. Due to high building costs, the scale of the church was reduced during construction. The auditorium was cut back from a planned 1,200 seats to 900 seats, many details were eliminated, and the building was sheathed in gunite, a form of lightweight concrete, over Wright's objections. The spire of light also could not be built and illuminated due to technical limitations of the times. However, the church was dedicated on January 4, 1942 and served the congregation well.

In 1994, the Spire of Light was finally completed as planned. The components are housed on the church roof inside of a perforated dome on the building's northwestern corner. The spire is created by four (4) 16" xenon

Xenon

Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. The element name is pronounced or . A colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas, xenon occurs in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts...

bulbs ignited by 40,000 volts of electricity, then, in combination with a parabolic reflector

Parabolic reflector

A parabolic reflector is a reflective device used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is that of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface generated by a parabola revolving around its axis...

, produces 300 million candela

Candela

The candela is the SI base unit of luminous intensity; that is, power emitted by a light source in a particular direction, weighted by the luminosity function . A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela...

of illumination (per light, 1.2 billion cp total) in a near perfect column. The spire can be seen for miles around Kansas City, and reportedly can be spotted 10 miles (16.1 km) north of the Plaza, depending on conditions. It has been calculated to stop at least 3 miles (4.8 km) up above the earth, about half the maximum height at which jet airplanes fly. The spire of light is lit regularly on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, except religious holidays, and is one of the features of the annual Plaza lighting ceremony.

Tours of Community Christian Church are open to the public and free of charge.

Modern and post-modern architecture

Kansas City had a building boom in the 1970s based on TWA

Twa

The Twa are any of several hunting peoples of Africa who live interdependently with agricultural Bantu populations, and generally hold a socially subordinate position: They provide the farming population with game in exchange for agricultural products....

's plans to use the city as the world hub for its new fleet of Boeing 747

Boeing 747

The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...

's and anticipated supersonic transport

Supersonic transport

A supersonic transport is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. The only SSTs to see regular service to date have been Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. The last passenger flight of the Tu-144 was in June 1978 with its last ever...

s.

During this period Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...

was built to TWA's specifications so that gates

Gate (airport)

A gate in aviation is a long, movable, "bridge" that allows passengers to embark and disembark their aircraft.* Jetway bridges* Air stairs, either built into the aircraft or from a mobile vehicle* Mobile lounges...

were within 100 feet (30.5 m) of the street. Hallmark Cards

Hallmark Cards

Hallmark Cards is a privately owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall, Hallmark is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts....

began construction of Crown Center

Crown Center

Crown Center is a commercial complex and neighborhood located near Downtown Kansas City, Missouri located between Gillham Road and Grand Boulevard to the east and west, and between Pershing Boulevard and Union Hill to the north and south. The shopping center is anchored by Halls, a department store...

. The city also built the Bartle Hall convention center. Architect Helmut Jahn

Helmut Jahn

Helmut Jahn is a German-American architect, well known for designs such as the US$800 million Sony Center on the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, the Messeturm in Frankfurt and the One Liberty Place, formerly the tallest building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Suvarnabhumi Airport, an international...

's first major work was the revolutionary design for Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena is a 19,500 seat indoor arena, in Kansas City, Missouri.It is named for R. Crosby Kemper Sr., a member of the powerful Kemper financial clan and who donated $3.2 million, from his estate for the arena...

which had no columns blocking sight lines and was built in 18 months in time to attract the 1976 Republican National Convention

1976 Republican National Convention

The 1976 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States met at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, from August 16 to August 19, 1976. The convention nominated incumbent Gerald Ford for President, but only after narrowly defeating a strong challenge from former California...

.

The optimism of this era came to a crashing end when the Kemper Arena roof collapsed during a storm in 1979 (although no one was injured) and when skybridge

Skybridge

Skybridge may refer to:* an alternate term for skyway.* The bridge named Skybridge in Vancouver, Canada.* The bridge named Skye Bridge in Britain.* The bridge named Langkawi Sky Bridge in Malaysia.* The Skybridge Building in Chicago, United States....

s at the new Hyatt Regency in Crown Center collapsed in the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse

Hyatt Regency walkway collapse

The Hyatt Regency hotel walkway collapse was a collapse of an interior suspended skywalk system that occurred on July 17, 1981, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, killing 114 people and injuring 216 others during a tea dance. At the time, it was the deadliest structural collapse in U.S...

on July 17, 1981 in the worst engineering disaster in recorded history in terms of human lives. Both buildings were repaired and remain in use.

In addition to these disasters, TWA asked the city to extensively rebuild the terminals

Airport terminal

An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft....

at the newly opened Kansas City International Airport so that it could have central checkpoints. The airport renovations had already come in at $100 million over budget, so the city refused. As a result, TWA moved its hub to St. Louis. In 2006, the city finally announced plans for a $250 million overhaul of the terminals to accommodate the security issues.

In the 1980s, the nation moved from the "modern

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...

" style of architecture (as inspired by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....

), building large, boxy structures, to a "postmodern

Postmodern architecture

Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...

" style. The two most noticeable postmodern buildings in the Kansas City skyline are the Town Pavilion

Town Pavilion

Town Pavilion is a 38-story skyscraper located at 1111 Main Street on the northeast corner of 12th and Main Streets in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, around the corner from Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park. The tower occupies the former site of several retail buildings--including Kline's...

(built in 1986) and One Kansas City Place

One Kansas City Place

One Kansas City Place is the tallest building located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, bounded by 12th Street to the north, Baltimore Avenue to the west, and Main Street to the east...

(1988). One Kansas City Place is a taller, glass version of City Hall. The building rises 623 feet from its main entrance to the top of its spire and is Missouri's tallest office building.

Original Kansas City architecture

Kansas City's most profound influence on national architecture is the Kansas City-style of stadium that first originated with the Kivett & Myers 1967 design for the Truman Sports Complex

Truman Sports Complex

The Harry S. Truman Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility located in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.. It is home to two major sports venues- Arrowhead Stadium, home of the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, and Kauffman Stadium, home of Major League Baseball's Kansas City...

for the Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...

and Kansas City Royals

Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...

. In an era when new stadiums were huge multiuse arena

Arena

An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...

s, Kivett & Myers proposed baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

and football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

have their own arenas with dimensions most favorable to their sports and then covered with a rolling roof. Virtually all major league ballparks and stadiums since then have followed that model and most have been designed by one of two Kansas City architect firms that trace their stadium business roots to Kivett -- Populous and HNTB

HNTB

HNTB Corporation is an architecture and engineering consulting firm headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri that has designed many bridges, roadways, airports and professional sports stadiums across the United States and around the world.The firm started in 1914 as Harrington, Howard & Ash...

. The firms' headquarters are a few blocks apart in downtown Kansas City

Downtown Kansas City

Downtown Kansas City is the central business district of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. It is located between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line east to Troost Avenue as defined by officials of the...

.

The most distinctive feature of any modern Kansas City building is its use of fountain

Fountain

A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....

s. Kansas City calls itself the City of Fountains and has more than 200 fountains (with the claim that only Rome, Italy has more fountains). Probably the most famous is the J.C. Nichols Fountain on the Country Club Plaza. It's also the most photographed. Sculpted by France's Henri Greber in 1910, the fountain's mounted figures were originally planned for a Long Island estate. Each of the equestrian figures represents one of four great rivers of the world: Mississippi, Volga, Rhine and Seine.

Landmark Tower/One Park Place

This building is formerly known as the BMA (Business Men's Assurance Company) Building. It is located south of downtown at the intersection of Southwest Tfwy and 31st Street, directly across from the Fox 4 News

WDAF-TV

WDAF-TV, virtual channel 4.1, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Its studios and transmitter are located in the Signal Hill...

building and towers, and on the same block as Penn Valley skatepark

Penn Valley skatepark

Penn Valley Skatepark is one of the more recent additions to the park, and is also known as Kansas City Skate Plaza because of the similar appearance of a "plaza-type" Skatepark...

.

Built in 1964, Landmark Tower was originally designed by architects at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

, who also designed the Plaza Center Building at 800 West 47th Street. Its structural grid, which is clad in white Georgian

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

marble, is projected out in front of the actual building. Landmark Tower earned the First Honor Award in 1964 from the American Institute of Architects

American Institute of Architects

The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...

and was featured in a 1965 exhibit by New York's Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

.

Renovation began in 2003. The only opposition occurred when developers wanted to build additional residential facilities inside the park adjacent to the tower. The developers from One Park Place have stated that the tower will hold between 150 and 200 residential units. Gastinger Walker Harden Architects is working with the developers on the renovations, respecting the original design, which was inspired by the "International" style.

The View

Located at 600 Admiral Boulevard, it was originally completed in 1967. The architects of this building were John L. Daw & Associates. The Vista del Rio was the first multi-story exposed concrete structural frame building allowed by federal specifications. It was also the first federally approved high-rise to use sheetrock for internal walls. It was originally built to inspire urban renewal in the previously dilapidated area; however, after a period of misuse, the building itself fell into deep disrepair. After much of its glass had been removed, it began to be used by more "troublesome" citizens. By the 1990s, maintenance and care became so bad that graffiti appeared throughout the structure and, unfortunately, even human remains were found around the premises.

Many predicted the destruction of this neglected building, but at the beginning of current downtown redevelopment, its future became much brighter. The Vista Del Rio became the View, turning from a public nuisance to a magnet for people wishing anew to live downtown.

Fidelity Bank and Trust/909 Walnut

This building is located at 909 Walnut Street (formerly 911 Walnut Street), in the north portion of downtown's Central Business District. Constructed in 1931 (at the same time as the Power and Light Building), it is 35 stories tall.

Originally built to replace the Fidelity National Bank and Trust Building that had formerly existed on that site, it was designed by Hoit, Price and Barnes Architects, the same firm that designed the Power and Light Building. It won a local American Institute of Architects award in the 1930s during its construction. The twin towers at its top resemble those of notable buildings around the United States, such as 900 North Michigan

900 North Michigan

900 North Michigan in Chicago is a skyscraper completed in 1989. At 871 feet tall, it is currently the seventh tallest building in Chicago and the 25th tallest in the United States...

in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

(built in 1989), or the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...

in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

(built in 1931). The building once had a large clock in its north tower which has long since been removed.

In 2003, several proposals competed to turn this building into a residential tower. The building now houses 150-180 residential units, complete with rooftop terraces for its two multimillion-dollar penthouses.

New development

Since 2000, downtown Kansas City has undergone a virtual renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

. During the 1950s and 1960s, as many downtown residents moved south and north to Kansas City's sprawling suburbs, downtown's population dwindled. By the 1980s, downtown Kansas City consisted mostly of office towers, with few thriving neighborhoods remaining. Today, however, major downtown redevelopment

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

has brought back thousands of residents; with them has come a need for more buildings and more density.

In the winter of 2004, H&R Block

H&R Block

H&R Block is a tax preparation company in the United States, claiming more than 22 million customers worldwide, with offices in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Kansas City-based company also offers banking, personal finance and business consulting services.Founded in 1955 by brothers...

announced the construction of its new headquarters, a 17-story tower downtown which was completed in early 2007. The tower serves as the anchor of a six-block entertainment district neighboring the Central Business District. This project hopes to bring additional entertainment, jobs and housing to downtown; the project includes five new skyscrapers. At least five to six other new skyscrapers have also been proposed for downtown.

Local architectural firms have major contracts with these and other new proposals. The two biggest are the Power and Light District, designed by Cordish Company of Baltimore, Maryland, and the 18,500-seat Sprint Center

Sprint Center

Sprint Center is a large, multi-use indoor arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The building is located at 14th Street and Grand Boulevard, on the east side of the Power & Light District...

arena.

On October 6, 2006, ground was broken on the future Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is a newly inaugurated performing arts center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at 16th and Broadway near the Power & Light District, the Sprint Center and the Crossroads Arts District. Its construction was a major part of the ongoing redevelopment...

a 316000 square feet (29,357.4 m²) performing arts center. It will serve the Kansas City Metropolitan Area

Kansas City Metropolitan Area

as host to three resident companies: the Kansas City Symphony

Kansas City Symphony

The Kansas City Symphony is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The current home of the Symphony is the Lyric Theatre, located in Downtown Kansas City on 11th Street between Wyandotte and Central Streets...

, Ballet

Kansas City Ballet

Founded in 1957, Kansas City Ballet is a 25-member professional ballet company under the direction of Artistic Director William Whitener and Executive Director Jeffrey J. Bentley. Kansas City Ballet performs three mixed repertory seasons per year as well as the ever-popular Nutcracker...

, and Opera. It is scheduled to open Fall 2011.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City covers the 10th District of the Federal Reserve, which includes Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and portions of western Missouri and northern New Mexico. The Bank has branches in Denver, Oklahoma City, and Omaha. The current president is...

has also completed building a new headquarters located southwest of the Crown Center