United States Courthouse and Post Office (Kansas City, Missouri)
Encyclopedia
The United States Courthouse and Post Office , also known as Federal Courts Building, is a historic courthouse
and post office
located at Kansas City
in Jackson County, Missouri
. It is the courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
.
The building's architectural design was produced by the prominent local architecture firm Wight and Wight, whose distinguished civic work includes the Jackson County Courthouse
(1934), City Hall (1937), and the Municipal Courts Building (1938). These projects, including the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, represent Wight and Wight's shift from the Classical Revival, which previously dominated federal architecture, toward the Moderne
movement that was beginning to emerge nationwide during the 1930s. The Courthouse's abstracted classicism with Art Deco references embodies this stylistic transition.
In 1952, the building received national attention when Thurgood Marshall
represented the plaintiff of the Swope Park Swimming Pool
desegregation case. As the first major desegregation case in Kansas City, the deliberations stirred the burgeoning Civil Rights movement.
Plans have been made to renovate the entire building to accommodate new, nonfederal tenants as part of an upcoming outlease program. The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 2003.
are nearly devoid of classical ornamentation, which is limited to the punctuated regular rhythm of elongated bays.
Encompassing a full city block along Grand Avenue, each of the four sides of the immense ten-story edifice is similar in design, divided into three horizontal sections. The facade's (west elevation's) three-story base rises with smooth walls pierced by elongated bays enclosing the first- and second-story windows, which are divided by decorative spandrels. Each bay is pierced by paired punched windows separated by limestone mullions at the third story. A series of wide granite steps with bronze handrails leads from Grand Avenue to the three central bays enclosing the entrances. The striking dark texture of the cast-bronze door framing and grillwork above exhibit restrained classical detailing, and contrast with the light tones and smoothness of the pale-gray Indiana limestone walls.
The upper stories are set back from the base at each elevation, rising five stories in similarly planar limestone walls. The fifth story echoes the fourth-story fenestration and creates the building's middle section by an elegant stringcourse of Greek fretwork. The bays above are elongated to enclose eleven bays of four-story stacked fenestration, with each window divided by decorative aluminum spandrels repeated from the base. Above the ninth story is a wide entablature, composed of a blank architrave and frieze, and a simple cornice.
The interiors retain their original design and continue the spare ornamentation with emphasis on fine materials and abstracted geometric motifs. The vestibule is clad in marble upon a black granite base and features original bronze sidelights flanking each doorway and adjacent recessed wood-paneled telephone niches. The T-shaped central lobby is finished with multicolor terrazzo floors, golden-veined Genevieve marble for the walls, and high plaster ceilings. The cream-colored terrazzo is bordered with black and green terrazzo cross bands to reflect the geometric patterns of the ceiling beams. Marble pilasters detailed with Greek fretwork divide the walls into three bays, while four freestanding, rectangular marble-clad columns dominate the central space. The former postal lobby has similarly refined materials of marble pilasters and terrazzo flooring, with marble wainscoting at the service windows.
At the east side of the central lobby, molded marble surrounds with black granite plinth blocks enclose a bank of six elevators. The north and south lobby walls contain marble-framed double doors with panelized details; these doors lead to the main stairwells, where flights of pink marble stairs and brass railings ascend to the north and south lobbies.
Four historic courtrooms, located on the fourth and sixth floors, exude modernity with elegant finishes, making them the most historically significant spaces within the building. The courtrooms are nearly identical, rising two stories and featuring leather-covered doors, light and dark cork-tile flooring, pink-granite baseboards, and wood-paneled wainscoting. Pilasters divide the space into regular bays, rising to support wood trim and plaster crown moldings. The recessed ceiling panels contain two original brass pendant lights and a large circular aluminum air grille, and are divided by wide beams adorned with gold-leaf paint finishes. The courtrooms are windowless, relying on advanced lighting and an air-conditioning system, considered to be state-of-the-art when the building was completed.
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
and post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
located at Kansas City
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...
in Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. With a population of 674,158 in the 2010 census, Jackson County is the second most populous of Missouri's counties, after St. Louis County. Kansas City, the state's most populous city and focus city of the Kansas City Metropolitan...
. It is the courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
The United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri is the federal judicial district encompassing 66 counties in the western half of the State of Missouri...
.
Building history
Acting as a point of departure during the great migration to the West, Kansas City experienced phenomenal urban growth and development during the early years of the twentieth century. By 1930, the city's increasing population warranted a new federal building to replace an existing post office and custom house. The 1930s New Deal programs, created to generate employment during the widespread economic downturn of the Great Depression, provided funding for construction of new federal buildings nationwide. Responding to Kansas City's need for a larger, more efficient building, the program funded a new U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in 1935. The building's construction, from 1938 to 1939, symbolized the ideals of the progressive public works projects. As one of the New Deal's last major construction projects of the 1930s, the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse provided modern space to accommodate the burgeoning presence of the federal government in Kansas City.The building's architectural design was produced by the prominent local architecture firm Wight and Wight, whose distinguished civic work includes the Jackson County Courthouse
Jackson County Courthouse (Independence, Missouri)
The Jackson County Courthouse in Independence, Missouri is located on Independence Square at Main & Maple Street in Independence....
(1934), City Hall (1937), and the Municipal Courts Building (1938). These projects, including the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, represent Wight and Wight's shift from the Classical Revival, which previously dominated federal architecture, toward the Moderne
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...
movement that was beginning to emerge nationwide during the 1930s. The Courthouse's abstracted classicism with Art Deco references embodies this stylistic transition.
In 1952, the building received national attention when Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
represented the plaintiff of the Swope Park Swimming Pool
Swope Park
Swope Park is an 1805-acre city park within the city of Kansas City, Missouri. It is the 29th-largest municipal park in the United States , and the largest park in Kansas City. It is named in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Swope, a philanthropist who donated the land to the city in 1896...
desegregation case. As the first major desegregation case in Kansas City, the deliberations stirred the burgeoning Civil Rights movement.
Plans have been made to renovate the entire building to accommodate new, nonfederal tenants as part of an upcoming outlease program. The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2003.
Architecture
The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse artfully embodies the Art Modern style that was becoming increasingly influential by the late 1930s - a time when many federal architects experimented with abstracted classical motifs combined with a reduction in architectural ornament. The building's flat planes of Indiana limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
are nearly devoid of classical ornamentation, which is limited to the punctuated regular rhythm of elongated bays.
Encompassing a full city block along Grand Avenue, each of the four sides of the immense ten-story edifice is similar in design, divided into three horizontal sections. The facade's (west elevation's) three-story base rises with smooth walls pierced by elongated bays enclosing the first- and second-story windows, which are divided by decorative spandrels. Each bay is pierced by paired punched windows separated by limestone mullions at the third story. A series of wide granite steps with bronze handrails leads from Grand Avenue to the three central bays enclosing the entrances. The striking dark texture of the cast-bronze door framing and grillwork above exhibit restrained classical detailing, and contrast with the light tones and smoothness of the pale-gray Indiana limestone walls.
The upper stories are set back from the base at each elevation, rising five stories in similarly planar limestone walls. The fifth story echoes the fourth-story fenestration and creates the building's middle section by an elegant stringcourse of Greek fretwork. The bays above are elongated to enclose eleven bays of four-story stacked fenestration, with each window divided by decorative aluminum spandrels repeated from the base. Above the ninth story is a wide entablature, composed of a blank architrave and frieze, and a simple cornice.
The interiors retain their original design and continue the spare ornamentation with emphasis on fine materials and abstracted geometric motifs. The vestibule is clad in marble upon a black granite base and features original bronze sidelights flanking each doorway and adjacent recessed wood-paneled telephone niches. The T-shaped central lobby is finished with multicolor terrazzo floors, golden-veined Genevieve marble for the walls, and high plaster ceilings. The cream-colored terrazzo is bordered with black and green terrazzo cross bands to reflect the geometric patterns of the ceiling beams. Marble pilasters detailed with Greek fretwork divide the walls into three bays, while four freestanding, rectangular marble-clad columns dominate the central space. The former postal lobby has similarly refined materials of marble pilasters and terrazzo flooring, with marble wainscoting at the service windows.
At the east side of the central lobby, molded marble surrounds with black granite plinth blocks enclose a bank of six elevators. The north and south lobby walls contain marble-framed double doors with panelized details; these doors lead to the main stairwells, where flights of pink marble stairs and brass railings ascend to the north and south lobbies.
Four historic courtrooms, located on the fourth and sixth floors, exude modernity with elegant finishes, making them the most historically significant spaces within the building. The courtrooms are nearly identical, rising two stories and featuring leather-covered doors, light and dark cork-tile flooring, pink-granite baseboards, and wood-paneled wainscoting. Pilasters divide the space into regular bays, rising to support wood trim and plaster crown moldings. The recessed ceiling panels contain two original brass pendant lights and a large circular aluminum air grille, and are divided by wide beams adorned with gold-leaf paint finishes. The courtrooms are windowless, relying on advanced lighting and an air-conditioning system, considered to be state-of-the-art when the building was completed.
Significant events
- 1935: Congress appropriates $3,300,000 for the construction of the new U.S. Post Office and Courthouse building.
- 1938: The ceremonial cornerstone is laid and construction begins under the supervision of local architects Wight & Wight.
- 1939: The building opens for business.
- 1952: Thurgood Marshall represents the plaintiff of the Swope Park Swimming Pool desegregation.
- 2007: The building was listing on the National Register of Historic Places
Building facts
- Architect: Wight & Wight
- Construction Dates: 1938-39
- Landmark Status: Eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
- Location: 811 Grand Avenue
- Architectural Style: Art Moderne
- Primary Materials: Indiana Limestone over steel and cast-in-place concrete
- Prominent Features: Exterior bronze ornament; Historic courtrooms