New York Life Building (Kansas City, Missouri)

New York Life Building
General information
Status Complete
Type Commercial offices
Location 20 West Ninth,
Kansas City, Missouri
Coordinates
Construction started 1888
Completed 1890
Height
Roof 180 feet (55 m)
Technical details
Floor count 12
Floor area 175,186 square feet (16,275.3 m2)
Design and construction
Management Grubb & Ellis
Architect McKim, Mead, and White

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.

Contents

Background

The building was designed in 1885 by Frederick Elmer Hill (1857–1929), of the New York City architecture firm of McKim, Mead & White. Hill, who graduated from MIT in 1882, came to Kansas City in 1885 to oversee the construction of his design, but ended up staying in the city until 1901, and designing some important buildings. From 1893 until 1895, he was involved in the design and construction of the Nave of Grace Church, (now Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral,) located at 13th Street and Broadway Boulevard, only a few blocks from this building. Hill designed both of the Convention Halls Kansas City built between 1899 and 1900, and Westport City Hall. Hill was responsible for the design of Oak Hall, the elegant private residence of Kansas City newspaper publisher, William Rockhill Nelson (1841–1915).

Built in Italianate Renaissance Revival style, the building has a brick and brownstone exterior and an H-shaped footprint with ten story wings flanking a twelve story tower. A monumental eagle tending eaglets in a nest is perched above the main entry. The work was sculpted by Louis St. Gaudens and contains more than two tons of cast bronze. The lobby has an Italian granite atrium floor. The building's location on Quality Hill marked the first significant movement of the city south from its founding at River Market along the Missouri River. The imposing structure also marked a dramatic change in the Kansas City skyline where the tallest buildings previously had been three and four stories.[1]

The New York Life Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970,[2] but was abandoned in 1988. In 1996, a $35 million restoration of the building added state-of-the-art energy, communications, and environmental features.[3]

In 2010, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph purchased the building for $11.7 million. It will become the new home of its administrative offices (the chancery) and Catholic Charities, about 180 employees in all.[4] The building was renamed the Catholic Center.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ New York Life Building - kchistory.org - Retrieved January 9, 2009
  2. ^ Jackson County National Register Listings - dnr.mo.gov - Retrieved January 8, 2008
  3. ^ Utilicorp United conducted the work with financial assistance came from the Kansas City Tax Increment Finance Commission, the Missouri Department of National Resources, and the National Park Service. Kansas City Is Rediscovering Its Downtown Area - New York Times - October 6, 1996
  4. ^ "Catholic diocese buying the historic New York Life building | Dollars & Sense". Economy.kansascity.com. 2009-04-09. http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/8479. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  5. ^ http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/05/2779624/old-buildings-new-mission-is-taking.html

External links

New York Life Building (55 m) (1892) · Commerce Trust Building (78.6 m) (1906) · 925 Grand (91 m) (1921) · Oak Tower (116 m) (1929) · Kansas City Power and Light Building (100 m) (1931) · 2345 Grand (107 m) (1977) · Hyatt Regency Crown Center (154 m) (1980) · Town Pavilion (180 m) (1986) · One Kansas City Place (198 m) (1988)
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  • Category:National Register of Historic Places
  • Portal:National Register of Historic Places