More Downtown KC

Took another sojourn thru the downtown area... northwest side of town along 8th Street mostly. The old Garment District... buildings from the 1880s and early 1900s. The first two shots show the New England building.

"Spot"
Thayer Place
State Street Building.... beautifully landscaped. Next eight shots.

Eight Street... lofts and offices. The entrance to the 8th Street Tunnel was in that green patch just ahead of where I'm standing. The tunnel ran down to the West Bottoms to provide quicker access to that area and the Union Depot which was still located there prior to Union Station's completion in 1914.

Entrance to the Garment District Museum.

Downtown Looking Up, Mostly

Old signage. "Hotel Bray" "Fireproof" "Rooms $1.50" (I think on that last one.)
Took a brief walk downtown on Saturday. I like the contrast in architecture. City Center Square on the left, Mark Twain Tower on the right.
Brookfield Building looks completely deserted.
Spoon, Barney Allis Plaza.
Symmetrical.
Few vines left for the trellis.


Library parking on left... condos on right.
Mark Twain Tower.
Tapestry of styles.
More old signage. Peck's Drygood Store...


Library parking.
Floral alleyway behind condos. Alley is between Baltimore and Wyandotte.
Greening up the alley.
Mark Twain Tower entrance.
Mark Twain Tower facade.

KC Doesn't Remember History It Levels It

Gates home prior to its leveling in 1971.... the Carriage house is visible on the right in back.

Until 1971 a beautiful Victorian mansion stood on the corner of Independence Boulevard and Garfield Avenue in Pendleton Heights. Built by millionaire Jemuel Gates who fronted the money to build the first Children's Mercy Hospital 4 blocks to the west, the house was leveled to build a church. However, the carriage house remained untouched... until now. Due to a city worker bee error (she forgot to check to see if the building was on the historic register) and an over zealous contractor who did not yet have full permission to begin demolition... the building has been reduced to a shell. Intervention by neighborhood leaders... chiefly Kent Dicus... has led to a 15-day halt to the demolition... which shouldn't have happened in the first place. Here's what the Gate's Carriage House looked like on Friday afternoon.

Original structure is on the left... white part on right was added on in the early part of the last century.