The Halls Are Decked - The Stevens Home

 The 1902 home of Edward A. Stevens is all aglow for the holiday season thanks to its current owners Jeff Zumsteg and Jeffrey Linville.  The annual decorating takes 10 full 8 hour days, although they spread it out a little more than that.   There are 19 Christmas trees in the house this year.  The home is listed on the National and Local Registers of Historic Places.  It has over 8,000 square feet of living space.

After living in the home for only six months, Mr. Stevens passed away.  His wife, Ellen Stuart Moores White Stevens, son and daughter continued living in the house after his death.  His Daughter Aileen married Herbert James, grandson of T.M. James, and after her mothers passing lived in the home until 1925. 

 The front entryway. 

 Stairs leading to the second floor with original stained glass window. 

 Above, side hallway to the kitchen.  Below, stairs to the second floor. 

 Above, dining room.  Below, Gentlemen's Parlor.  

 Above, third floor ballroom.  Below, Jeff Z's English Village. 

 Above, a Mizzou Tree. :)

 Above, Ellen Stevens' portrait painted in 1865.  The Christmas Cactus was a gift to Jeff Z's Grandfather on his wedding day in 1921.  Still going strong after 96 years.   Below, Mrs. Stevens' first husband, William White's portrait, also 1865, he died at the age of 25.  Mrs. Stevens' was a Mayflower descendent. 

New In Northeast

Jose (Joe) Faus and his assistant, Robin Case, stand in front of Joe's new mural on a wall at St. John and Askew. This work in progress will take the place of the work of gang members who loved to tag the site. A brief ceremony of dedication and recognition took place Saturday at 12:30.... and included excellent, free food :)
The work, above and below, will depict the diversity of life in the Northeast and expresses Joe's ideas of art as a cultural unifier.


Above, Will Royster, Vice-President of the Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association with Scott Wagner, President of the Indian Mound Neighborhood Association in the background.
Above, Joe talked about the importance of art in the community and below Danilo Aguilar, West Side Housing, introduces Abuela Kathy Drews and Malenda Shahane who helped spearhead the project. Malenda works for United Missouri Bank which provided funding.

Headhunting at Corinthian Hall

Sunday was the monthly Hard Hat Tour at Corinthian Hall aka/Kansas City Museum. This tour date also saw the release of the latest Exhibit-in-Print by the Museum. "Faces" written by Elizabeth Rosin and Rachel Nugent, details the elaborate facial and figure ornamentation of the exterior and interior of the R.A. Long Mansion. I will show a few of them in this post... but be sure to stop by the Visitor's Center at the Museum to get your own copy.

This year Corinthian Hall is celebrating it's 100th birthday.... monetary gifts toward restoration are appreciated.
Above one-half of the north side of the mansion.... it was lightly snowing when we took the tour.
Christopher Leitch, right, and Elizabeth Rosin were our tour guides. We began at the rear of the Carriage House. Built in 1907 it was the first of the complex of buildings to be built at the site.... and, ironically, it will probably be the first to be restored.
Above, all new doors and windows have been installed already and match the originals perfectly.... except they will last a lot longer. This shows the view of the back of the main house showing the columned servants porch and the stained glass window.

The main area of the Carriage House where tack was kept and the hundreds of ribbons and trophies were exhibited. The large hole in the ceiling was used by an elevator which could raise and lower carriages as needed.
Many pictures still exist of the interiors of the building including the Carriage House. The only original interior parts that still exist from the Long's days are the ceiling in this portion and part of the floor in the area to the right. Portions of this building will be restored completely and will include showing 6 or more of the actual carriages the Longs used.
Taking in the view from the porch behind the servants quarters.
Above, the front (south) side of the Carriage House.. You can see the new doors and windows and where the entrance to the Natural History Hall was (green paint).
Above. Servants quarters... sans interior walls which were removed when this area was used for exhibit space. I covered the first floor renovation extensively in an earlier post: http://hyperblogal.blogspot.com/2009/05/corinthian-hall-restoration.html
Above, view out of the servants' window toward the south... below, looking at the skeleton of the servants quarters ceiling where HVAC and electrical are being completely redone.

By the front door the light stanchions feature rams heads under the light bulbs. At the time these were installed, 1910, electricity was just coming into it's own so this would have been "bragging" in a minor but showy way.
Plenty of detail in the carved limestone....below, a different head displayed under each of the second floor windows.

Elaborately carved urns celebrate 100 years of stair-step decoration.
The Salon has much in the way of mythological ornamentation in the walls and the ceiling... as shown below.




The Library is probably the most intact room in the house. The English design of the room is accented by the beautifully carved fire place with more of the Corinthian faces.
Below, a view from the west doors of the library out over the bluffs and Cliff Drive.

Marvelous detail above and below in the mantel.. This room will be a reading room when the restoration is complete.

Above and below... we went down to the Billiard Room which, for those of you familiar with past Museum exhibits, is where the model trains were. Surprisingly large area with the original floor and fireplace. This will be a meeting room when the building is completed.

Below, not to hard to determine the room's purpose with the crossed billiard sticks on the mantel.

Dining area with beautiful stained glass windows. The ceiling, below, has quite intricate designs which are slowly being uncovered as layers of paint are carefully removed.
Below, a view down the hall toward a front window...
The windows in the dining area feature ( it is thought ) Apollo.. below
Aphrodite
Hera
Athena
And Zeus
And in the lower sections.... full length figures of mythical magic.




On Wednesday I'll have more photos of the renovation that's underway on the second and third floors.