Gladstone by Stone

Above, what I grabbed from the rubble pile.... a section of tile from the entrance floor... many of you who attended movies here will remember this....
The Gladstone Theater Building (Gladstone Hall) is being razed after a spectacular fire last month. As I approached the remains I was struck by how sturdy a building she was. Concrete, two courses of bricks with a brick facade... this was made to last. It also makes me wonder if significant portions couldn't have been saved. Currently a machine is being used to punch through the ground floor ceiling (hole in pictures above and below).

Above, where the lobby was with the stairs to the balcony on the right. Below, alley entrance on the east side. Betcha many a lad or lass snuck in here to see a movie.

Above and below, the main auditorium... paint on the walls could be from when the building wasn't a theater but a hall. Originally windows lined these walls and were bricked up.


Above, a lot of original flooring still there. Hyper came away with a souvenir of tile from the entryway.
East side of the building next to the Log Cabin.
Above, more memories rubblefied.

A Pretty Handy Coverup

Saw the head of Neighborhoods and Communities (I love city department titles that don't tell you a dang thing) last night explaining why the Cosby Hotel HAS to come down. Of course I don't believe him... but how convenient is it that when your department is totally ineffective at preservation by enforcement of codes early on that you can cover up your own incompetence by tearing a building down.

If you fix the little things early on than the big things don't fall off.

I got two responses to my plea for help from Will Royster and Scott Wagner.... And to them I give huge thank you's ..... I suspect I'll hear from other government folks after the building is gone.

That has been the pattern in the past.

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.

So Long Victorian-update 3/27

Northeast KC lost another venerable old structure today as wrecking crews demolished a building over a century old. Due to a negligent owner the property was in such disrepair that an emergency demolition was ordered by the city. Another piece of our past gone forever.

These two pictures show: closeup, last summer, whole view, today just before the destruction. The house stood at Minnie and Brooklyn in the Pendleton Heights Neighborhood. Update: Original reports stated that the third floor of this building had fallen into the basement... as you can see from the top three photos taken on 3/26 the third floor is still there.