Architecture

Why Kansas City Has So Many Shirtwaist Houses

Brick below, frame above. The shirtwaist is Kansas City's signature house — and the reason has as much to do with fire codes and streetcar lines as with taste.

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Hyde Park · 1900–1920

Urban Development

The Rise, Fall & Reinvention of the West Bottoms

Stockyards, floods, freight and a second life as one of the most photographed districts in the city.

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West Bottoms · 1870–Today

Neighborhood Stories

How the Streetcar Changed Kansas City Neighborhoods

Follow the old car lines and you can still read them in the housing stock, the lot widths and the corner storefronts.

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Citywide · 1890–1957

KC History

The History Hidden Along Troost

One street, two cities. The story of how a boundary was drawn — and what's on both sides of it now.

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Troost Corridor · 1900–Today

Urban Development

Why Brookside Looks the Way It Does

Planned shopping streets, deed restrictions and a developer with very specific opinions about awnings.

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Brookside · 1910–1940

Architecture

The Architecture of Historic Northeast

Mansions on the bluff, Queen Annes on the side streets, and one of the densest concentrations of surviving Victorian housing in the region.

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Historic Northeast · 1880–1915

Historic Homes

The Story Behind Kansas City's Bungalows

Catalog plans, cheap lumber and a whole generation of front porches built for talking to your neighbors.

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Waldo · 1915–1930

People & Places

How Neighborhood Boundaries Were Created

Who decided where Volker ends and Valentine begins? The answer involves plats, politics and a lot of hand-drawn maps.

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Citywide · 1880–Today

Local Culture

The Buildings Kansas City Almost Lost

Union Station. The Folly. A dozen others that didn't make it. Preservation as a series of very close calls.

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Downtown · 1960–Today