1004 West 52nd Street
Kansas City, MO, USA

1004 West 52nd Street, Kansas City, MO, USA

Mary Rockwell Hook - the architect of this home Born September 8, 1877 Died September 8, 1978 Hook was an American architect and a pioneer for women in architecture. She was denied admission to the American Institute of Architects, however, she did obtain recognition for her work, including by the AIA, later in life.

Original Owner: Captain and Mrs. Bertrand Rockwell
Architect: Mary Rockwell Hook

National Register of Historic Places - Bertrand Rockwell House (Residential Structures by Mary Rockwell Hook TR)

Statement of Significance:

As the first of her Kansas City residential designs was nearing completion, Mary Hook, then still Mary Rockwell, planned and superintended the construction of a home for her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bertrand Rockwell. The Rockwell’s required a large residence as they and four of their daughters were to live in it. The Rockwell house was located on a sloping, heavily wooded, three-acre site (today, one and one-half acres) in a fashionable area just opening to development. It overlooked the Country Club polo fields to the south.

The house is stylistically quite different from Mrs. Hook's other Kansas City works, as it possesses an almost classical façade. In other aspects, her personal design idiom is present. The large double verandas on each end of the house, now enclosed, attest to her love of nature. The stage on the third floor is a feature found in almost all of her works. A novel aspect in this house was the construction of a basement garage on the north side of the house, reportedly one of the first garages in the city to be incorporated into the house."