3218 Gladstone Blvd
Kansas City, MO, USA

National Register of Historic Places - R. A. Long House (Corinthian Hall /The Kansas City Museum)

Statement of Significance:

The R. A. Long Residence Is the Most Imposing Mansion in The Architecturally Significant Gladstone Boulevard Neighborhood. Because Of Its Wealth of Classicistic Architectural Details (Gibbs Surrounds Cartouches, Festoons, Macarons, Cresting, Etc.), Construction (Bronze, Marble, Stone, Copper) And Workmanship, The Residence Is Perhaps the Most Notable Example of Beaux-Arts Classicism in The Domestic Architecture of Kansas City. The Service Buildings and Structures Within Its Entire City Block Property Boundaries Correspond to The Main Residence in Style and Construction, And Exhibit the Same High-Quality Workmanship. The Entire Complex Achieves Harmony Through a Uniformity of Red Tile Roofs and Bedford Limestone Facing on All Buildings, And A Repetition of Design Elements and Ornamental Details. The Placement of Buildings and Structures on The Grounds Reflects the Biaxial Symmetry Typical of a Beaux-Arts Site Plan. The Princip Al Service Building (The Carriage House and Stable) Is Aligned with The Axis of The Great Hall in The Main Residence. The Greenhouse and Conservatory Flank the Long Colonnaded Pergola and Form an East-West Minor Axis.

The Long Residence Is Beautifully Sited in Its Neighborhood, Taking Maximum Advantage of Natural Terrain, Winding Avenues, And Park Property. To The West the Site Borders on A Vast Park (Kessler Park), Thus Assuring a Permanently Unobstructed Vista of Forested Hills. Visually, This Expands the Boundaries of The Already-Large Site, And Enhances the Effect of a Small Country Estate in A Town Setting. The Estate-Like Setting Is Heightened by The Main Approach to The Residence, Along the Far West End of Gladstone Blvd. Two-Tenths of A Mile from The Residence Near the Intersection of Benton Blvd. And Gladstone Is a Long Colonnade and Music Pavilion Built In 1908. Its Design Is Also Typical of Beaux-Arts Classicism And, Like the Long Residence, Its Construction Is of Stone with Red Tile Roofing. The Dome-Shape Roofs on Two of The Pergolas Relate to The Dome-Shape Roof of The Conservatory on The Long Residence Grounds; The Colonnade Relates to The Colonnade Linking the Greenhouse and Conservatory on The Long Property. This Is an Example of High-Class Residential Development Working Hand-In-Hand with An Emerging Park System. The Park Systems in America at That Time Were Consistently Used as A City Planning Tool to Establish The "Better" Residential Districts. (Long Originally Had Purchased Another Site for His Mansion, But When Kessler Park Was Developed, He Began Buying Land In 1907 For Its Present Location.)
Situated High on The Southern Bluffs of The Missouri River, The Surrounding Area Is Noted for Its Rugged Terrain, Outcroppings of Limestone, And Steep, Wooded Hills. Historically, The Area Is Significant. The Land Which the Long Residence and The Adjacent Park (Originally Named North Terrace Park and Now Kessler Park) Occupy Had Belonged to Nathan Scarritt of Westport, One of The City’s Founding Fathers. In 1862 He Purchased 40 Acres for A Farm, And Subsequently Purr- Chased 220 More. As The City Developed Eastward, Scarritt Retained the Property and In The 1880S It Was Developed as The Melrose Addition.

Robert Alexander Long (1850-1934) Was A Nationally Prominent Figure in The Lumber Industry, With Vast Holdings of Forested Land in The State of Washington and A Large Network of Sawmills and Lumber Yards Throughout the South and Southwest. His Company, The Long-Bell Lumber Company, Was One of The Largest in The Country. A Civic Leader and Philanthropist, Long Was Known for His Common Sense and Keen Business Acumen. In 1908 Theodore Roosevelt Invited Him to The White House to Attend a Conference on Conserving the Nation’s Natural Resources. One Of Only Four Speakers, He Delivered an Address on Forest Conservation, Still Considered a Model for Today’s Programs. Long Spearheaded and Contributed Heavily to The Liberty Memorial, A National Memorial to The Dead of World War I, And One of The Important Landmarks in Kansas City. At Its Dedication In 1921, The Longs' House Guests Were Admiral Earl Beatty, Commander of The British Fleet, Admiral and Mrs. R. E. Coontz, Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy And Their Aides. Born To a Poor Family on A Farm in Shelby County, Ky., But Cast in The Horatio Alger Mold, Long Symbolizes the American Nineteenth Century Ideal of The Millionaire Business Tycoon as Hero.

The Architect for Corinthian Hall Was Henry Ford Hoit (1872-1951), Faia, Who Enjoyed a Long and Notable Career in Kansas City. His Firm, Howe, Hoit And Cutler (Later, Hoit, Price And Barnes) Consistently Ranked Among The Top Three In Kansas City From Shortly Before World War I Until The Early 1950S. 2 Hoit'S And His Firm’s Commissions Distinguish Our Downtown Area: The R. A. Long Building, A 1907 Neo-Renaissance 14-Story "Skyscraper," The City’s First Building Of Any Considerable Height Constructed Of Skeleton Steel; The Neo-Gothic Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Bldg., 1919 And 1929; The Kansas City Power And Light Bldg., 1931, A Striking Example Of The Art Moderne Style; And, In Collaboration With Other Firms, The Municipal Auditorium, 1934, Also In The Art Moderne Style.

Hoit Came To Kansas City In 1901 To Work As A Designer For Van Brunt And Howe, The Distinguished Boston Architectural Firm And One Of The Oldest In The Nation (Organized In 1866). The Firm Hired Hoit to Design One of The Principal Buildings of The St. Louis World Fair, The Varied Industry Building. Van Brunt and Howe Had Opened a Branch Office Here In 1887 To Take Advantage of The Building Boom the City Experienced During The 1880S.
A Native of Chicago, Hoit Became Enamored with Beaux-Arts Architecture the Summer After His Graduation from High School In 1893. He Spent Two Months at The World’s Columbian Exposition There Studying the Fair’s Classically Derivative Buildings. Shortly Afterward, He Apprenticed with Dwight Perkins, One of Chicago’s Prairie School Architects. Perkins Encouraged Hoit to Enroll in The School of Architecture at Massachusetts institute Of Technology. His Design Professor at MIT Was Desire Desperately, An Award-Winning Graduate of The Ecole Des Beaux- Arts, Paris and A Much-Honored Architect for The French Government. Under His Instruction, Hoit's Preference for Classicism Became Polished and Perfected; Thoroughly Preparing Him for The Design of Corinthian Hall, His Most Notable Work in Domestic Architecture.

Symbolically, The Era in Which It Was Built Was Also the Architect of Corinthian Hall; Those Tax less Years Between the Repeal In 1872 Of Income Taxes Imposed by The Civil War and The Ratification of the 16Th Amendment In 1913; A Period of This Country’s Open-Door Policy Toward Immigration Which Provided the Plentiful, Cheap Labor and Skilled Craftsmen from Foreign Countries to Build Its Monumental Mansions. And An Age When the Beaux-Arts Style Was the Favored Mode for The Grandiose House as A Public Badge of Class Distinction for Men of Great Wealth. The Long Residence in Kansas City Stands as A Monument to That By-Gone Age of Elegance.

The Survey of Missouri’s Historic Sites Is Based on The Selection of Sites as They Relate to Theme Studies in Missouri History as Outlined In "Missouri’s State Historic Preservation Plan." The R. A. Long Residence Is, Therefore, Being Nominated to The National Register of Historic Places as An Example of The Themes of "Architecture" And Landscape Architecture."