Nov 21, 1978
National Register of Historic Places - Walter E. Bixby House (Bixby, Walter E., Residence /Willits, Robert W., Residence)
Statement of Significant: The Walter E. Bixby Residence in Kansas City, Missouri is significant as being one of the earliest planned and one of the most refined and elaborate examples of international style architecture in Kansas City. The Bixby Residence, constructed 1935-37, is an unusual and major work of the Kansas City architect, Edward W. Tanner. The J. C. Nichols Company were builders of the residence." The prominent landscape architectural firm of Hare and Hare was responsible for the landscaping of the original 4.5-acre estate.4 The Bixby Residence exhibits the technological advancements in engineering and function, with a keen understanding of the international style, as developed in the 1920s and 1930s by such twentieth century European architects as Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard Jeanneret - Gris), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, J.J.P. Oud and Peter Behrens. The Inter- national style was less dependent on stylistic principles of past centuries, but placed more emphasis on contemporary technological innovations. The International style recognized engineers as invaluable designers. Function supplanted aesthetic theory as principle architectural idioms. Elaborate stylistic concerns were replaced by mass produced, standardized parts, combined to create a whole entity being comprised of individual parts. The Bixby Residence, with exteriors and grounds relatively intact, is progressive and original for the time and place where it was built and remains unique in Kansas City architecture."
National Register of Historic Places - Walter E. Bixby House (Bixby, Walter E., Residence /Willits, Robert W., Residence)
Statement of Significant: The Walter E. Bixby Residence in Kansas City, Missouri is significant as being one of the earliest planned and one of the most refined and elaborate examples of international style architecture in Kansas City. The Bixby Residence, constructed 1935-37, is an unusual and major work of the Kansas City architect, Edward W. Tanner. The J. C. Nichols Company were builders of the residence." The prominent landscape architectural firm of Hare and Hare was responsible for the landscaping of the original 4.5-acre estate.4 The Bixby Residence exhibits the technological advancements in engineering and function, with a keen understanding of the international style, as developed in the 1920s and 1930s by such twentieth century European architects as Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard Jeanneret - Gris), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, J.J.P. Oud and Peter Behrens. The Inter- national style was less dependent on stylistic principles of past centuries, but placed more emphasis on contemporary technological innovations. The International style recognized engineers as invaluable designers. Function supplanted aesthetic theory as principle architectural idioms. Elaborate stylistic concerns were replaced by mass produced, standardized parts, combined to create a whole entity being comprised of individual parts. The Bixby Residence, with exteriors and grounds relatively intact, is progressive and original for the time and place where it was built and remains unique in Kansas City architecture."
Nov 21, 1978
Posted Date
Aug 16, 2023
Historical Record Date
Nov 21, 1978
Source Name
National Register of Historic Places
