Kansas City Star Magazine does feature on 60's Modern Architecture

photo by shane keyser | the star

Kansas City Star Magazine Editor, Cindy Hoedel has written a great cover story article about 1960's architecture in this past Sunday's newspaper. Two of the three KCMODERN founders, Scott Lane and Robert McLaughlin were quoted in the article, Saving the '60s: Modern buildings become eligible for historic preservation.

Ms. Hoedel outlines some of the difficult issues in preserving these "hard-to-love," buildings from the 1960's with her astute observations. "The problem is, the simple geometry and unadorned surfaces of modern buildings show neglect more readily than brick or stone buildings that have lots of ornamentation to distract the eye. So mid-century buildings that have fallen on rough times are more likely to be viewed as eyesores."

If you love Modernism you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Read the entire article here

Visit photo gallery here

Bonus Modern Photo of the Week - More of Katz Drug

Since we missed posting a photo of the week last week and since we are on the topic of Katz Drug, I thought that I would present you with this vintage image of the mid-town Katz. Don't you just love that neon sign? I would love to see a color shot of that Katz Cat lit up. See the image below for the details on this building.

Modern Photo of the Week - Katz Drug

Name: Katz Drug

(most recently Osco Drug, before that it was a Skaggs Drug)

Architect: Clarence Kivett

(Later a Partner in the firm, Kivett and Myers)

Year Designed: 1934

Builder: Unknown

Year Built: early 1934

Location: Main Street & Westport Road, Kansas City, MO

Type: Commercial Retail

Style: Streamline Moderne, Art Deco

Status: Unoccupied, For Sale and Endangered

Photo by: Robert McLaughlin

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moderns-r-us/212525582/in/set-72157603396737354/

The premiere Katz Drug Store (#9) location at Main and Westport Road was about to be the setting for the latest crime against Modern Architecture in Kansas City. The recent purchase of the Osco Drug chain by CVS Drugs, and the proximity to another CVS drugstore, had left that location's future in question.

The midtown location was one of the first buildings designed by Clarence Kivett in 1934 and it became the first in long line of buildings designed by Kivett and Myers for the Katz Drug chain, owned by Kivett's uncles, Isaac and Michael Katz. It seems that particular building has received a stay of execution as CVS has not sold the building yet and it has recently been successfully added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Landmarks.

This building is a wonderful demonstration of the late Streamline Moderne Style. Alan Hess, architect and author of Googie called it a classic example of "building as billboard," with its masonry and neon clock pylon marking Main Street for miles in either direction.