Modern Photo of the Week - Kauffman Stadium by Kivett and Myers in honor of Royals Opening Day

In honor of opening day for the Royals I thought I would post this image of an early design phase model of Kauffman Stadium. Notice that the ground level bowl wraps the entire field and that the signature fountains are not yet thought of. The spiral ramps are only one level high and the backwards cantilever of the upper deck is minimal compared to the final dramatic cantilever built. Also missing is the sexy upper deck canopy and lighting standards. The iconic crown scoreboard has not taken shape yet because this model was built at about the time the Kansas City A's left for Oakland. To the left one can see the first version of the infamous rolling roof, designed to cover either Arrowhead or Kauffman. What is most apparent in this model is the dramatic sculptural form of Kansas City's unique stadium beginning to take shape.

Consider this image a teaser for many more great Kivett and Myers images that will be appearing soon thanks to KCMODERN reader Chris Fein.

Name: Model of Kauffman Stadium
Opened as Royals Stadium
Part of the Truman Sports Complex
Architect: Kivett and Myers
Year Designed: circa 1968
Builder: Unknown
Year Completed: Spring 1973
Size: N/A
Location: Kansas City, MO
Type: Outdoor Baseball Stadium
Style: Brutalist Modern
Status: Altered
Photographer: Unknown

Palisades Concrete Pier House - Photo of the Week

Name: Palisades Concrete Pier House
Architect: Unknown
(Occupied by the Architect who designed it.)
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Completed: Unknown
Size: Unknown
Location: Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, CA
(overlooking Sunset Blvd.)
Type: Residential
Style: Brutalist Concrete and Wood Modern
Status: Excellent
Photo by: Robert McLaughlin

This photo has proven to be my most popular image on Flickr, so I thought I would share it with our blog readers. I photographed this house several years back while staying with some friends who lived just a block away. It is only about a half mile from the Eames House. The home was designed by the architect who lives there and it has great views into the canyon and probably the ocean beyond the ridge. The road visible below the house is Sunset Blvd. Click Here to see the front of the house.

Kaufmann Residence as Photographed by the Late Julius Shulman - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Kaufmann Residence
Architect: Richard Neutra
Year Designed: Circa 1945-46
Builder: Unknown
Year Completed: 1946 (photographed in 1947)
Size: 3162 square feet (5 bedroom 6 baths)
Location: Palm Springs California
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Excellent
Photographer: Julius Shulman

I thought that I would include this special photo of the week as a tribute to our friend Julius Shulman who died at the age of 98 last week. I would call this his second most famous architectural photo. The most famous photo being the Case Study House #22 Photo. There has been an outpouring of media honoring this talented man in the week since his death. Here is a small sampling.

KCRW Radio Segment
NPR- All Things Considered Radio Segment
NPR- Slide Show
New York Times Article
LA Times Article
LA Times Video

William Sutherland Beckett: Architect of the Cliffhanger - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Three Cliff-side Dwellings
Architect: William Sutherland Beckett
Born in Kansas City
(No relationship to Welton Beckett)
Year Designed: Circa 1960
Builder: Stone Fisher Constructors
Year Finished: 1961
Size: Unknown
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Type: Residential
Style: Modern Cliffhanger
Status: Still Standing
Photographer: Julius Shulman

We have a KCMODERN event coming up on Sunday, June 14 in a Kansas City residence by this same architect. So stay tuned!

Frank Bott Residence Exteriors by Frank Lloyd Wright

Name: Frank Bott Residence
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright
Date Designed: 1956-60
Builder: Unknown
Date Completed: 1963
Size: Unknown
Location: Kansas City, MO
Type: Residential
Style: Organic
Status: Good condition with a diligent owner
Photographed by: Robert McLaughlin

The interior photos of the Bott Residence have proved to be very popular, but we did not get any exteriors that day because KCMODERN was there at dusk. So I dug back in our photo archive and found these photos from a trip to the house with noted architecture author, Alan Hess. Alan is known for some of his books on Frank Lloyd Wright among others. We were there on a beautiful Fall day and we enjoyed the house very much, Unfortunately, the entry courtyard faces north, so it is tough shooting photographs into the low fall sun.

Some exterior photos deleted at owner's request.

Frank Bott Residence Interiors by Frank Lloyd Wright - Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Leadership Circle Event

Name: Frank Bott Residence
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright
Date Designed: 1956-60
Builder: Unknown
Date Completed: 1963
Size: Unknown
Location: Kansas City, MO
Type: Residential
Style: Organic
Status: Good condition with a diligent owner
Photographed by: Robert McLaughlin

Some of the KCMODERN crew helped with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Leadership Circle Event a little over a week ago at the Frank Bott House. Here are some interior photos that I quickly snapped off before the guests started to arrive.

Frank Bott met his wife Eloise at the Wright designed Florida Southern College. Not much has been written about this design, but it is documented that Eloise had Wright narrow the kitchen or “work space” after the first design so she could reach everything by turning.

Construction is “rubble” stone desert masonry, consisting of over a mile of stone farm wall brought in from the Flint Hills of Kansas. The interior woodwork is Honduran Mahogany. The home features many mahogany built-ins and horizontal batten paneling that give the home an almost yacht-like feel.

The home, which is situated north of downtown Kansas City on a bluff above the Missouri River Valley, presents a rather austere facade with battered desert masonry walls and a large stone fireplace mass facing the street at the north edge of the site. Living areas face south with glazed views of the Kansas City Skyline, the downtown airport and the Missouri River below. A daring cantilevered balcony, rivaling Fallingwater's, projects boldly towards the views to the south and out over the dramatic escarpment of the site. The master bedroom is located with the main living areas at the entry level, with the secondary bedrooms located on a lower level, which daylights because of the sloping site. The plan of the house is based on a 4 foot square module.

Taliesin apprentice, John Howe did preliminary drawings for the Bott residence. The final version of the design and working drawings were done by apprentice, Cornelia Brierly. The drawings were completed in 1960, the year after Wright’s death in 1959. Construction was completed in 1963, costing just over $200,000.

All of the furniture in the house was designed by Wright and is original to the house. Cornelia Brierly also provided color and fabric choices for Wright’s designs. Many of the furniture pieces are reminiscent of the furniture line Wright did for mass production by Heritage Henredon.

Thanks to Scott Lane for help on the details about the house.

Interior photos have been deleted at the owner's request. Please see the exterior photos here.

St. Francis Xavier Church - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: St. Francis Xavier Church
Architect: Barry Byrne and Joseph Shaughnessy
Scupture: Alfonzo Ianelli
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1951
Size: Unknown
Location: 1001 E. 52nd Street, Kansas City, MO
Type: Religious
Style: Moderne
Status: Good
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

Here is a teaser image from the Out and about Wright Tour. Look for a lot more from this event soon!

Hyde Residence Fireplace by Architect, Bruce Goff - Bonus Photo of the Week

Name: Hyde Residence
Architect: Bruce Goff
Year Designed: 1964
Builder: Michael Rothstein Construction
Year Built: 1965
Size: 3400 sq. ft. 5 bedroom 3 ½ bath
Location: Prairie Village, Kansas
Type: Residential
Style: Organic Modern
Status: Very Good
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

The ten foot by ten foot central skylight over the brick hearth is penetrated by the fireplace chimney, which has a purple mirrored triangular wall behind. Strips of “cellophane rain” hang from the skylight, creating a magic play of light on carpet and walls. With a fire burning, you understand the concept of Earth, Fire and Water. Many people know the house from the use of green dime store ashtrays used as stained glass elements in the doors and railing.

Castilian by Architects, Jones and Emmons - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Castilian
Architect: Jones and Emmons ( A. Quincy Jones)
Year Designed: 1956
Builder: Don Drummond
Year Built: circa 1956-57
Size: Unknown sq.ft. 3 or 4 bedroom variations with 2 baths
Location: Prairie Village, Kansas
Type: Residential
Style: Modern Atomic Ranch
Status: Excellent
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

We will be posting a lot more about the design of this home a little later.

Snower Residence by Architect, Marcel Breuer - Photo(s) of the Week

Name: Snower Residence
Architect: Marcel Breuer
Year Designed: 1954
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1955
Size: Unknown sq. ft. 3 bedroom 2 bath
Location: Mission Hills, Kansas
Type: Residence
Style: International Style
Status: Endangered due to the value of the lot in Kansas City's most affluent neighborhood
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

Description: This residence was built by its current owner who commissioned Breuer to design it for them in 1954. The owners have painstakingly maintained the original interiors as designed by the architect. The exteriors also remain exactly as they were originally planned. The house was designed as a long and narrow box, housing the living and bedroom spaces, built on a masonry base containing the garage and a family room. Large cantilevers at both ends dominate the design much like Breuer's own house built in 1947, in New Canaan, Connecticut. This may be one of only two Breuer House built West of the Mississippi. It is likely one of the most original Breuer Houses standing today.

I had to dig around my hard drive to find these photos taken with my first digital camera back in April of 2004. They are more candid snapshots than architectural photography but they give you a taste of the exterior and interior of the house.

Nicol Residence by Architect, Bruce Goff - Modern Photo(s) of the Week

Name: Nicol Residence
Architect: Bruce Goff
Year Designed: 1965
Builder: Michael Rothstein Construction
Year Built: Third Version 1965
Size: 2868 sq. ft. 4 bedroom 4 bath
Location: Kansas City, MO
Type: Residential
Style: Organic Modern
Status: Excellent Condition with an owner sensitive to the architecture
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

Here is another classic Kansas City Modern home scheduled to be on the upcoming Out and About Wright: Kansas City Tour put on by the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy.

Cumonow Residence by Kivett and Myers, Architects - Rambling Ranch House - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Cumonow Residence
Architect: Kivett and Myers
Year Designed: 1951
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1951
Size: 3400 sq. ft. (720 sq. ft. on lower level)

Location: Mission Hills, Kansas
Type: Residential
Style: California Ranch
Status: Excellent
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

This large Rambling Ranch built by the Cumonow Family is a rare residential example of the work of Kansas City's venerable Modernist Architects, Kivett and Myers. It is said to have been designed by Clarence Kivett himself. It is sited in one of Kansas City's most prestigious neighborhoods right smack next to the site of the Cliff May Mega ranch that was torn down a few years ago. This large brick ranch house steps down to follow its equally large site just like the neighboring Cliff May house did. The question is, can we assume that this fine home is safe?

This home is scheduled to be on the upcoming Out and About Wright: Kansas City Tour put on by the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy. More information about the tour at savewright.org

Bernard Corrigan Mansion by Louis S. Curtiss, Architect - Modern Illustration - Modern Photo of the Week

Corrigan residence in final constructio stage, 1913, scanned from Stalking Louis Curtiss by Wilda Sandy and Larry K. Hancks

Bernard Corrigan residence 1200 West 55th, Kansas City, Missouri rendering dated June 22, 1912, scanned from Stalking Louis Curtiss by Wilda Sandy and Larry K. Hancks

Since the Frank Loyd Wright Conservancy is coming to town and this is one of the houses that they are touring, I thought that I would add some images from the book Stalking Louis Curtiss by Wilda Sandy and Larry K. Hancks.

David Benton Runnells House Tour

We have had a few questions since starting the blog asking for information on the house pictured in the header of our blog. We have also been getting a lot of questions about when will we be having the next KCMODERN house tour. Well, we have decided to answer both questions at the same time. The house in the blog header is by Kansas City Architect, David B. Runnells. It is located in Leawood, Kansas (see the info below the photo for more details) and it will be one of the featured homes on the this years tour.

KCMODERN's David Benton Runnells House Tour will feature at least four other houses by the same architect. The date of the event is tentatively scheduled for September 20, 2009.

This years tour will be a little different because we will have multiple locations that will require some driving between house locations. There will be multiple houses to see at some of the locations.

As in years past, we are pursuing opportunities to have an evening festivity with spirits in a special house related to the tour theme. More on that later.

Look for us to start highlighting some work by David Benton Runnells on the blog in the coming weeks and months.
Name: Residence for G. Findlay Reed (original owner)
Architect: David Benton Runnells
Year Designed: 1950-1951
Builder: Donald Drummond
Year Built: 1951
Size: Unknown
Location: Leawood, Kansas (Kansas City)
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Excellent condition with some minor alterations including new sympathetic siding by present owner and a new kitchen by a previous owner.

This house was built with prefabricated panels that were manufactured in a millwork shop with windows pre-installed. The panels were then brought to the site and erected.

Bixby Residence Garden Facade - Bonus Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Walter Edwin Bixby, Sr. Residence
Architect: Edward W. Tanner
Landscape Architect: Hare and Hare
Interior Designer: Kem Weber
Year Designed: 1935
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1936-37
Size: Unknown
Location: State Line Road, Kansas City, MO
Type: Residential
Style: Moderne with International Style influences
Status: Exterior excellent; Interior altered
Photographer: Norman Hobart. Courtesy of Leon and Margaret Jacobs via The University Art Museum, University of California at Santa Barbara

See their website here:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

Since we have been covering the Bixby Residence here and here, I thought I would go ahead and add this vintage exterior photo of the rarely seen Garden Facade of the house. The cantilevered balcony on the right is much more visible from this view.

Bixby Residence by Edward W. Tanner - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Walter Edwin Bixby, Sr. Residence
Architect: Edward W. Tanner
Landscape Architect: Hare and Hare
Interior Designer: Kem Weber
Year Designed: 1935
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1936-37
Size: Unknown
Location: State Line Road, Kansas City, MO
Type: Residential
Style: Moderne with International Style influences
Status: Exterior excellent; Interior altered
Photographer: Jim Seelen

KCMODERN friend Jim Seelen has been out photographing lots of Kansas City are houses of all styles recently and posting them to his Flickr Site, SKY-VU . This one caught my eye.

More on this house next week!

Stahl Residence - Case Study House #22 - THE ARCHITECTURAL PHOTO OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY- Modern Photo of the Week

Name: Stahl Residence - Case Study House #22
Architect: Pierre Koening
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: 1960
Size: Unknown
Location: 1635 Woods Drive, Hollywood Hills, California
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Good and still owned by the original owner
Photographer: Julius Shulman

As you know we love the photos of Julius Shulman here at KCMODERN. We also love the Case Study House Program for Arts & Architecture magazine and the Stahl House in particular. We have posted it here before and it was named one of The Best Houses of All Time in L.A. This particular photo of the Stahl House, also known as Case Study House #22 is arguably "THE ARCHITECTURAL PHOTO OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY." It symbolizes the optimistic feeling of the "New" Modern Architecture and certainly typified the California interpretation of the style. Shouldn't everyone in California have a glass house overlooking Sunset Boulevard and the Los Angeles basin!

For more about the making of this iconic photograph read this article from LA magazine and this article from Taschen.

via Shorpy

Spider Mid-Century Modern House - Modern Photo of the Week

Name: "Spider House"
Architect: Unknown
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: Unknown
Size: Unknown
Location: Belinder Street, Mission Hills, Kansas
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Demolished
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

We do not know a lot about this house except about its untimely demise. Sorry for the uninspiring photo of this cool design, but I always thought that I would get back on a better day to shoot it. Before I knew it, this one was gone. If anyone has some better photos of this house that was somewhat famous in the community, please let us know.

This butterfly roof design was amazing with a big exposed exoskeleton, big south facing windows and redwood throughout. The original owner actually sold this house to the person who demolished it. Reportedly she could not bear the thought of someone else living there. It did have deferred maintenance issues, but I would have loved to have seen this one brought back.

Unfortunately the value of the land in this Belinder Street neighborhood has made smaller Modern Houses easy targets to be scraped for more Mission Hills McMansions. Architect, John "Jack" Morley's house next door fell to the bulldozer not long after this one. In the 1990s, Don Drummond's personal home diagonally across the street, designed by Architect, David B. Runnells was demolished to give the adjacent house a golf course view. Across the street to the south a Modern Drummond Castilian was remodeled into a hacienda. All of this makes us very worried about the future of the Marcel Breuer designed home just down the street.

Don Drummond's "Home for You in '52" - Modern Photo of the Week

In honor of KCMODERN's recognition for helping with the first ranch house survey in Kansas, I thought I would post one of our favorite ranch houses.

Name: "Home for You in '52" (modified L version)
Designer: Francie Drummond with Gier Sloan
Year Designed: circa 1950-51
Builder: Don Drummond
Year Built: 1955-56
Size: 1362 sq. ft. 3 bedroom 2 bath
Location: Prairie Village, KS
Type: Residential
Style: California Ranch
Status: Good
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin

While this photo may look like it was circa 1959, it was really taken on June 24, 2007, during the "Drummond + Weekend" House Tour in Prairie Village, Kansas.

This home was designed by Francie Drummond with the help of Gier Sloan and built by Don Drummond at multiple locations in both Kansas and Missouri. The straight version of this house was called the "Home for You in '52" in a 1951, Better Homes and Gardens magazine article. Sometime after that, the design was reworked into this L-shaped version so that it would fit on smaller lots.

The car is a 1959 Buick Electra and it belonged to one of the members of the local Buick club.

Experimental Eames Lounge Chair

Well this experimental chair is something that Charles and Ray Eames never put into production and the 1946 date on the photo predates the ubiquitous Eames Lounge Chair production by ten years. The chair is contemporaneous with the introduction of the Eames LCM and the seat shows some relationship to that design. But we can see that the many of the design elements of the Eames Lounge Chair are there. The curve of the seat, the back and arms as separate plywood pieces are all represented in the classic Eames Lounge Chair. Just add the beautiful leather upholstery.

The chair does show a rather crude, by Eames' standards, leg and arm attachment, which begs the question, was this a prototype to test the seating comfort only? Or was this simply early in Eames' career before their refinement skills were brought up to the highly refined standards we expect to see in Eames furniture today?

Via Shorpy