Louis S. Curtiss or Victor Buetner-"What's the Story on That House?"


At risk is this once fabulous home with pergola gardens. (Photo courtesy of the Missouri Valley Collection) We did a post on this house and with some studied responses like Nate's, it's led us on an adventure of "architectology", just kidding, but seriously trying to get to the root of how this house came about, who designed it, who built it and for whom was it built. Simple enough but it has not turned out that way..."Stalking Louis Curtiss" perhaps the best resource on Curtiss, did not have this house in the book, the author Wilda Sandy, did note that a project for a residence was located at 39th St. and Manheim, KCMO. We have approached numerous people whom we consider scholars on Curtiss about this specific house, also Nate and Anne have kept us informed on their extensive efforts to hopefully prove that this was a Curtiss design. We look forward to having a thorough analysis posted soon, we still can't quite believe that Curtiss was not somehow involved in the design of the house.

Victor Beutner, Architect- "What's the Story on That House"?


Driving in KCMO on 39th Street east of Troost, you'll come across this home by architect Victor Beutner, who built it for himself in 1911. An example of the Prairie Style, this house is built of wood, masonry and stucco.
Today, the cedar tree is still there, the trellis is missing and "burglar" bars have been installed on the windows. This is an interesting area in our city, clearly wealthy and progressive in it's time. The form and mass of the structure is strongly reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's design for Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois which was built on a flat site... this is built on what today we would call a "walkout" lot. It's fascinating to think this was the suburb of it's day.