City Hall - Kansas City MO - Living New Deal

City:: Kansas City, MO
Site Type:: Civic Facilities, Auxiliary Civic Facilities
New Deal Agencies:: Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
Designer:: Wight & Wight - Architects

Description

“Kansas City has a well-studied plan for its civic center and the city hall block in area and consists of a rectangular base six stories high from which a tower rises to a height of 429 feet above the basement floor.

The building is planned not only to meet the space requirements of the present city government but to meet increased future requirements based on the expected normal growth of the city.

The construction is fireproof throughout and consists of steel framing adequately wind-braced and encased in concrete. The exterior walls are carried on spandrel beams and are faced with limestone. The walls at the top of the rectangular base are decorated with sculptured panels depicting the history and progress of the civic government. The landscaping is simple but in character to conform to the city hall plaza and the disposition of the entire civic center.

The base of the structure measures 128 by 201 feet and the main shaft above the base is 97 by 124 feet. The total expenditure for the city hall building was $4,121,768 and an additional $308,724 was required for the construction and landscaping of the city hall plaza.”

Source notes

C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown. "Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration." (1939).