Don’t let developers demolish historic Kansas City mansion and leave a vacant lot | Opinion
Despite a groundswell of concern from the community, the magnificent 110-year-old Georgian Revival home at 4526 Warwick Blvd. in Kansas City — known as the George B. Richards House after its original owner — is fast moving into the path of the wrecking ball. How did we get to this juncture?
On May 5, Whitney Kerr, a well-known real estate broker in Kansas City, invited a number of activists to his office in hopes of persuading us to abandon our efforts to preserve the Southmoreland neighborhood’s Richards House. (Kerr represents the owners, Steve and Matt Vawter.)
At that meeting, Kerr told us the mansion has to go. He wants to build something else. But he will need much more than the nine-tenths of an acre that the Richards House stands on. Kerr divulged parts of his plan to get the necessary additional acreage to us.
First, All Souls Church would need to relocate, and with its membership dwindling, the congregation would do fine on a smaller property. All Souls has refused to sell, but Kerr seems undeterred, apparently believing he will eventually change its leaders’ minds. “Real estate is a long game,” he said.
It seems to me that Kerr views Southmoreland as a Monopoly board on which he can shuffle properties as he sees fit.
Activists for the Southmoreland neighborhood have applied for historic designation for the Richards House, a status that would prevent its demolition. Kerr and the Vawters oppose this designation. Demolition and a vacant lot have always been their goals, it seems. In April, they scheduled an online salvage auction under the label, “This is a Demolition Project.” There were bids for pillars, leaded windows, staircases and other features of the home. The auction was halted, thanks to the application for historic status.
But the plans for a vacant lot continue. At a meeting on July 14, a prospective buyer of the property acknowledged that he had no plan for construction on the lot. He said that if he cannot build anything, he would simply pull up the empty oil drums, grade the lot and plant grass.
Southmoreland already has more than 6 acres of vacant land from 44th to 46th streets between Main Street and Warwick Boulevard. These empty lots attract litter, encampments and criminal activity.
In the end, this is not an impending tragedy for the Southmoreland neighborhood alone, but for all of Kansas City. Visitors to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, just to the east of the Richards House, would see the eyesore of a vacant lot instead of the stately mansion. Audiences for the Heart of American Shakespeare Festival, who gather in Southmoreland Park every July and have the lovely home looking down on them? They would see a blighted lot.
This is a completely avoidable disaster. If the 4526 Warwick property were marketed aggressively, it is likely that offers would pour in — perhaps not from those seeking a single family residence, but the possibilities for adaptive use are almost limitless. Magnificent old homes in Southmoreland and other Kansas City neighborhoods have been successfully converted to museums, libraries and boutique hotels — the list goes on. The exteriors of these fine old buildings remain intact and contribute to the beauty and character of Kansas City.
Let the Richards House be preserved and serve our city in whatever its next life is to be. To set the wrecking ball on it, and create a blighted vacant lot in its place, borders on obscene. Kansas City leaders, do not let that happen. Please support Ordinance 230705 to recognize the house as a local landmark on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places.
Margot Sims is chair for neighborhood culture and preservation on the board of the Southmoreland Neighborhood Association.
