Laura Nelson Kirkwood House, Kenwood Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri

 

This 1910 stone house in Kansas City has a lot of interesting details. It was a wedding gift to Laura Nelson Kirkwood and her husband Irwin Kirkwood. So why is there a letter R in fancy script on the front door? Was her gift-giving relative a little too over-bearing? Well, possibly yes, but that's not why it's there.

Something else to notice: the upstairs door on the right, with a flimsy balcony that's open on one side. Maybe there was a plan to add stairs? (Also, it doesn't appear to have a door handle to get back inside. There's definitely a story there.)

But let's just focus on the pretty details first, like this grand paneled entrance hall with a fireplace.

And this living room with its French, pink marble fireplace. 

Another interesting detail: Teddy Roosevelt visited in this living room in 1917. So did General Pershing and French General Foch in 1921, before they dedicated a WWI memorial site at Penn Valley Park.

In those days, the house was called Stonehouse -- a low-effort, but descriptive name. (Like Stonehedge that we visited last fall.)

The living room reminds me of this one at Bois Doré, a famous house in Newport, Rhode Island:

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That's an old picture, though. Here's what it looked like more recently:

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Either design would look pretty in the Kirkwood house, too.

Currently the dining room has a table that is too small for the space:

If it were mine, I'd bring in a larger table and more color, like this:

{Carlos Aparicio}

I borrowed inspiration from the house's study, below: 

It's a beautiful space, as is the recently renovated kitchen:

An interesting detail about the kitchen: if you're at the stove, you have to act like you have an audience for your cooking show, because people at the stools are facing you instead of the TV behind them.

The kitchen's new marble tile floors continue into the pantry...

and adjacent bathroom:

There's still a lot more to see on the first floor, though, including the family room with a casual eating area by the double-sided fireplace (the house has ten fireplaces):

It's right next door to another family space offering even more casual dining options:

Are the bar chairs all turned to the right for a reason? They're still not facing the TV.

This room has its own powder room:

The spacious upstairs landing has another fireplace:

The house has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms in 12,000 square feet.

Either those are the tiniest washer and dryer ever, or they have a really, really big dog.

If that's a dog crate in this bedroom, then that answers that question.

The third floor offers a convenient kitchenette...

and there's one on the lowest level, as well:

This grand house has no shortage of space or interesting details.

They're building a pergola for you even as we speak. (Turns out it may not be permitted....)

They must also be newly landscaping things. I really don't understand some of these pictures from the listing.

This one I understand because it shows the house's proximity to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, where they must have held a purple-tie event. 

The Nelson-Atkins Museum is named for Laura Nelson Kirkwood's father and Kansas City Star's founder, 

William Rockhill Nelson (1841-1915). Although rumor has it that he was not pleased about her marriage to Irwin Kirkwood, he did gift them with a pretty spiffy mansion, very similar to his own. 

He lived here at Oak Hall...

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but it was razed after his death to make way for the museum. He had intended for his estate to buy art for "public enjoyment." The museum was begun in 1930, when his bequest was combined with Mary McAfee Atkins' to create the Nelson-Atkins Museum. It opened in 1933.

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It explains the R on the Kirkwood's front door. After their deaths, the museum leased their house and it became the Rockhill Tennis Club in 1955.

After the tennis club moved out in 2010, the house was vacant until it was renovated into a family home in 2019. 

The tennis courts are gone now -- and so are plans for this house to be anything other than a private home. Although it briefly served as offices for the museum, it's now zoned as a single family residence. As the listing agent says, "No Boutique Hotel. No Bed and Breakfast." 

And no more power lines-- they've been buried since this street view photo was taken...

which leaves lots of room for more interesting details, like a long-anticipated reflecting pool, perhaps?

{1930 map source}

The listing is here.