Hoit, Price & Barnes was a prominent Kansas City architectural firm in the early 20th century. It designed several skyscrapers and mansions including three of the current ten tallest buildings in Kansas City; the Kansas City Power and Light Building,

909 Walnut 909 Walnut (formerly Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building, Federal Office Building and 911 Walnut) is a twin-spired, 35-story, residential skyscraper in Downtown Kansas City, Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It was Missouri's tallest apartment ...

, and

Oak Tower Oak Tower, also called the Bell Telephone Building, is a 28-story skyscraper in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Hoit, Price & Barnes, a local firm that conceived many of Kansas City's landmark structures, designed the building in association with ...

History

The history of Hoit, Price & Barnes has its roots in Boston when Harvard graduates

William R. Ware William Robert Ware (May 27, 1832 – June 9, 1915), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts into a family of the Unitarian clergy, was an American architect, author, and founder of two important American architectural schools. He received his o ...

and

Henry Van Brunt Henry Van Brunt FAIA (September 5, 1832 – April 8, 1903) was a 19th-century American architect and architectural writer. Life and work Van Brunt was born in Boston in 1832 to Gershom Jacques Van Brunt and Elizabeth Price Bradlee. Van Brunt ...

established the firm of Ware & Van Brunt in 1864.

Frank M. Howe Frank M. Howe (20 July 1849 – 4 January 1909) was an architect in Kansas City, Missouri, and Boston, Massachusetts. He was a partner with Henry Van Brunt in the prominent firm of Van Brunt and Howe. He later partnered with Henry F. Hoit as How ...

joined the firm in 1868. When Ware became founding chair of the School of Architecture at Columbia University in 1881, the firm became Van Brunt & Howe. They opened a branch office in Kansas City in 1887. Van Brunt died in 1903. In 1904, the Kansas City firm of Howe, Hoit & Cutler was established when Howe partnered with employees

Henry F. Hoit Henry Ford Hoit (4 August 1872 – 30 May 1951) was a well-known Kansas City, Missouri, architect in the early 20th century. He and his partners designed many of Kansas City's most iconic commercial and residential buildings including the Kansas ...

and William H. Cutler, both graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1901, Van Brunt & Howe received the commission to design the Palace of Varied Industries building at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Cutler was head draftsman and recommended they hire Hoit to take charge of the job. Hoit was his former classmate at MIT and was living in Boston at the time. Soon after, Van Brunt retired, creating the firm of Howe, Hoit & Cutler. It became Howe & Hoit in 1907 when Cutler died of typhoid fever. Howe died in 1909. Hoit was on his own until 1913 when he partnered with another MIT graduate, Edwin M. Price. Alfred E. Barnes joined the partnership on January 1, 1919 and the firm of Hoit, Price & Barnes was born. R. A. Long the wealthy lumber baron, was impressed with Hoit's work on the Varied Industries building. This began a long business relationship with Hoit and his partners designing the Independence Boulevard Christian Church, of which Long was a member; the R. A. Long Building, one of Kansas City’s first steel framed skyscrapers; Long’s home at Corinthian Hall which is now the Kansas City Museum; Longview Farm, his country estate; Christian Church Hospital; and even Long’s mausoleum. They also designed the Mack B. Nelson house when Nelson was Vice-President of the Long-Bell Lumber Company. When the full 28 stories of the Bell Telephone Building was completed in 1929, it was the tallest building in Kansas City. Then the 34 story Kansas City Power and Light Building was completed in 1931, making it the tallest building in the state of Missouri, a title it held until 1976. The firm continued until 1941 when the construction industry started changing to meet the war effort.

Notable buildings

Van Brunt & Howe

* 1887 - Frank M. Howe Residence (Designed by Howe) * 1890 -

Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods Company Emery, Bird, Thayer & Company was a department store in Downtown Kansas City that traced its history nearly to the city's origins as Westport Landing. The store, known as EBT, closed in 1968, and its building, which was on the National Register ...

Building * 1904 - Palace of Varied Industries,

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

(razed)

Howe, Hoit & Cutler

* 1905 - Independence Boulevard Christian Church * 1907 -

R.A. Long Building The R.A. Long building is a historic skyscraper in Kansas City, Missouri located on the northwest corner of the intersection of 10th Street and Grand Avenue. In 1906, R.A. Long's Long-Bell Lumber Company had outgrown the office space in the Keit ...

* 1908 -

Temple B'nai Jehudah The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah is the oldest and largest synagogue in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. Established in 1870 in Kansas City, Missouri, it was a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism. Its fourth building, d ...

(In 2003, became Mohart Multipurpose Center)

Henry F. Hoit

* 1908 - R.A. Long Residence ( Kansas City Museum at Corinthian Hall) * 1914 -

Longview Farm Longview Farm in Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States was built by Robert A. Long. In planning the farm Long turned to Henry F. Hoit of Hoit, Price and Barnes, as he had designed Corinthian Hall and the R.A. Long Building. George Kessler wa ...

* 1914 - Mack B. Nelson House, 55th & Ward Parkway * 1915 - Christian Church Hospital, 2697 W. Paseo Blvd. * 1916 - C.C. Peters residence, 55th & State Line * 1916 - O. H. Dean Building (Reeves-Wiedeman Company), 3635 Main Street * 1918 - Cosden Building (

Mid-Continent Tower The Mid-Continent Tower is a 36-story skyscraper located at 401 South Boston Avenue in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. At 156 meters (513 ft) in height, it is the fourth-tallest building in Tulsa and fifth-tallest in Oklahoma. Faced with bright w ...

)

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

* 1919 - Charles A. Braley house, 3 Dunford Circle * 1920 - Bell Telephone Building (

), original 14 stories

Hoit, Price & Barnes

* 1920 - Baker-Vawter Building * 1923 - Kansas City Athletic Club (became Continental Hotel in 1932, Mark Twain Tower in 1982) * 1926 - Dierks Building floors 8-15 * 1928 - Robert Keith Furniture Company Building, 13th & Baltimore * 1929 - Bell Telephone Building (

), additional 14 stories * 1930 - Dierks Building floors 16-17 * 1931 - Kansas City Power and Light Building * 1931 - Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building (

) * 1935 - Municipal Auditorium (mechanical work)

Principals of the firm

Municipal Auditorium Architecture Team (cropped)

(1873-1951) - a native of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

who moved to Kansas City in 1901 * Edwin M. Price (1884-1957) - a native of Webb City,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

who moved to Kansas City to work for Howe, Hoit & Cutler in 1905. * Alfred E. Barnes (1892-1960) - a native of Kansas City who became employed with Hoit in 1909. His grandfather was Kansas City architect Asa Beebe Cross.

Buildings on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
Nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com - Retrieved January 15, 2016
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* Baker-Vawter Building, 915-917 Wyandotte, Kansas City (Listed May 5, 2000) * Charles A. Braley House, 3 Dunford Cir., Kansas City (Listed October 9, 2013) * Christian Church Hospital (aka Robinson Neurological Hospital), 2697 W. Paseo Blvd., Kansas City (Listed October 21, 2004) * Continental Hotel (aka Kansas City Athletic Club, Mark Twain Tower), 106 W. 11th St., Kansas City (Listed August 8, 1983) * Cosden Building (

) 409 S. Boston, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Listed February 1, 1979) * O.H. Dean Building, 3625-3635 Main St., Kansas City (Listed September 3, 2009) * Dierks Building, 1000-1006 Grand Blvd., Kansas City (Listed January 29, 2009) * Fidelity Nation Bank & Trust Building,

, Kansas City (Listed August 14, 1997) * Frank M. Howe Residence, 1707 Jefferson St., Kansas City (Listed April 18, 1985) * Independence Boulevard Christian Church, 606 Gladstone Blvd., Kansas City (Listed January 14, 2015) * Kansas City Power and Light Building, 1330 Baltimore Ave., Kansas City (Listed January 9, 2002) *

, 928 Grand Blvd., Kansas City (Listed January 8, 2003) * R.A. Long House (

Kansas City Museum The Kansas City Museum is located in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. In 1910, the site was built by lumber baron and civic leader Robert A. Long as his private family estate, with the four-story historic Beaux-Arts style mansion named Corin ...

at Corinthian Hall), 3218 Gladstone Blvd., Kansas City (Listed November 14, 1980)

Gallery

Image:Frank M. Howe Residence.jpg, Frank M. Howe Residence Image:Emey-bird2.jpg, Emery, Bird & Thayer Building Image:VariedIndustries.jpg, Palace of Varied Industries
1904 St.Louis World's Fair Image:R.A._Long_Building.jpg,

Image:B'nai Jehudah Temple 1908.jpg, B'nai Jehudah Temple Image:Kansas City Museum of History and Science.jpg,

(R.A. Long Residence - Corinthian Hall) Image:Longview mansion-750077.jpg, Longview Mansion at Longview Farm Image:Sunsethillhouse2.jpg, Mack B. Nelson House Image:O.H. Dean Building.jpg, O. H. Dean Building Image:OakTower Kansas City Missouri.jpg,

(Bell Telephone Building) Image:BakerVawter.jpg, Baker-Vawter Building Image:Mark_Twain_Tower_Kansas_City_MOv.jpg, Kansas City Athletic Club/Continental Hotel/Mark Twain Tower Image:Dierks Building.jpg, Dierks Building Image:Kansas City Power and Light Building 1931.jpg, Kansas City Power & Light Building Image:909 Walnut Kansas City MO.jpg, 909 Walnut Tower (Fidelity National Bank) Image:Municipal Auditorium Kansas City Missouri.jpg, Municipal Auditorium

References

{{Authority control Architecture firms based in Missouri Companies based in Kansas City, Missouri