Kivett & Myers was a

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

architecture firm that pioneered the design of modern professional sports stadiums. Clarence Kivett (born Clarence Kivovitch) graduated from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

in 1928 and his first big design project was the

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

design of Katz Drug (which was taken over by

Osco Drug Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs were the names of a pair of chain pharmacies that operated in the United States. Osco Drug was founded by the Skaggs family. Alpha Beta grocery store was purchased by American Stores in 1961. Skaggs Drug Centers bou ...

) at Main Street and Westport in 1934 in Kansas City (which was owned by his uncles Mike and Ike Katz). He was joined by Ralph Myers in 1940. They went on to design the Cumonow Residence in Mission Hills, the Missouri State Office Building at 13th and Holmes, the old Temple B'nai Jehudah at 69th and Holmes, Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences Building at the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...

and the Fairmount Hotel in the

Country Club Plaza The Country Club Plaza (often called The Plaza) is a privately-owned regional shopping center in the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri. Opened in 1923, it was the first planned suburban shopping center and the first regional shoppi ...

and the

Mission Hills Country Club The Mission Hills Country Club is a country club in the western United States, located in Rancho Mirage, California, southeast of Palm Springs. Overview Among the facilities at the club are 3 championship golf courses (54 holes), 27 tennis court ...

clubhouse. The two most prominent commissions came in the late 1960s and early 1970s with terminals and control tower at

Kansas City International Airport Kansas City International Airport (originally Mid-Continent International Airport) is a public airport in Kansas City, Missouri located northwest of Downtown Kansas City in Platte County, Missouri., effective December 30, 2021. The airport o ...

(a design layout with in "C" shape so that all gates were within a few feet of the road) and the

Truman Sports Complex The Harry S. Truman Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is home to two major sports venues: Arrowhead Stadium—home of the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, and Kauffman Stadiu ...

for

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

. A prominent feature of the stadia design favoured by Kivett and Myers is the spiral ramps leading to the higher echelons of seating. This can be seen at

Kauffman Stadium Kauffman Stadium (), often called "The K", is a baseball stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is home to the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). It is part of the Truman Sports Complex together with the adjacent Arrowhe ...

and

Arrowhead Stadium Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium has been officially named GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stad ...

in Kansas City, as well as the now-demolished

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

. The initial design in 1967 called for the baseball and football stadiums to be built side by side sharing the same parking infrastructure as well as a rolling roof that was to slide from one stadium to the other. The concepts of separate stadiums for baseball and football was revolutionary at the time when stadiums were designed as gigantic multipurpose venues. The rolling roof was initially too expensive and too impractical in Kansas City however it was to be applied at several stadiums elsewhere in the decades that followed. In 1978 the Kansas City civil engineering and architecture firm

HNTB HNTB Corporation is an American infrastructure design firm. Founded in 1914 in Kansas City, Missouri, HNTB began with the partnership made by Ernest Emmanuel Howard with the firm Waddell & Harrington, founded in 1907. Considered as one of the m ...

acquired Kivett and Myers and went on to build several professional stadiums, indoor arenas, and ballparks. Several of the firm's architects also went on to open a sports architecture office in Kansas City for HOK in 1983, now the independent firm of Populous, with offices in Kansas City, London, and Brisbane. In 1988 several more architects left HNTB and opened a sports architecture office in Kansas City for Ellerbe Becket (since acquired by AECOM). This practice was known primarily for professional indoor sports arenas, but was also responsible for several major stadia.

References

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External links

KC Public Library History
Architecture firms based in Missouri Companies based in Kansas City, Missouri