The Loretto is a multipurpose venue in the Westport neighborhood of

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

. It was adapted from a former girls' academy known as Loretto Academy, dedicated in 1904Owner of Loretto Academy wedded to $15M renovation
a May 11, 2007 article from the ''

Kansas City Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes ''The Business Journals'', which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States with each market ...

'' as a "boarding and day school for girls." It is named after the

Sisters of Loretto The Sisters of Loretto or the Loretto Community is a Catholic religious institute that strives "to bring the healing Spirit of God into our world." Founded in the United States in 1812 and based in the rural community of Nerinx, Kentucky, the o ...

, who established a presence in Kansas City in 1899.

History

The land upon which Loretto Academy was built was purchased in September 1902 by Mother M. Praxedes Carty.1905 Postcard of the Loretto Academy
from the Missouri Valley Special Collections of the Kansas City Public Library, accompanied by an excerpt from an October 23, 1971 article from ''

Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'' The architect of Loretto Academy, Thomas P. Barnett of

Barnett, Haynes & Barnett Barnett, Haynes & Barnett was a prominent architectural firm based in St. Louis, Missouri. Their credits include many familiar St. Louis landmarks, especially a number related to the local Catholic church. Their best-known building is pr ...

, was soon after appointed the architect of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. The academy was the site of a fire in 1909 at a Halloween party; three students lost their lives when a paper dress became ignited by a lit

jack-o'-lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin, or formerly a root vegetable such as a mangelwurzel, rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes ...

. Loretto Academy admitted its first black student in September 1947. The Academy moved to 12411 Wornall Road in 1966.

Subsequent uses

In 1966 the site was sold to

Calvary Bible College Calvary University is a private Christian university in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. In 2019, total enrollment was 430, with undergraduate enrollment of 348 and graduate enrollment of 82. History The university originally opened in 1 ...

, who owned it for two decades; it then passed through the hands of three owners until a 1993

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

. By then it had been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

for a decade. As The Loretto, it currently hosts weddings in the historic cathedral chapel and wedding receptions in the ballroom. The building also offers apartments and offices. Its current owner, Loretto Redevelopment Corp., taking advantage of a

tax abatement A tax holiday is a temporary reduction or elimination of a tax. It is synonymous with tax abatement, tax subsidy or tax reduction. Governments usually create tax holidays as incentives for business investment, although the arrangement has also ...

, has had plans for further redevelopment since 1996; as of 2011, those plans include "a hotel conversion, a small office space facing Mercier Street and two small rental buildings" on the site.

References

External links

* {{authority control

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Colonial Revival architecture in Missouri School buildings completed in 1902 Educational institutions established in 1904 Educational institutions disestablished in 1964 Defunct high schools in Missouri Schools in Kansas City, Missouri School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Kansas City, Missouri 1904 establishments in Missouri

History

Subsequent uses

See also

References

External links