Pendleton Heights rocks!

[cityboy]

Pendleton Heights castle is great! I don't know how you got the info. catfish1812, but I don't care either.  Wow, that is some cool stuff...would love to see interior shots. I am friends with the neighbor to the castle, but never knew they had visited.  Suppose I would have known had I bothered to ask.  Thanks.

[FangKC]

I'm surprised some non-profit or law firm hasn't bought the Tiffany Castle.  Perhaps the zoning would not allow it; and it's pretty out of the way.  You have to know where it is to find it.  However, it is a signature property.  I've always thought Pendleton Avenue was a bit strange in that it starts out with these big, beautiful, old Victorian-era homes and turns into little bungalows that look like they were built in the 1920s (in that culdesac area before one enters the park).

[FangKC]

For those searching for a home...my buddy has a house on the market in PH that is FABULOUS!  Check it out sometime at 500 Olive St.  He has 3000sf of hardwood and wood trim with clawfoot tubs and slate floors.  Pretty Yummy!

Cityboy: Is that the house owned by a guy named Shawn who recently moved to Chicago?

The MLS # for 500 Olive is 1222501, and more details can be found by doing a search at at: 

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/

One can also do a zip code search using 64124 for other houses in the area. The real estate ad has nice photos of the place.  I'd buy it in a minute if I could afford it.  The house was built in 1890. Here is the link to the photos of it:

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1222501

[FangKC]

Unless I'm confused, we always just referred to that neighborhood between the River Quay and the Paseo as Columbus Park. It's origins are definitely Italian, and there is still a lot of Italian influence now, but it has evolved into mostly a Vietnamese neighborhood these days. It is indeed a very interesting neighborhood, but as a realtor friend of mine pointed out, has very little turnover, so there aren't that many options to buy in there.

Columbus Park has been called Kansas City's "Little Italy" for some time, however, it was first a French neighborhood, and was home to several members of the Chouteau family. When it was first settled, Kansas City was a French-speaking river town and a territory of France.  In fact, when Missouri entered statehood in 1821, the new state constitution was printed in French for those living in "Chez les Canses," St. Louis, and Ste. Genevieve.  Even though France had ceded the territory to the US in 1803, residents here were speaking French well past 1821--and up into the 1840s.  The second Chouteau trading post was located on a bluff above the river at what would later become Troost.

[FangKC]

Pendleton Heights Castle featured in KC Star today!  Did anyone catch the article on the castles?  Two were in the Upper East Side with one in P.H. If you want to see it just follow Garfield all the way north to just past Pendlton Ave. The castle sits on the corner overlooking the bluffs.... The other is behind the K.C. Museum (where there is a 6000 sf brownstone mansion for sale too).

That is the Wallace Castle at 3200 Norledge. It used to be the administrative offices for the KC Museum.  It originally sat on part of the KC Museum site, but it was moved when lumber magnate R.A. Long built Corinthian Hall.  It's been fixed up nicely on the exterior. I don't know if the owners have completedly renovated the interior though.

http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/wallace.htm

[FangKC]

If you really want to see a extraordinary house in the Northeast, take a look at this Victorian-era gem at 426 Gladstone that was built in 1903. The price is $700,000.  However, this is a truly unique house. It looks like a castle, and you get to see the interior. The craftsmanship is sublime. They're calling it a Victorian, but I don't know if the exterior really is or not. It's got a Meditteranean look to it in some respects. It's certainly a hybrid of styles. The interior has all the hallmarks of the Victorian age though. The rooms in this house are huge. The staircase is something else. If this were the Mayor's Mansion, I'd run for mayor.    If you want details, the MLS # is 1262208.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/

Take a look and be impressed.  Here is a link to photos of it:

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1262208

[cityboy]

I am impressed with your knowledge of the area.  Regarding the home at 500 Olive, it has been vacant for several years and was a single family Victorian turned duplex many years ago.  However, like most all of the homes on Olive street it is now fully restored and is a single family again.  In fact, they just finalized a contract on the home last week and the new owner should be in by the end of the month.  I don't know what a single guy is going to do with 3000 sf of home, but he sure has a jewel.  Never belonged to a guy named shawn though.  A more affordable option is just down the street if you know someone in the market for a good Victorian home, 507 Olive.  My friend is getting a divorce and is forced to sell his 3400sf home.  He is asking less than 150,000 because it still needs some work and modernizing.  However, it is a splendid structurethat was built around 1890!  The original oak staicase still leads to the third floor (which was originally finished and is in great shape.  All of the rooms are big except the den and library.  The best part is that the home has settled so evenly that you don't have wavy floors and crooked door jams.  I would buy it if I was looking! 

[cityboy]

Several Victorian homes currently being renovated in P.H.  One to keep an eye on is the Victorian bungalow on Park St.  fellow from the Historic Preservation, Bruce Rahtjen, and wife are restoring it so it should be pretty cool.  They are modernizing the interior so it should be suitable for most younger buyers.  They say it will be for sale by fall.  Others are...corner of park and lexington...a single woman renovating to make it her home.  And...526 Olive (I think)...owned by two young architects, they have gutted it and stripped all of the original woodwork.  Should be a masterpiece when finished.  I think they may live in it as well. 

[catfish1812]

My wife and I walked our dog down Olive on Saturday afternoon and (as always) were very impressed by all the houses.  It's always nice to see what has been fixed up and what is for sale.  Our bungalow has more than enough space but we always like dreaming of one of the bigger places on Olive.

BTW FangKC, all of the smaller houses on Pendleton Ave. were built between 1902-1905. The abstract on our house says 1902 but our neighbor's says 1905.  Our looks much more modern because the previous owner covered the stucco exterior with metal siding.

[tat2kc]

The 526 Olive house is next to mine, and its the same layout. I'll be watching closely to get ideas on restoring mine! Olive is such a neat street, north of Independence.  There doesn't appear to be any of what would be a stereotypical "northeast" kind of person.  It seems to be populated with a diverse range of gainfully employed, professional folks, and retired people who have lived there for decades.  Its a common occurence to see people on the front porches, visting with neighbors, couples walking their dogs, and strolling the sidewalks with their kids, and generally enjoying the neighborhood.  

My only complaint was the broker representing the seller of my home.  She was not as honest as I hoped, and some things that were supposed to be done were not, and some intentionally fixed just enough to last till closing. We'll be filing suit to recover some funds in the next week or so.  Its unfortunate that less than honorable "flippers" are buying some of the properties, and doing substandard work, when doing the job right would not have cost any more.  Regardless of the problems, I still would have bought the house.  I just wish she had not mislead us on some things. She was also much more involved with the seller than she disclosed to us.  

[Gorlock]

BTW, Bruce Rahtjen is also the president of the Scarritt Reinaissnace Neighborhood Association.  He is an asset to the Northeast community.

[cityboy]

Trees donated to Pendleton Heights!  I just heard that Praxair has donated money to Old Northeast Inc. to provide trees for the streetside areas of.....Pendleton Heights!  Big thanks to Nancy with Old Northeast Inc. for her efforts.  Things just keep getting better!  Anybody in the neighborhood who would like to thank her just shoot her an email ... Nancyk@one-inc.org

[FangKC]

Tat2kc:

Does your house have the woodwork on the staircase painted like the one in 507 Olive?  Or is it stained and varnished?

Take a look here:

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1262285

Another great house for sale is the one at 508 Garfield.  The owners are asking $300,000, but it needs some restoration. The interior looks to be in pretty good shape--maybe original.  The exterior appears to need some work done though.  It's one of the better pre-1900 Queen Anne style Victorians left in the city. I almost have an orgasm whenever I drive by it.   :P

508 Garfield

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1243632

The MLS # is 1243632. You can find the details on it by doing a search at:

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

[FangKC]

congratulations on the new 'hood. 

and post pictures!!!!!  i dont know where Pendleton Heights is.   8-[

Chrizow:  I'm posting some links to photos of the houses for sale in that neighborhood, so you can get a feel for the architecture in the area.

This is one of the better pre-1900 Victorians in the city.

508 Garfield

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1243632

For details on this house, the ML# is 1243632.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

---

The one with the great interior renovation.

500 Olive

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1222501

For details, the ML# is 1222501.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

---

This is one of the more reasonably-priced houses that doesn't need extensive work.

507 Olive

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1262285

For details, the ML# is 1262285.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

---

516 Olive

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1232040

For details, the ML# is 1232040.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

---

212 Park Avenue

Another house that doesn't require extensive renovations. I would wager the bay window area on the second floor, that has a flat roof now, originally had a cupola-style roof (pointed-top tower)

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1251001

For details, the ML# is 1251001.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

---

A really lovely old Italianate-style Victorian that's had an excellent renovation.

224 Park Avenue

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1253817

For details, the ML# is 1253817.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

---

For the same price ($169,000), I think 224 Park is a better house overall than 516 Olive. I just like it better. If I were more interested in profit though, I'd buy 516 Olive because it's on a double lot. I could sell the single vacant lot next to it to someone wanting to do an infill project. Then I'd turn around and sell 516 Olive, and buy 224 Park.   :D

Don't forget to look 2-3 blocks in on the south side of Independence Avenue as well. Some of the houses there are even older than in Pendleton Heights. This house was built in 1885.

711 Wabash

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1253250

For details, the ML# is 1253250.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com

[voltopt]

a friend of mine used to live over on thomspon avenue, between benton and indiana.  thompson is two blocks north of independence avenue. it was a nice little bungalow with original woodwork and interior stained glass windows.  he bought it about six years ago and sold it two years ago, i believe.  a very dense part of the neighborhood as most of the houses on his block are only 5 feet apart or less.  the area seemed nice, but whenever i visited i spent most of my time inside or on his porch. 
i've always considered that neighborhood as a place to go as soon as i decide to buy something.  there, pendleton, or scrarrit renaissance. 

good luck, and keep the neighborhoods alive!
for now, i'll rent on 39th street with an eye to the northeast...

[KCAppraiser]

Fangkc,
Pendleton Heights is a historic area and getting a project approved to build can be difficult to do.  I bought my house on Olive from the guy who did the work to get the area designated a historic area and according to him it is set up in a way that new development can be stopped easily.  There is a vacant lot next door to me that a guy bought to build on, he gave that idea up pretty quickly after he figured out the difficulties involved.

Also, if anybody is interested I have a house on Park that I bought for my parents but they don't want it.  It needs some work but is not that bad.  It currently is set up as a duplex.

[FangKC]

That's good to know. The property owners certainly can set it up that way.  Many urban planners and some preservation advocates don't think infill housing is necessarily bad for historic districts, as long as new structures adhere to certain design guidelines; are of a compatible style; and have similar massing and scale.  For example, this is a new Victorian house that was constructed in the Northland. I think it looks authentic enough to fit into Pendleton Heights.  I was fooled until I looked at the address and noticed from the background houses were it was a newer neighborhood.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1232624

One of the things that detracts from some parts of Pendleton Heights is that on some blocks there are gapping breaks in the streetscape. This often breaks up the flow of the street in a disconcerting way.

This is another house that fooled me when I initially looked at it online. I assumed it was in an older part of the city and had been renovated until I read the description and saw that it was in Shoal Creek Valley.

http://www.kansascityhomes.com/HomeSear ... er=1206777

Historic neighborhoods can control new building in a positive and proactive way that allows infill of vacant parcels. One of the ways this can be done is for the board that approves building designs and alterations to select a variety of house designs that are acceptable in advance.  Then any party who wants to build new has a selection to choose from that they know will pass muster, and is acceptable to everyone.

The other option is to allow other historic homes of a similar era and style--that are facing demolition in adjacent non-protected area--to be moved onto a vacant parcel.  This is an excellent way to do infill and preserve historic homes at the same time.  An example, there are pre-1900 historic homes in Los Angeles that have been moved twice in their histories to preserve them.

There is one way around the historic neighborhood's approval process though.   The state and federal governments are exempt from all preservation laws.  There is nothing to stop them from buying up vacant parcels in any historic neighborhood and building new homes to increase property taxes collected from older neighborhoods. One would hope that they would be sensitive to the architecture heritage and choose appropriate designs. However, they are not obligated to do so.  "Let's see, we need to build some halfway houses for released felons and recovering drug addicts; and group homes for residents with severe mental illness.  In addition, numerous vacant lots near public transit are needed to build a bunch of cheaply constructed HUD houses and apartments for low-income people. Where can we put them?"

With the recent ruling on eminent domain by the Supreme Court, the city itself may now be empowered to do the same thing to increase the density of older neighborhoods to help support the cost of maintaining  infastructure.

In some respects, it's in the interest of historic neighborhoods to allow new building on vacant parcels.  On one hand, it increases the homeowner dues for the entire neighborhood (if they are collected). Union Hill is an example of an older neighborhood that collects neighborhood association dues and allows new homes to be built.

Another reason is to keep property taxes from having to be raised.  Every vacant lot in the city essentially contributes little to the tax base.  Certainly not as much as if an occupied house with some value sat on them.  If too many of these parcels exist, the result is that property taxes have to be raised on the parcels that still have homes on them.  Infastructure has to be maintained whether there are 6 houses on a block, or 16.

There is also the aesthetic thing.  You can have beautifully restored historic homes sitting alone on a block.  However, no matter how well-preserved the house may be, it's value is determined on perception of it's surroundings.  A single house sitting with three or four vacant lots on each side, and more behind it, is not as valuable as the same house sitting on a uninterrupted block of similar houses.  Too many vacant lots in a neighborhood give the appearance that the area is still a bit dodgy.

If residents on the 500 block of Olive find out that similar houses on the 500 block of Garfield are worth 15 percent more on resale -- just because they sit on a block with no vacant lots, then attitudes may change about the strict building restrictions on vacant lots.  Residents of blocks with several vacant lots, or large gaps, will be arguing for more infill development.

The amenities factor is another. People in a lot of older inner city neighborhoods complain about the lack of retail in their immediate area--good discount grocery stores and the like.  However, retailers are less inclined to be attracted back to neighhorhoods that don't have enough density to support the store.  Retail and employment also tends to move, or return, to more densely-populated areas.

Then there's public schools.  Neighborhood schools in inner city neighborhoods are being shut down because it's too expensive to operate them. This is primarily due to population declines and the low densities in older neighborhoods with numerous vacant lots. When this happens, kids can no longer walk to school. They may have to be bused to another part of town.  Remember, Kansas City south of the river is still losing population.  Kansas City has only maintained it's historic population levels because of new development in the Northland, and in the extreme portions of southern Kansas City.  Schools with declining populations also have to cut back on essential programs like physical education, sports, art, music, and after-school programs. State and federal education money is most often given to school districts on a per student basis. If new families are not allowed into older neighborhoods, then the Kansas City School District doesn't replace its diminishing student population and continues to decline.

Just some food for thought.

[Beermo]

Here is a link describing the castle.  I walk by this place almost every day and I'm dying to see the inside:

http://dupontcastle.com/castles/tiffany.htm

yea i've been in there. nice place. a friends aunt owns it. a former nun from somoa. i think she works at umkc.

[tat2kc]

Fang, thats one thing they didn't do in my home: paint the wood. They did paint the around one window upstairs, its a horribly ugly tan color.  They also put carpet over all the floors, except the bathrooms, kitchen and entry, which are tile.  I think next spring or summer we'll be redoing the floors, or putting in new wood floors. 

the one thing, besides a crappy plumbing job (4 calls in 2 months, but finally all fixed) was the washer/dryer hookups. The seller made it clear how they redid the hookups, and put them in the kitchen rather than the basement. Kind of odd, but no biggie, we were looking at undercounter appliances as it was. Well, the electrical outlet for the dryer was not actually hooked up. They just put the outlet in, ran some wire into the wall and that was it.  In fact, the breaker box was full, and to add another breaker for this is going to run a couple hundred or so. 

My advice: if you look at a home, and the seller/broker is Angela Torrres, check every single outlet. Literally every single one. Check every single plumbing fixture, from the dishwasher to the sinks to the tubs, and showers. Then come back a check a second and third time.  Inside and out. DO NOT trust that "everything will be taken care of".  We made the mistake of taking them at their word. 

We would have bought the house, even with the problems. It would have affected our offer for sure, but we still would have bought the house.  I resent the seller and the broker not being honest with us, and not upholding their end of the bargain.  We fixed some things, and sent receipts to the owner, as specified in the closing, but they've so far refused to pick up the certified mail.  So its off to court. 

Look at the houses on Olive for sale; I'd call Eric B. listed on a good number of the homes on Olive. He seems to be a stand up kind of guy, and lives in the area and cares a lot about it.  Its too bad other realtors aren't the same. 

[KCAppraiser]

tat2kc, that really sucks.  Did you get the house inspected when you bought it?  If you did, did they pass everthing?  It is too bad about Angela, she is our neighbor, you would think that she would care more about the neighborhood than that.  Good luck in court.