Mustard,
The group to contact is the KC Bungalow club. Jan Bentley is the president, and they are a loose knit group of people that have a love for all older homes. They no longer are just into bungalows. Go to
http://home.kc.rr.com/troostwood/ Under their resources tab you can get some links and names of people in the business.
The way to get info from them, is join the email list and you can send an email to all members. Somebody always knows someone that is an expert in whatever you want, and has personal experience. They're a great resource for what you're looking for!
Here is their latest newsletter, they're having the next meeting tomorrow. Bring wine and snacks for 3 people! I try to make it whenever I can, hopefully weather holds up ok, but doesn't sound like it.
The next BC meeting is in a special Arts & Crafts home in historic
Hyde Park. So special that its exterior & interior were filmed in
April by famed photographer Alexander Vertikoff for a future article
in American Bungalow Magazine.
An imposing rough-cut limestone Craftsman 4-square, the home was
designed in 1909 by architect Clarence Erasmus Shepard for his father-
in-law, Joseph Victor Kendall. Mr. Kendall was a Civil War survivor
of the infamous Confederate prison, Andersonville. He was 70 &
ailing when it was built, so the stairs were designed with especially
deep treads & shallow risers.
Date: Tuesday 12/11/07
Time: 6:30 pm
Where: 3707 Harrison Boulevard, KCMO
Bring: Snacks & Libations for the Holidays
Clarence Shepard studied under Frank Lloyd Wright & designed over 600
buildings in KC. In what the original building permit described as
a "mini-mansion" , he used steel I-beams & 3x10 floor joists to
support the massive 18 inch thick stone exterior walls. These stones
& the marble steps were put in place by local Italian masons. The
first floor has quarter-sawn white oak floors, millwork, &
wainscoting. The entry & living room have boxed beamed ceilings with
original light fixtures. In the 1950s the home was turned into three
apartments & the second floor rooms were turned into rooms for rent.
Now filled with the laughter of 3 small children & busy parents, the
house has many original pieces of Mission furniture by Roycroft,
Harden, Lifetime, & Stickley. It also has strong evidence of ghosts,
2 of whom were captured in a Christmas photo a number of years ago,
standing in front of the fireplace in their 1920's clothes. The
exterior paint scheme was designed by local architectural historian
Paul Helmer in 2000, & was painted by the owner in 2001. The current
owners purchased the home in 1994 & have slowly been restoring it
room by room.
Some of the other local homes by Clarence Shepard:
810 Gleed Terrace---in Hyde Park, a 1922 stone prairie with a port-
cochere
3715 Harrison Boulevard of 1913
215 West 53rd Street of 1915
5405 Wornall Road of 1920
5005 Ward Parkway of 1925
5265 Sunset Drive of 1927
5440 State Line Road (his own home)
More on Shepard (1869-1949):
http://localhistory .kclibrary. org/cdm4/ item_viewer. php?
CISOROOT=/Local& CISOPTR=11317& CISOBOX=1& REC=1
On Alexander Vertikoff:
http://www.vertikof f.com/ &
www.americanbungalo w.com
Join us to see this house & hear its wonderful story.