New York Life Building

New York Life Building
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Commercial offices
Location	20 West Ninth, Kansas City, Missouri
Coordinates	39°06′14″N 94°35′03″W / 39.1040°N 94.5842°W / 39.1040; -94.5842Coordinates: 39°06′14″N 94°35′03″W / 39.1040°N 94.5842°W / 39.1040; -94.5842
Construction started	1888
Completed	1890
Height
Roof	180 feet (55 m)
Technical details
Floor count	12
Floor area	175,186 square feet (16,275.3 m2)
Design and construction
Management	Grubb & Ellis
Architect	McKim, Mead, and White
References
New York Life Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	20 W. 9th St., Kansas City, Missouri
Coordinates:	39°6′13″N 94°35′2″W / 39.10361°N 94.58389°W / 39.10361; -94.58389
Area:	less than one acre
Built:	1887
Architectural style:	Other, Neo-Renaisssance
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	70000336[1]
Added to NRHP:	July 8, 1970

The New York Life Building is a high-rise building in Kansas City, Missouri. The ten-story brick and brownstone tower, which was completed in 1890, is generally regarded as Kansas City's first skyscraper and was the first building in the city equipped with elevators. It was commissioned by the New York Life Insurance Company, which earlier built an identical building in Omaha. Several buildings around the world share its name.

Background

The building was designed in 1885 by Frederick Elmer Hill (1857–1929), of the New York City architecture firm of McKim, Mead & White. Hill, who graduated from MIT in 1882, came to Kansas City in 1885 to oversee the construction of his design, but ended up staying in the city until 1901, and designing some important buildings. From 1893 until 1895, he was involved in the design and construction of the Nave of Grace Church, (now Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral,) located at 13th Street and Broadway Boulevard, only a few blocks from this building. Hill designed both of the Convention Halls Kansas City built between 1899 and 1900, and Westport City Hall. Hill was responsible for the design of Oak Hall, the elegant private residence of Kansas City newspaper publisher, William Rockhill Nelson (1841–1915).

Built in Italianate Renaissance Revival style, the building has a brick and brownstone exterior and an H-shaped footprint with ten story wings flanking a twelve story tower. A monumental eagle tending eaglets in a nest is perched above the main entry. The work was sculpted by Louis St. Gaudens and contains more than two tons of cast bronze. The lobby has an Italian granite atrium floor. The building's location on Quality Hill marked the first significant movement of the city south from its founding at River Market along the Missouri River. The imposing structure also marked a dramatic change in the skyline of Kansas City, where the tallest buildings previously had been three and four stories.^[2]

The New York Life Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970,^[3] but was abandoned in 1988. In 1996, a $35 million restoration of the building added state-of-the-art energy, communications, and environmental features.^[4]

In 2010, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph purchased the building for $11.7 million. It now houses the diocese's administrative offices (the chancery) and the local branch of Catholic Charities, about 180 employees in all.^[5] The building was renamed the Catholic Center.^[6]

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  Viewed from the northwest.

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  Massive bronze sculpture by Louis St. Gaudens of an eagle tending a nest of baby eaglets above the street entrance.

See also

• Tallest buildings in Kansas City

References

External links