Luzier Special Formula Laboratories (1928-2000)

Constructed in 1928, this landmark Kansas City building was home to Luzier Special Formula Laboratories, a company that created products aimed at connecting science to skincare at a time when the cosmetic industry was focused more on marketing than product development. Few women, notably among the middle class and wealthy, purchased skincare products or wore makeup until the 1920s. Thomas Luzier, the founder of Luzier's Incorporated, took his love for chemistry and applied it towards improving women's skincare and makeup products from the late 1890s through the 1920s. When the cosmetics industry boomed during the 1920s, Luzier's company flourished which created the funding and need for this modern laboratory. Luzier was also unique among early cosmetic manufacturers in his practice of hiring women, including securing the services of architect Nelle E. Peters to design this structure. The company hired women in all aspects of the business from sales to manufacturing and earned a reputation of supporting employees who needed their work schedule to fit around their family obligations. The building served as the home of the business until 2000.

Thomas Luzier moved his cosmetics company from a storefront on Main Street to the now-historic location in 1929, where Luzier's cosmetics firm rose to notoriety throughout the United States. Luzier was a strong advocate of women's advancement in the workplace and was one of the few companies that hired women in sales and manufacturing departments at this time. The Luzier brand benefitted from his graduate-school chemistry education which he used to create products that could be sold to women based on their different skin types. While this would become standard in the industry decades later, Luzier's team was unique in an era when the industry was unregulated and notorious for products that had a less than salubrious impact on consumers.

Nelle Peters, a successful architect during the early 1920s, designed the building along with many others in Kansas City. Construction of this building took place in 1928 followed by additional work in 1933. The Luzier Building represents the most intricate example of Peters' work in the Spanish Colonial style in Kansas City. At the same time, the cosmetics company that used the building speaks to the early twentieth-century change in attitudes and science surrounding women's beauty products. 

Born in Waterloo, Pennsylvania, in 1872, Luzier moved with his parents to Missouri as a child. As a boy, Luzier took an interest in chemistry and science which eventually led to him receiving a post-graduate education in chemistry. In 1894, at 22 years old, he took a job with the Diamond Development Company in Wyoming as Chief Chemist and Assayer. However, he only served in that capacity for two years before moving to Denver and working for the Colorado Loan and Investment Company, eventually becoming the company's vice president. Luzier relocated to Kansas City in 1897. and took a job with the Kansas Pacific Life Insurance Company, followed by Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. At Pacific Mutual, he met Pattie Park Funk (locally known as "Madame Pattie"), a young and successful cosmetician. 

Madame Pattie built her cosmetics business by catering to an elite clientele and providing personalized treatments tailored to an individual's needs, a unique method during the early twentieth century when few, if any women, purchased beauty and skincare products. Indeed, many believed that makeup and beauty products existed only for women with a poor moral standard (as they judged it). Luzier married Madame Pattie and subsequently left the insurance business and joined his new bride in her cosmetics ventures, which allowed him to exercise his passion for chemistry again. He refined the formulas after noticing clients (women) presented a vast array of complexions and skin conditions. As a result, the couple created Luzier's Special Formula Laboratories. 

For twenty-five years, Luzier and Pattie worked together at a time when the beauty industry blossomed. The industry benefitted from societal approval of women wearing makeup and the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, which allowed for government regulation of cosmetic products for medical use and beauty. The boom gave Luzier reason to believe that they could sell their products nationwide. However, the idea of going nationwide differed from the initial model of catering to individual clients, causing a significant rift between Luzier and his wife, Madame Pattie; the tension caused the two to divorce in 1923. 

After Madame Pattie and Luzier divorced, he founded Special Formula Laboratories, which manufactured makeup, perfumes, and skincare products, formulated to an individual's skin tone and conditions. For example, he developed Hypoallergenic formulas, which lacked ingredients that caused allergic reactions. His new business flourished, but that left Luzeir unable to work both with clients and in the lab. Hence, he hired new representatives (who used Luzier cosmetics themselves) that sold his products and educated potential clients about the product's

benefits. Women filled out questionnaires, which were sent to the laboratory. At the lab, a "recipe" would be developed for that individual. The lab then assigned a number specific to each client, which was attached to each recipe. Freshly created and individually labeled, the lab sent the products to the consumer. Thus, the "personalized" touch remained a staple of the company's sales philosophy. The model worked well and allowed his business to expand beyond Kanas City. 

In 1928, Luzier commissioned architect Nelle E. Peters (the architect for the Ambassador Hotel) to design a new building for the growing company. A fitting choice for Luzier's habit of hiring women, Nelle became an accomplished architect during an era when men dominated the field. In 1929, he moved his operations to Peter's designed office and factory building on Gillham Plaza, and he renamed the company: Luzier's Incorporated. Even with the difficulties associated with the Great Depression, Luzier's Incorporated continued to flourish, relying on a woman-dominated workforce (unique for the era). Luzier relied on women to sell the products through face-to-face interactions, word of mouth, and training beauty consultants rather than spending on advertising. Luzier also recruited women to work in the manufacturing and shipping departments. One perk women enjoyed involved an opportunity to define their schedules, which especially appealed to women rearing children. In short, a woman designed the building primarily occupied by women workers who produced products mainly enjoyed by women. 

Luzier died in 1947. At the time of his death, his company processed 45,000 orders monthly. His will stipulated that half of the money from his million-dollar estate went to employees who had been with the company for more than four years. Meanwhile, a committee of employee trustees and family members took over the company. But, by 1955, Luzier's Incorporated became part of Bristol-Meyers Inc., which took Luzier's in a new direction that involved less personal touches and included an abundance of advertising and personal endorsements from celebrities.  

In 1977, Bristol-Meyers chose to divest itself of the Luzier brand. A small group of investors headed by Keith Craven, a businessman noted for company turnarounds, acquired Luzier the same year. He reorganized the company and attempted to re-install the company's original philosophy of individualized beauty care. Kraven also cut the staff from 210 to 30, automated the manufacturing process, and invested in computers used for office management. While this work modernized the company and allowed it to remain solvent through the twenty-first century. Kraven also moved the main operation away from its historic location in 2000, ending seventy-two years of operations in this Kansas City landmark building.  

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Kansas Historical Society. "Nelle Peters." Kansapedia. March 2013. https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/nelle-peters/18262. 

Millstein, Cydney and Kelsey Lutz. Nomination Form: "Luzier Special Formula Laboratories Building." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 2017. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Luzier%20Special%20Formula%20Laboratories%20Bldg.pdf.