East 27th Street Colonnades Historic District

This historic district includes apartments that were constructed along the Troost Avenue corridor during the early twentieth century, with most of them having open porches and balconies supported by large columns. The apartments mainly catered to young middle-class families and professionals who moved into the Beacon Hill Neighborhood during an era of rapid growth. What would later become the East 27th Street Colonnades Historic District dates back to 1917 when eight modern apartment buildings were constructed. Some of these buildings were demolished in recent years, and the Beacon Hill neighborhood has faced some of the same socioeconomic issues that affected many neighborhoods along and east of Troost Avenue, mainly tied to a pervasive class and racial division located along the historic corridor.

Located within the Beacon Hill neighborhood, once part of "Millionaire's Row" along Troost Avenue, the East 27th Street Colonnades Historic District enjoys historical significance as one of the many historic Kansas City apartments with a Combined Column Porch. Lauded local architect, Napoleon Dible, designed and built the eight apartment buildings in 1917, although only some have survived. The apartments represent a transition in middle-class residential housing, as they increasingly chose to live in apartments located in streetcar suburban locations; streetcars run up and down Troost Avenue. 

In the early 1900s, the portion of Beacon Hill from 26th to 31st Street on Troost Avenue garnered the nickname Millionaire's Row. Eary twentieth-century residents included former Kansas City mayor, T. T. Crittenden, former Missouri governor, George Peck (who also owned Peck's Department Store), and George Kemper, founder of Commerce Bank. Over time, many of Kansas City's most wealthy citizens continued to move south. Thus, developers began targeting aspiring professionals within the middle class with homes, hotels, and apartments along the Troost Avenue corridor and Hyde Park. 

Napoleon Dible, a leading Kansas City developer, started building homes in Kansas City in 1903 and went on to design more than 5,000 houses by the time of his death in 1960, more than any Kansas City builder at the time. He specialized in constructing affordable houses with assembly-line construction techniques. In 1911, Dible founded the Home Investment Company, which allowed him to involve investors in his development plans. Under the auspices of the Home Investment Company, Dible deviated from his concentration on single-family homes to develop eight buildings at East 27th Street and Tracy Avenue. 

Dible designed the eight apartment buildings that make up the historic East 27th Street Colonnades Historic District to cater to Kansas City's middle-class population. The development provided a dense neighborhood of middle-class families that lasted for decades. The colonnaded apartments represent a trend in apartment construction in Kansas City that included open porches with prominent columns located in suburban settings near essential thoroughfares or streetcar lines, which provided easy access to business centers (workplaces). The complex was marketed as apartments set in an ideal location, with open porches. The advertisements also noted how the apartments included:

• Large rooms and closets.
• Tiled baths.
• Built-in bookcases.
• Modern kitchens with high oven stoves.
• Ornate detailing.
• Stylish lighting.
• Vacuum cleaners.
• Modern heating systems.
• Access to a garage.

The rents also would have appealed to middle-class tenants. Occupants included managers of the Chevrolet Motor Company showroom and the Kansas City Post. 

The nature of Troost Avenue changed by the middle-twentieth century mainly due to racial divisions, with Troost Avenue serving as the dividing line between Black and White populations. However, even as businesses fled and many white residents moved farther south ("white flight"), Beacon Hill fared better than other Troost Avenue neighborhoods, notably regarding blight and crime. Still, by the 1930s and '40s, the tenants shifted from managers and executives to laborers, clerks, and salespeople, and then by the 1960s, low-income tenants mainly occupied the apartments. Much of the area, with help from such organizations as the Urban Neighborhood Initiative, has undergone a revival in recent years.

"Beacon Hill." Urban Neighborhood Initiative (UNI). uni-kc.org. Accessed October 25, 2021. https://uni-kc.org/neighborhoods/beacon-hill/. 

Jezak, Susan. "Nomination Form: East 27'h street Colonnades Historic District." National Register of Historic Places." mostateparks.com. 2006. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/E.%2027th%20St.%20Colonnades%20HD.pdf.

Salzman, Eric. "For decades a dividing line, Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Mo., sees new hope." NBC News. October 12. 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/decades-dividing-line-troost-avenue-kansas-city-mo-sees-new-n918851.

Schwenk, Sally F. "Multiple Property Documentation Form." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 2003. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Historic%20Colonnade%20Apartment%20Buildings%20of%20KC%2C%20MO.pdf.

U-News Staff. "'Troost Wall' the product of Kansas City's long-running racial plight: Racist real estate practices leave urban decay." UMKC Roo News. umkc.edu. March 5, 2013. https://info.umkc.edu/unews/troost-wall-the-product-of-kansas-citys-long-running-racial-plight/.