Westheight Apartments Historic District

The pressing need to supply housing to returning veterans after World War II spurred the development of an abundance of single-family and multi-family homes, including simplistically-designed apartments like the Westheight Apartment buildings. The 1946 Veterans' Emergency Housing Act gave the Federal Housing Administration to fund an array of housing projects, which made it possible for the father and son team of Fred and Robert Earnheart, who has at that time possessed no previous development experience and had limited access to capital, to finance and construct the Westheight Apartments. The Earnheart duo built the apartments in three stages, with the first building built in 1947, the second in 1949, and the last two in 1952. The less-ornate Westheight buildings differed from many of the homes and multi-family dwellings in the county, all of which spoke to the population boom of suburban Kansas City (and suburbs across America) after World War II. The Westheight buildings were more straightforward in design as per the government-directed, FHA guidelines.

The Westheight Apartments Historic District consists of four multifamily apartment buildings constructed in 1947, 1949, and 1952. The buildings survive as an great example of post-war, multifamily residential developments that met Federal Housing Authority (FHA) standards for design. The District's Modern Movement influences distinguish it from the era's contemporary single- and multifamily-home developments, which commonly drew inspiration from the more ornate Colonial Revival styles. 

By the mid-1940s, with soldiers returning from Europe and the Pacific after World War II, a tremendous demand for new housing arose in the United States. But, little new housing existed as the Great Depression profoundly slowed construction, and war efforts meant limited access to construction materials. Thus, housing needs rose to the forefront of national concern. In the late 1940s alone, thousands of apartment complexes emerged, containing roughly 700,000 apartments. Many people (notably white Americans) moved away from the cities after the war as cities suffered from decline and decay after decades of neglect. In the Kansas City area, Wyandotte County enjoyed a population and housing-construction boom during the post-war period. A 2000 U.S. Census report discovered that 12,000 dwellings in Wyandotte County emerged before World War II, while 23,000 arose between 1940 and 1959. Still, while apartments arose in droves, the vast majority of residents moved to single-family homes; from 1946 to 1959, 95% of the housing units appearing in the county were single-family dwellings. Nevertheless, the 1946 Veterans' Emergency Housing Act enhanced the authority of the FHA to insure mortgages, and the FHA turned its attention to supporting the development of housing, particularly rental housing, for veterans. The FHA Programs dually spurred extensive, subdivision-scale housing development and smaller projects such as the Westheight Apartments, all contributing to the mass-surbanization that occurred post-war.

Indeed, the FHA's lower capital requirements and extended mortgage periods made it possible for the father and son team of Fred and Robert Earnheart, who possessed no previous development experience and had limited access to capital, to finance and construct the Westheight Apartments. The elder Earnheart worked as a sales manager for the American Sash & Door Company. The son, Robert Earnheart (born in 1921), received his architecture degree from the University of Kansas in 1943 before performing military service as a U.S. Naval Reserve officer during World War II. After his discharge, Robert Earnheart joined the lauded Kansas City architecture firm Neville, Sharp, and Simon as a draftsman, which led to other architecture jobs at acclaimed firms. They built the District incrementally. It was only after designing, financing, and erecting the first twelve-unit building that they could finance and build the second and subsequent third project phase. 

When the first building (Solar Apartments) opened in September 1948, tenancy comprised solely of WWII veterans and their families, including Robert Earnheart. The second piece of their development, the twenty-unit Terrace Apartments, arose on the lots immediately west of the Solar Apartments. Early in 1952, the Earnhearts completed their project with the opening of twenty additional housing units in two adjacent buildings called the West Terrace Apartments.

Despite the gaps between construction phases, the District enjoys a unified appearance. In 1947, the FHA published a document outlining guidelines intended to create residential units that met two primary goals – to appeal to tenants and guarantee low operating and maintenance costs. The agency did not dictate architectural styles but demanded the plans remain uncomplicated. The FHA required that builders use fire-restrictive materials and designers develop plans that promoted tenant privacy and allowed for natural light and ventilation. (The Westheight buildings also have green space in the rear of the property.) However, the FHA frowned upon ornate details such as glass door knobs or ceramic towel bars. The Westheight Apartments embraced basic tenets of the Modern Movement, a popular design style between 1940 and 1980 usually found in commercial buildings or, later, large apartment buildings; the style centered on form rather than ornament. 

The Westheight Apartments Historic District stands in stark contrast with the numerous contemporary developments within Wyandotte County, which usually enjoyed Colonial Revival designs (as did single-family housing at that time). The District speaks to the rise of the growing importance of the FHA and its desire to create housing for military veterans returning from WWII. The government-funded housing consisted of a largely no-frills design; function over form. 

Bernstein, Barton J. "Reluctance and Resistance: Wilson Wyatt and Veterans' Housing in the Truman Adminstration." The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 65, no. 1 (1967): 47–66. 

Lasner, Matthew Gordon. "Multifamily Private Housing Since World War II." SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. 2012. http://sah-archipedia.org/essays/TH-01-ART-005.

Nugent, Rachel Nugent, Sr. and Ellis Mumford-Russell. "Registration Form: Westheight Apartments Historic District." National Register of Historic Places. nps.gov. 2015. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/330ccf22-3386-4c43-beb4-e2c0ed175b80. 

Rome, Adam. The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.