Mineral Hall

Mineral Hall was built as a home in 1904 under the direction of prominent local banker William A. Rule (ca.1858-1918) who sold the house to Roland E. Bruner the following year. Bruner was a mining magnate and built a special wing on the north side of the home to house his substantial collection of minerals. While that collection led to the home's nickname, perhaps the most unique feature of the home is the entrance which includes what is believed to be the most photographed doorway in Kansas City. The home was donated to the Kansas City Art Institute and now houses the Herb Kohn Center for Social Practice. The former private home was designed in the Prairie School style as evidenced by the low profile of the wings, the overhanging cornices, and the horizontal emphasis of the house as a whole. Its exterior is covered in limestone rock, most of which is laid randomly but some limestone blocks are used to outline windows and doorways. The attractive main entrance doorway consists of limestone blocks and four receding semi-circular compound arches containing mosaics of green and copper-colored tesserae. The combination of Mineral Hall's design and attractive exterior is what makes it an architectural landmark.

William A. Rule was born in St. Louis, Missouri around 1858. He arrived in Kansas City in 1887 and got a job as chief clerk at the National Bank of Commerce. Rule became the director of the Kansas City Life Insurance Company and the Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient Railroad Company, and served on many other corporate boards. By 1910, Rule had also established a number of investment firms. Rule built the house north of Mineral Hall in 1899 and then decided to build this home in order to "maintain the quality of the neighborhood". Rule hired notable Canadian-born architect Louis S. Curtiss (1865-1927) to design the home which Rule then sold to prominent businessman and mining magnate Roland E. Bruner (1860-1941) in 1905.

Bruner became the clerk for the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Power and Machinery of the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Gulf Railway in 1880. In the 1890s he started investing in mining and eventually became the president of a number of mining firms. As he got more involved in mining, he gained an interest in minerals and started collecting them. His impressive collection eventually grew to more than 10,000 specimens. To house part of the collection, Bruner built a semi-octangular wing on the north side of the house. Some minerals including galena, sphalerite and calcite, are embedded in the interior walls of the new room. It was around this time that he named the house "Mineral Hall." In 1908, Bruner was beset by financial trouble and was forced to sell the house. He continued to work in mining and died in 1941.

The house was donated to the art institute in 1968. In 1983 the institute restored the house and for many years it housed the school's admissions office. Mineral Hall later became home to the Herb Kohn Center for Social Practice and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.

"Mineral Hall." Kansas City Art Institute. Accessed October 3, 2022. https://virtual-visit.kcai.edu/interactive-map#.

Miszczuk, Eward J. "Mineral Hal." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. July 12, 1976. https://catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/63819174/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MO/76001112.pdf.

Netz, Genevieve. "Mineral Hall and its Unique Arched Doorway." Prairie Bluestem. April 15, 2007. http://prairiebluestem.blogspot.com/2007/04/mineral-hall-and-its-unique-arched.html.