Windsor Hall Apartments

Construction on the Windsor Hall Apartments Building finished in 1923, two years before the adjacent (and nearly identically designed) Gillham Court Apartments in 1925. Both apartment building arose a time when numerous apartment buildings in this area were designed to meet the budget and housing needs of an increasing working- and middle-class population of the city as it grew rapidly during the early twentieth century. In the 1920s, the Hyde Park area of Kansas City was in a period of transition from a place reserved for the affluent to a mixture of middle-class wage earners. Apartment buildings like this were part of that transition. Unlike luxury hotel-apartment buildings nearby, Windsor Hall Apartments had no formal entrance lobby and no amenities were offered to residents. Nevertheless, the well-constructed units were located along a streetcar line and offered comfortable and fairly spacious living for middle and working class residents.

Construction on the Windsor Hall Apartments Building finished in 1923 when numerous apartment buildings emerged that specifically met the housing needs of an increasing working- and middle-class population during the early twentieth century. The apartment building existed as one of three identical "walk-up'- apartment buildings built in Kansas City by real estate developer Harry E. Fisher, including the Gillham Court Apartments Building located one block to the northwest. 

The apartments arose during Kansas City's post-World War I apartment building boom in Kansas City and, more specifically, during the city's most prolific period of apartment construction leading up to the end of World War II. Windsor Hall Apartments stands as an example of the Low-Rise Walk-Up Apartment Building property type designed and located to meet the housing needs of wage earners, which differs from the hotel-apartments and mansions that served the more affluent residents of the area. The building location was directly adjacent to the Gillham Road streetcar line, which allowed easy access for commuting to work and various shopping districts, including downtown Kansas City. The majority of the occupants were lower-middle-class and working-class. Both men and women lived in the building whose jobs included such occupations as a civil engineer, travel agent, clerk, secretary, copywriter, nurse, and one foreman at Armour Meat Packing Company. 

The rise in apartment buildings speaks to the changing nature of the neighborhood. Large homes and grand mansions emerged in the Hyde Park (and vicinity) area by the late nineteenth century, followed by several hotel-apartment buildings in the early twentieth century that catered to the upper/middle class and wealthy. After World War II, the transition and evolution continued as lower-class residents moved into the Windsor and Gillham Apartments (vacancy rates also increased). Though the area generally declined through the 1970s, the neighborhood enjoyed a slow rebound by the 1990s. Today's Hyde Park and vicinity area offer residents views of the neighborhood's 1880s-1920s past and has an influx of newer residents. The Windsor Apartments continue to function as an apartment building, serving many of those newer residents. 

Admin, Clio and Mathew Powers. "Gillham Court Apartments Building." Clio: Your Guide to History. August 20, 2021. https://www.theclio.com/entry/139175.

Hyde Park Neighborhood Association. "About Hyde Park: Kansas City's Historic Hyde Park." hydeparkkc.org. Accessed August 19, 2021. https://hydeparkkc.org/about-hyde-park/. 

Millstein, Cydney E. and Maryann Warfield. "Nomination Form: Windsor Hall Apartments." National Register of Historic Places. archives.gov. 2010. https://catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/63817527/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MO/10001129.pdf.

"Windsor House - Kansas City Apartments." Mac Properties. macapartments.com. Accessed August 20, 2021. https://www.macapartments.com/property/Windsor-House?utm_source=%22Google%20My%20Business%22&utm_medium=Website%20Button&utm_campaign=GMB2019.