The Netherland (aka Netherlands Hotel, Tocoma, and Hawthorn Plaza)

The construction of this apartment-hotel in 1928 coincided with a city-wide population boom, as well as an influx of wealthy and upwardly mobile middle-class residents in Kansas City's Hyde Park neighborhood. With easy access to streetcars and a vibrant neighborhood, this building, known as the Tocoma, Netherlands Hotel, and Hawthorn Plaza over the next century, began as one of several luxury apartment-hotels constructed in the area during the 1920s. The historic building demonstrates the popularity of the Spanish Revival style of architecture at this time in Kansas City. Renowned architect Robert F. Gornall designed the building, which also incorporates both Moorish and Baroque elements. In 2013, the building was included on lists of endangered historic structures, but thanks to the efforts of preservationists and investors, the building once again serves as a residence and hotel for the same reasons as it did a century before- a vibrant neighborhood and streetcar line.

Known over the years as the Tocoma, Hawthorn Plaza Apartments, and Netherlands Hotel, the ten-floor structure built in 1928 (now eleven stories) survives as an excellent representation of the robust hotel development in Kansas City's Hyde Park neighborhood during the 1920s. The hotel boom reflected Kansas City's population boom, including a surge in upper-middle-class residents moving to the Hyde Park area. The hotel enjoys a Spanish Revival style with Moorish and Baroque elements, designed by renowned architect Robert F. Gornall. 

Between 1910 and 1930, the city's population increased by 150,000 to nearly 400,000 residents. The population boom occurred concurrently with an apartment boom, especially during the 1920s when 15,152 new apartment units came on the market. Also, during the '20s, businesses and residents routinely moved southward away from the business district. Streets and Boulevards such as Broadway, Main, and Armour grew popular as spots for large homes and luxurious apartment-style hotels, including the Netherlands Hotel. The apartment-hotels, many of which opened in the Hyde Park area in the 1920s, generally catered to upwardly climbing middle-class residents. Residents often stayed long-term in the hotels, usually in rooms that included kitchenettes. The middle-class professionals enjoyed living near the city's trains and streetcars that provided easy access to jobs, theaters, shopping, and more, without having to sign long-term leases. Surrounding the hotels were numerous retailers and service industries such as candy stores, pharmacies, and one of the city's most socially elite ballrooms: The Jack '0 Lantern. 

Guy H. McCanles, who had already succeeded in building the Bainbridge and Kenwood Apartments on Armour Boulevard and the first to construct a transient hotel in the South Side area, built the Netherlands Hotel. Although, the initial plan consisted of twin ten-story buildings. It's unclear why McCanles ran short of funds, but by 1928, he altered his original plan. He sold the southern property to Bradley W. Young of the Netherlands-American Mortgage Bank. McCanles hired Robert F. Gornall, a well-respected Kansas City architect proficient in the classical revival style and his spin on the city's popular Spanish Revival style. The Uptown Theatre, built in 1926, stood as one of Gornall's most notable buildings, which served as a prototype for the Netherlands. Plans for the remaining hotel building included fireproof construction and a design consisting of a ground floor lobby and two storerooms on the lowest floor. The upper floors were to have a mix of "bachelor" units (stories 2 - 7) and kitchenette apartments (top three floors). 

The Arthur Fels Company partnered with Netherlands-American and took over the management of the Netherlands as an apartment/hotel business until 1981. California investors acquired the building in at that time and planned to re-open it as an apartment complex for the elderly. Today, after an extensive renovation in 2018 and challenges presented by the 2020-2021 global pandemic, the historic structure again operates as a luxury hotel and residential building, just as it did when it opened in 1928. 

Collison, Kevin. "Planned Streetcar Extension Spurs Redevelopment Of Midtown Kansas City Hotel." KCUR (National Public Radio). Economy Sec. December 18, 2017. https://www.kcur.org/economy/2017-12-18/planned-streetcar-extension-spurs-redevelopment-of-midtown-kansas-city-hotel.

Davidson, Lisa Pfueller. "A Service Machine": Hotel Guests and the Development of an Early-Twentieth-Century Building Type." Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture 10 (2005): 113-29. 

The Netherland Hotel & Residences. Accessed August 28, 2021. https://thenetherlandkc.com/.

Matthews, Mary J. "Nomination Form: The Tocoma." National Register of Historic Places. archives.gov. 1982. https://catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/63819144/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MO/79003782.pdf.

MidtownKCPoster. "Another former grand hotel now on endangered list." Midtown KC Post. July 9, 2013. http://midtownkcpost.com/another-former-grand-hotel-now-on-endangered-list/.