Graphic Arts Building - Kansas City, Missouri - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Summary

The Graphic Arts Building, located at 934 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, is an eight-story, reinforced concrete (two-way reinforcement) building measuring 84.3' x 114.1' with a one-story annex measuring 24.1' x 74.8' placed at the northwest or rear facade. Designed by Kansas City architect Samuel B. Tarbet, the building was constructed in 1915 by the Pratt-Thompson Construction Company. Articulated at the main facade with Arts and Crafts terra cotta elements (at the entrance surround and flanking piers), the building is a three-part vertical block design with a prominent base and tall shaft further accented with slender terra cotta banding at the corner piers. The terminating story also features Arts and Crafts styled bracketing. Concrete curtain walls, with a brick veneer manufactured by Hy-tex, characterize the exterior. Despite some reversible modifications to the exterior, this Commercial style building retains a high degree of its original integrity and remains in good condition.

Directly to the east and northeast is the National Register listed West Ninth Street/Baltimore Avenue Historic District (and its Boundary Increase I). The Historic Wholesale National Register District is located to the northwest. Modern parking garages are sited directly to the east and south of the Graphic Arts building.

Elaboration

Building permits were issued for the Graphic Arts Building and for the adjacent annex on April 1, 1915. Construction of the Graphic Arts Building, designed by Kansas City architect Samuel B. Tarbet, began in the spring of that year. Although the building was originally designed as a seven-story building, a partial eighth floor was added at that time. The Graphic Arts building has its main entrance on Wyandotte and features an annex to the rear or northwest facade.

The main fagade of the Graphic Arts Building faces east and is divided into five bays. The storefronts, slightly modified from the original, feature single-leaf doors (except for the storefront at the far north bay) and fixed windows with wide tripartite transoms, obscured at the second and fourth bays (moving south to north). Each storefront bay features a molded, terra cotta surround. The deeply recessed, centrally placed entrance features a double-leaf wooden door with wide terra cotta surround and is flanked by a prominent, fixed window at the north and a single-leaf wood and glass door at the south. The entry bay features geometric patterned, deeply recessed terra cotta paneling, and stylized keystone above the entrance. Flanking the entry bay is basket weave patterned terra cotta placed around geometric styled brackets while the whole is crowned by a wide entablature with the words "GRAPHIC ARTS BUILDING" carved into the frieze. A slender stringcourse separates the first floor from the shaft of the building.

At the upper levels, each of the five bays feature tripartite fenestration with non-original aluminum fixed in place windows with divider bars and wood mullions. Wide brick spandrels divide each floor. End bays are enframed with terra cotta surrounds the same as those of the storefront windows. A terra cotta stringcourse divides the 7th and 8th floors. Segmental arched windows with terra cotta surrounds and carved pendants mark the end bays of the terminating floor. The terra cotta surrounds at the storefront facade are repeated at the central bays of the main shaft and the 8th floor. The prominent shaped parapet, crenelated at the end bays, is embellished with terra cotta coping.

The design of the main or east facade of the Graphic Arts Building wraps to the south facade. The main variant is the first story level which features tripartite fenestration with its original wood mullions. The secondary entrance, placed at the far west bay, has been modified from the original and features one single-leaf glass door and a fixed, aluminum-framed, plate glass window. The entrance features a terra cotta surround and a wide cornice with carved brackets at each end. The remainder of the south facade matches that of the main facade with non-original aluminum-framed fenestration and terra cotta detailing.

The first bay of the north facade, obscured at the first two stories by the adjacent building, features the same detailing as that of the main or east facade. The remainder of the facade, characterized by the same aluminum window design (in pairs), is without embellishment. The west or alley features a concrete structural grid and is divided into six bays. Fenestration is a combination of three-over-three, double-hung, industrial sash windows and aluminum replacement windows matching the main facade. A concrete water tank enclosure is placed at the center of the west facade. Non-original single-leaf metal doors are located at the end bays.