Background
The building was designed in 1885 by Frederick Elmer Hill (1857–1929), of the New York City architecture firm of McKim, Mead & White. Hill, who graduated from MIT in 1882, came to Kansas City in 1885 to oversee the construction of his design, but ended up staying in the city until 1901, and designing some important buildings. From 1893 until 1895, he was involved in the design and construction of the Nave of Grace Church, (now Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral,) located at 13th Street and Broadway Boulevard, only a few blocks from this building. Hill designed both of the Convention Halls Kansas City built between 1899 and 1900, and Westport City Hall. Hill was responsible for the design of Oak Hall, the elegant private residence of Kansas City newspaper publisher, William Rockhill Nelson (1841–1915).
Built in Italianate Renaissance Revival style, the building has a brick and brownstone exterior and an H-shaped footprint with ten story wings flanking a twelve story tower. A monumental eagle tending eaglets in a nest is perched above the main entry. The work was sculpted by Louis St. Gaudens and contains more than two tons of cast bronze. The lobby has an Italian granite atrium floor. The building's location on Quality Hill marked the first significant movement of the city south from its founding at River Market along the Missouri River. The imposing structure also marked a dramatic change in the skyline of Kansas City, where the tallest buildings previously had been three and four stories.
The New York Life Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, but was abandoned in 1988. In 1996, a $35 million restoration of the building added state-of-the-art energy, communications, and environmental features.
In 2010, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph purchased the building for $11.7 million. It now houses the diocese's administrative offices (the chancery) and the local branch of Catholic Charities, about 180 employees in all. The building was renamed the Catholic Center.
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Viewed from the northwest.
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Massive bronze sculpture by Louis St. Gaudens of an eagle tending a nest of baby eaglets above the street entrance.
Read more about this topic: New York Life Building (Kansas City, Missouri)
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