The Hotel Phillips is a twenty-story hotel skyscraper at 106 West 12th Street (northwest corner of 12th and Baltimore) in downtown Kansas City, built 1929–1931 and opened February 23, 1931 as the city’s tallest hotel.12 Commissioned by hotel and apartment developer Charles E. Phillips and designed by Boillot & Lauck (Elmer R. Boillot and Jesse F. Lauck), it replaced the Glennon Hotel on the same lot — the site of Harry S. Truman’s short-lived haberdashery partnership — and sits directly across 12th Street from the Hotel Muehlebach.123 Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 4, 1979 (NRIS 79001369), it now operates as Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton after a mid-2010s restoration under Arbor Lodging Partners.1456

History

Site, commission, and opening

Charles E. Phillips, who had come to Kansas City as a teenager from a farm near New Cambria, Missouri, built high-rise apartments in the Country Club district and commissioned Boillot & Lauck for the new hotel in 1929 (building permit no. 15562).1 The property was under a 99-year lease from Louis Oppenstein of the Oppenstein Brothers firm, running from January 22, 1929 to January 31, 2028.17

The Glennon Hotel was razed for the project. Marketing and secondary sources place Truman’s haberdashery on the Glennon’s ground floor; the National Register nomination states that the Glennon “had housed President Harry S. Truman’s haberdashery.”123 Cross-page note: the vault’s truman-jacobson-haberdashery entry covers the business; exact suite location and dates relative to the Glennon structure are not re-established on this page.

Construction produced a steel-frame tower of twenty stories (plus lower level and mezzanine), rectangular on a tract about 75 feet on Baltimore and 138.25 feet on 12th Street.1 Contemporary and hotel accounts put the cost at about $1.6 million and the original inventory at about 450 rooms.23 When the hotel opened on February 23, 1931, the nomination and period press treat it as Kansas City’s tallest hotel, with a radio receiver in every room — a commercial first the hotel still advertises.123

Mid-century operation and 1970s interruption

Through mid-century the Phillips served the downtown convention trade that also sustained the Muehlebach cluster along 12th Street, a few blocks from Municipal Auditorium and, later, the skyline of the Power and Light Building (likewise completed 1931).1

The hotel closed April 30, 1971. After roughly $500,000 of remodeling it reopened October 10, 1972 as the Phillips House, still under Oppenstein holdings.1 On May 3, 1976, the Oppenstein Brothers Charitable Foundation gifted the property to Rockhurst College, which kept guest rooms and ran evening courses and seminars; low attendance led Rockhurst to sell the hotel in October 1977 to private buyers who were remodeling when the National Register nomination was prepared in 1979.17

Historic designation

Joan L. Michalak of the Historic Kansas City Foundation prepared the nomination (April 18, 1979). The building was already on the Kansas City Registry of Landmarks (case #0002-0) and was entered in the National Register on June 4, 1979.14 Senators Thomas F. Eagleton and John C. Danforth both urged expedited listing so owners could use Tax Reform Act of 1976 benefits for a multi-million-dollar restoration then in planning.1

Architecture

Exterior style and massing

The National Register nomination classifies the design as Jacobethan — not the pure Art Deco of the Power and Light tower across downtown — with steel frame, common-bond pressed brick, buff terra cotta ornament from the mezzanine through the twentieth floor, and polished mottled brown marble at the first story.1 South (primary) and east facades are articulated in decorated bays with Jacobethan double arches (S-curve terminating in a point), HP monogram crest, shell and vegetal motifs, quoining, and cast-metal interlace and chimera panels; north and west walls are unarticulated.1

Public and hotel marketing routinely call the building Art Deco, reflecting the lobby’s 1930s metalwork, lighting, and period glamour more than the NRHP style label for the exterior.25 This page follows the nomination for exterior classification and treats “Art Deco” as a widely used popular description of the interiors and overall 1931 aesthetic.

Lobby and public interiors

The lobby is a two-story volume with rectangular columns in antiqued decorative plaster painted to imitate wood, set into tan polished marble; the ceiling is black glass that reflects the columns and heightens the sense of space — called unique in Kansas City by the nomination.1 A double staircase leads to a three-sided mezzanine balcony. Surviving features documented in 1979 and still promoted include walnut paneling, brass elevator doors, a full-height brass mail chute, multi-cylinder chandeliers, and an eleven-foot gilded Goddess of Dawn figure above the entrance arch — a winged female sculpture the National Register describes as a “gilt statue of a winged female figure,” identified in secondary sources as a 1931 work by Kansas City sculptor Jorgen Dreyer.1238

Architects

Boillot & Lauck were already known for Country Club and Plaza-area high-rise apartments commissioned by Phillips (including the poet-named towers Longfellow, Lowell, Carlyle, Field, and Browning) and for The Walnuts (1929–1930, Jacobethan) and work at Unity Village.1

Notable guests and events

Hotel and tourism copy name mid-century and contemporary guests including John Barrymore, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Gwen Stefani, and LeBron James; those lists are marketing claims and are not independently dated here.23 Clio further names Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Foo Fighters among past guests — likewise unverified on this page.

The best-documented mass event at the building is MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention (September 2–6, 1976), held at the Radisson Muehlebach and the nearby Phillips House, with about 3,014 attending members and Robert A. Heinlein as professional Guest of Honor.910 The vault’s muehlebach-hotel page notes the same pairing and places Heinlein in the Muehlebach’s Truman Presidential Suite for that week.

Modern era

Chain branding in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries included operation as the Radisson Suite Hotel Kansas City in the 1990s and ownership by Wyndham before Marcus Hotels and Resorts purchased the property in 2001 and completed a roughly $28 million renovation, marketing about 217 rooms.36

In July 2015 Marcus announced sale to an affiliate of Chicago-based Arbor Lodging Partners, with management transfer targeted around September 1, 2015; Arbor’s NVN Hotels affiliate would manage, and a comprehensive renovation was planned.6 Hospitality Design reported a $20 million gut renovation by Kraig Kalashian Architecture & Design (KKAD), restoring 1930s public-space detail and positioning the hotel to debut by the end of 2016 in Hilton’s Curio Collection.5 Visit KC records the renovation as completed in 2016 and the last restoration date as February 23, 2017, with management by Arbor Lodging and about 216 guest rooms, Tavernonna Italian Kitchen, P.S. Speakeasy, and other food-and-beverage venues.2

As of 2026 the operating brand name is Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton, at 106 W. 12th Street, still facing the historic Muehlebach / Marriott complex across 12th Street in the downtown core near the Power & Light corridor.2311

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Joan L. Michalak, National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form, “Hotel Phillips” / Phillips House Hotel, 106 W. 12th Street, Kansas City, Missouri (prepared 18 April 1979; entered 4 June 1979; NRIS 79001369). PDF — NPGallery asset record: npgallery.nps.gov ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18

  2. Visit KC, “Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton” listing (address, 1931 opening claims, $1.6 million / 450 rooms / radio receivers, Art Deco interior details, Goddess of Dawn, NRHP 1979, 2016 renovation, current room and F&B inventory) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  3. Hotel Phillips (Marcus Hotels era) history page, archived 15 August 2015: “A Tradition of Class & Luxury” (Glennon / Truman haberdashery, February 1931, $1.6 million, 20 stories / 450 rooms, radios, interior details, Goddess of Dawn, NRHP 1979, Marcus $28 million renovation, 217 rooms) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. National Park Service, National Register Information System / NPGallery, Hotel Phillips, NRIS 79001369 (date published 6/4/1979; architects Boillot, Elmer R. / Lauck, Jesse F.; location Kansas City, Jackson County, 106 W. 12th St.) ↩ ↩2

  5. Will Speros, “Hotel Phillips Unveils Details of $20 Million Redesign,” Hospitality Design, 1 November 2016 (Arbor Lodging; KKAD; Curio Collection by Hilton; lobby / Dawn statue; Tavernonna, P.S. Speakeasy, Kilo Charlie) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Hotel News Resource, “Hotel Phillips in Kansas City, Mo. Sold,” 30 July 2015 (Marcus Corporation sale to Arbor Lodging Partners affiliate; 217 rooms; ~September 1, 2015 transition; NVN Hotels management; planned renovation) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Clio, “Hotel Phillips” entry by Mathew Powers (updated 2024): Charles E. Phillips / Boillot & Lauck; Oppenstein 99-year lease; 1971 closure; $500,000 remodel; Rockhurst gift 1976 and 1977 sale; later chains ↩ ↩2

  8. Wikipedia, “Hotel Phillips” (summary page: address, 1931, Boillot & Lauck, NRHP, Goddess of Dawn / Jorgen Dreyer, Marcus 2001, Arbor / Curio) ↩

  9. Fancyclopedia 3, “MidAmeriCon” (34th Worldcon; September 2–6, 1976; Radisson Muehlebach Hotel and Phillips House, Kansas City; GoH Robert A. Heinlein; 3,014 attending of 4,200 memberships) ↩

  10. Wikipedia, “34th World Science Fiction Convention” (venue: Muehlebach Hotel and Phillips House / Hotel Phillips; dates; attendance) ↩

  11. Hilton Hotels, Hotel Phillips Kansas City, Curio Collection by Hilton property page (official brand site; 106 W 12th Street) — property marketing domain hotelphillips.com redirects here. [Note: automated fetches sometimes receive bot/403 responses; URL is the published brand URL as of 2026.] ↩

See also

Categories
  • Concept
  • Building
  • Hospitality
  • Downtown Kc

On the record — ks.city/wiki/buildings/hotel-phillips · last revised 2026-08-10