Power and Light Building

The Power and Light Building, completed in 1931 at 1330 Baltimore Avenue, is Kansas City’s premier Art Deco skyscraper. At 481 feet to the roof, it was Missouri’s tallest habitable structure from 1931 until 1976, and served as headquarters of the Kansas City Power & Light Company until 1991.¹ After roughly a quarter-century of vacancy it was converted to luxury apartments in a $70 million NorthPoint Development project completed in 2016.²

[!note] Not the Power & Light District. This page covers the 1931 Art Deco tower. The Power & Light District is a separate nine-block entertainment, dining, and residential district developed by the Cordish Companies and opened in 2007–2008, a few blocks east of the building. The district takes its name from this tower — the building’s east facade faces the district, and its illuminated lantern appears in the district’s branding — but the two are distinct places built 76 years apart.¹

History

Commission + construction (1930-1931)

The Power and Light Building was commissioned by the Kansas City Power & Light Company — under Joseph Franklin Porter, the utility’s president since 1917 — to consolidate all of the company’s offices under one roof.³ The Kansas City architectural firm Hoit, Price & Barnes (Henry F. Hoit, Edwin Price, Alfred Barnes) was hired in 1930 to design the tower in the Art Deco style; Swenson Construction Company built it.¹³

Construction started in 1930 and the building opened in 1931 — erected in roughly 14 months at a construction cost of about $1.9 million, even as the Great Depression deepened around it.¹²

On completion the tower held several height records:

• Missouri’s tallest habitable structure, a title it kept from 1931 until the completion of One U.S. Bank Plaza in St. Louis in 1976¹
• Per Wikipedia, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River upon completion (succeeding Seattle’s Smith Tower), until the Space Needle was completed in 1962¹

The illuminated lantern

The building’s most-distinctive feature is its crown — an ornate Art Deco lantern rising roughly 97 feet above the tower’s top setback.³ The shaft is faced with prism-cut glass panels; as originally designed, banks of floodlights concealed in five recessed balconies bathed the building in white light while alternating amber, green, and red lights shimmered through the prismatic glass. The display was so extravagant that the building consumed as much electrical current as a community of 6,000 people.³ Today the lantern’s prismatic panels conceal red-orange lights that glow each evening at sunset; the original copper spotlights were replaced with color-capable LED fixtures during the 2014-2016 renovation.¹²

Mid-century operations (1931-1991)

Through the mid-20th century, the Power and Light Building served as the active headquarters of Kansas City Power & Light and was one of the most-prominent commercial-office buildings in downtown KC. Wartime-era office use by the utility during WWII.

Vacancy (1991-2014)

Kansas City Power & Light vacated the building in 1991, and the tower sat largely empty for roughly 25 years — through the same downtown-decline era that hollowed out much of the KC central business district.²

Residential conversion (2014-2016)

In October 2014, NorthPoint Development (CEO Nathaniel Hagedorn) began a $70 million, 18-month conversion of the tower into luxury apartments.¹² The completed project — now marketed as the Power & Light Apartments — comprises:

• 210 apartments in the historic tower, plus 81 new units wrapped around an adjacent 500-space parking garage (291 total)¹²
• The restored two-level former lobby — decorated terra cotta walls, terrazzo floor — reopened as an event space called the Grand Hall²
• The Art Deco crown and its nickel-plated light fixtures preserved, with new LED illumination²
• Opening rents from $995 (studio) to $3,600 for a 29th-floor unit with two outdoor terraces²

The grand opening was held July 19, 2016.² The project was supported by a 25-year property-tax abatement and $8 million in tax-increment financing.² With the conversion, Wikipedia notes, it became Missouri’s tallest residential-only building.¹

Modern era

Today the Power and Light Building is a residential landmark on the western edge of the downtown core, facing the Power & Light District — the Cordish-developed entertainment district that borrowed its name — with the T-Mobile Center arena beyond. The lantern’s nightly illumination continues, changing colors for holidays, civic occasions, and Chiefs and Royals championships, and remains one of the signature images of the KC skyline.

Architecture

Art Deco style

The Power and Light Building is one of the purest examples of Art Deco architecture in the central United States. Distinguishing features include:³

• Stepped setbacks extending over half the building’s total height, creating a telescoping, vertical perspective
• Vertical emphasis in the limestone-clad piers and spandrels²
• Geometric ornamentation — zigzag, V, and diamond motifs — at the crown and throughout
• Sunburst designs placed prominently on the exterior and repeated in interior elements
• Decorated terra cotta and terrazzo in the two-level lobby, preserved in the 2014-2016 renovation²

Scale

• Height: 481 feet to the roof per Wikipedia; other sources give 476-479 feet depending on the point of measurement¹³²
• Floors: 34 above grade (+2 below) per Wikipedia; sources vary from 31 to 36 depending on how the crown levels are counted¹³²
• Floor area: ~230,000 square feet¹
• Crown: ~97-foot illuminated lantern; prismatic glass; color-changing LED lighting¹³²

Notable dates

• 1931 — Building opens as KCP&L headquarters; becomes Missouri’s tallest¹³
• 1976 — Loses the Missouri height title to One U.S. Bank Plaza, St. Louis, after 45 years¹
• 1991 — Kansas City Power & Light vacates¹²
• 2014-2016 — NorthPoint residential conversion; grand opening July 19, 2016¹²

Cultural significance

The Power and Light Building is the iconic downtown KC skyscraper — the building most-identified with the city’s skyline, its illuminated lantern a constant visual marker for KC residents (and, since 2007-08, the emblem on the neighboring district’s promotional signage).¹

The building also marks an important era in KC architectural history — the brief late-1920s/early-1930s window of major private skyscraper construction before the Great Depression and WWII paused large commercial building, the same era that produced the Ten-Year Plan civic ensemble of Municipal Auditorium, City Hall, and the Jackson County Courthouse.

Preservation + designation

• National Register of Historic Places — reference #88001852; listed January 9, 2002 per Wikipedia, though the Missouri State Parks Jackson County register list gives 1/09/03 — of the exact listing year¹⁴
• Adaptive reuse — the 2014-2016 residential conversion preserved the crown, lobby, and exterior; cited as a model adaptive reuse of a major commercial Art Deco skyscraper

Visiting

• Address: 1330 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City, MO 64105¹
• Public access: Private residential building; the former lobby operates as the Grand Hall event venue²
• Exterior + lantern: Best viewed from Baltimore Avenue and from the Power & Light District blocks to the east
• Tours: Periodic architectural tours through local preservation organizations

Neighborhood context

• Neighborhood: Downtown KC, at 14th Street + Baltimore Avenue, adjacent to (not within) the Power & Light District
• Adjacent landmarks: municipal-auditorium, Bartle Hall, T-Mobile Center

Sources

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Kansas City Power and Light Building.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Power_and_Light_Building — asserts: 1330 Baltimore Ave; roof height 481 ft (147 m); 34 stories (+2 below grade); ~230,000 sq ft; Hoit, Price & Barnes architects; Swenson Construction Company; construction started 1930, completed 1931; tallest building west of the Mississippi upon completion (succeeding Smith Tower) until the Space Needle (1962); Missouri’s tallest habitable structure 1931-1976 (One U.S. Bank Plaza); ornate Art Deco lantern with prismatic glass panels concealing red-orange lights glowing each evening; KCP&L left the building in 1991; NorthPoint conversion started October 2014 — 210 apartments in the tower plus 81 units wrapping a new garage; became Missouri’s tallest residential-only building; east facade faces the Power & Light District, which bears its name; NRHP added January 9, 2002, reference #88001852; coordinates 39.09751 N, 94.584743 W. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹

2. KCUR 89.3 — “Kansas City’s Iconic Power & Light Building Reborn As Downtown Luxury Apartments” (2016-07-18). https://www.kcur.org/community/2016-07-18/kansas-citys-iconic-power-light-building-reborn-as-downtown-luxury-apartments — asserts: NorthPoint Development (CEO Nathaniel Hagedorn) $70 million, 18-month redevelopment; 291 units total — 210 in the tower, 81 wrapped around a 500-space garage; grand opening July 19, 2016; rents $995-$3,600; 36-story, 479-ft limestone-clad tower; built 1931 in 14 months for $1.9 million; Missouri’s tallest for ~40 years; KCP&L vacated 1991, building largely empty ~25 years; Art Deco crown and nickel-plated light fixtures preserved; original copper spotlights replaced with LEDs; two-level former lobby (terra cotta walls, terrazzo floor) converted to the “Grand Hall” event space; 25-year property-tax abatement + $8 million TIF. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

3. The Pendergast Years (Kansas City Public Library) — “Kansas City Power & Light Building.” https://pendergastkc.org/articles/kansas-city-power-light-building — asserts: commissioned by KCP&L president Joseph Franklin Porter (president since 1917) to house all company offices; Hoit, Price & Barnes hired 1930; opened 1931; 31 stories, 479 ft total; 97-foot crowning pillar of changing colored lights; stepped setbacks over half the building height creating a telescoping vertical perspective; zigzag, V, and diamond ornamental motifs; sunburst designs outside and in; prism-cut glass panels in the crown shaft; floodlights concealed in five recessed balconies — white light with alternating amber, green, and red through the prismatic glass; lighting consumed as much electrical current as a community of 6,000. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

4. Missouri State Parks — “Jackson County National Register Listings.” https://mostateparks.com/basic-page/missouri-national-register-listings/Jackson — asserts: “Kansas City Power and Light Company Building,” Kansas City, listed 1/09/03. ↩