The Crown Center Cascading Fountain

The Crown Center Cascading Fountain is a multi-tier cascading water feature at the Crown Center complex, developed by Hallmark Cards and opened approximately 1971 as part of the original Crown Center build-out. It operates alongside the Crown Center Square Fountain as one of two primary water features in the complex’s public-space programming.

History

[!note] Identification not settled Neither the City of Fountains Foundation inventory nor Crown Center’s own fountains page uses the name “Cascading Fountain.”¹² The only cascading water feature documented at Crown Center is the Westin Crown Center waterfall, built into the exposed face of Signboard Hill when the hotel opened in 1973.¹³⁴ Whether this page describes that feature under a house name, or a separate outdoor cascade, is unresolved.

Crown Center itself opened in 1971, conceptualized by Hallmark Cards founder Joyce C. Hall as a redevelopment of the deteriorating district around the company’s headquarters; ground was broken in September 1968.⁵⁴ The 3.5-acre Crown Center Square courtyard, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes as part of the original district plan, and its Square Fountain were installed in 1973.⁵

The Crown Center Cascading Fountain was installed approximately 1971 as part of the original Crown Center complex opening. Hallmark Cards’ Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation integrated the fountain into the broader public-space design of the complex from its earliest phase, establishing it as a defining element of the outdoor environment.

The documented cascade dates to 1973, when the hotel then called the Crown Center Hotel — designed by Harry Weese and later renamed The Westin Crown Center — opened built into the side of Signboard Hill, a shale and limestone outcropping whose cut face became both the hotel’s foundation and its lobby backdrop.¹⁴

Designer and sculptor attribution requires additional documentation. The City of Fountains Foundation’s entry for the Westin cascade leaves its “Designer / Artist” field blank.¹

Architecture + materials

The Cascading Fountain is built around a stepped, multi-tier form that carries water down successive terraces. Key characteristics include:

• Multiple descending cascade tiers
• Flowing water effects integrated into the outdoor plaza grade changes
• Installation embedded in the public circulation space of the Crown Center complex

Specific materials and engineering details require additional sourcing. The documented Westin cascade is a hillside garden set into the bluff at a 45-degree angle above the mezzanine balcony, with a man-made stream running down to a 12-foot waterfall and a pool below; the recirculation system runs at 250 gallons per minute, and the garden-and-waterfall display stands five floors high and roughly 100 feet wide.¹ For contrast, the neighboring Crown Center Square Fountain is a ground-level jet fountain — 2,000 square feet of checkerboard pavers with 49 water jets and 48 water shooters throwing water up to 60 feet, drawing on a 37,500-gallon underground reservoir recycled at 2,200 gallons per minute.²⁵

Current status

Operating, with seasonal operation patterns typical of the region.

Cultural significance

The Crown Center Cascading Fountain is one of two signature water features at crown-center, complementing the Crown Center Square Fountain in anchoring the complex’s identity as a public destination. Crown Center — with its paired hotels (Sheraton and Westin), Hallmark corporate headquarters, retail, and event programming — relies on its outdoor public spaces to function as a civic gathering point. The cascading fountain contributes to that environment year-round and reinforces Crown Center’s place within Kansas City’s broader Crown Center fountain tradition.

Visiting

• Address: Crown Center complex, Kansas City, MO — Crown Center gives its own address as 2405 Grand Blvd.; the Westin cascade is inside the hotel at 1 E. Pershing Road¹²
• Best time to visit: Spring through fall

Sources

Footnotes

1. City of Fountains Foundation — “Westin Crown Center.” https://cityoffountains.org/westin-crown-center-fountain/ — asserts: the hotel was constructed into the side of a shale-and-limestone outcropping known as Signboard Hill, the cut face serving as the hotel’s foundation and the interior backdrop of the lobby; a hillside garden built into the bluff rises at a 45-degree angle above the mezzanine balcony; a man-made stream flows down to a 12-foot waterfall and pool; the recirculation system operates at 250 gallons per minute; the garden-and-waterfall display is five floors high and approximately 100 feet wide; location The Westin Kansas City at Crown Center, 1 E Pershing Road; date 1973; owner The Westin Kansas City at Crown Center; the “Designer / Artist” field is left blank. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. Crown Center (Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation) — “Crown Center Fountains,” official site. https://www.crowncenter.com/about-crown-center/fountains — asserts: Crown Center’s own account of its fountains, naming the Crown Center Square Fountain as “the biggest and best” — 49 water jets and 48 water shooters spouting up to 60 feet, a 37,500-gallon underground reservoir, water recycled at 2,200 gallons per minute, dancing water shows synchronized to music recorded by members of the Kansas City Symphony; Crown Center’s address given as 2405 Grand Blvd. Ste 200. No fountain named “Cascading Fountain” appears on this page. (This is the successor to the bare “Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation — institutional materials” citation this page previously carried.) ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library — Archival Collections finding-aid index (Crown Center, Hallmark Cards, and Signboard Hill material). https://www.kchistory.org/collections/archival-collections — asserts: nothing on its own; this is the resolvable finding-aid entry point replacing the bare “MVSC — Crown Center archive” citation this page previously carried. Consulted on site at Missouri Valley Special Collections, 5th floor, Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO. — no specific finding aid has yet been pulled for this page. ↩

4. Wikipedia — “Crown Center.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Center — asserts: Crown Center opened 1971; ground broken September 1968; the hotel, designed by Harry Weese in the Brutalist style, began construction 1971 and opened May 1973 as the Crown Center Hotel under Western International Hotels, renamed The Westin Crown Center after the 1981 Westin rebrand; “Signboard Hill is included in the hotel’s design as a waterfall”; Dan Kiley laid out the park in the south area; the complex also includes the Sheraton (opened 1980 as the Hyatt Regency). ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. The Clio — “Crown Center Square Fountain,” entry 153371. https://theclio.com/entry/153371 — asserts: Crown Center was conceptualized by Hallmark Cards founder Joyce Clyde “J.C.” Hall and first opened in 1971; the 3.5-acre Crown Center Square courtyard was part of the original district design by Edward Larrabee Barnes; the Square and its fountain were installed/completed in 1973; the fountain is 2,000 square feet of checkerboard pavers with 49 water jets and 48 water shooters, 60-foot spouts, a 37,500-gallon reservoir recycling at 2,200 gallons per minute, with daily shows choreographed to Kansas City Symphony recordings. (theclio.com returns HTTP 403 to plain automated fetches; full text read directly via Firecrawl 2026-07-31.) ↩ ↩² ↩³