Edward B. Delk’s Initial Plan for the Country Club Plaza, 1922.
In 1922 the Kansas City Star carried this rendering of the proposed Country Club Plaza shopping district at the northeast terminus of Ward Parkway and Mill Creek Parkway. Construction of the Plaza stretched over decades to reach completion with buildings located at the west end of the Plaza after World War II. The eventual street arrangement remained similar to what Delk visualized, as did the emphasis on Spanish architecture [which dated from the 1920 remodeling of Chandler Floral]. The decision to use Spanish styling at the Plaza probably stemmed from its name which was given to the original subdivision by real estate dealer George Law in the decade before World War I. As a practice, the Nichols Company chose to use different architectural styles at each of their various shopping centers.

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