Lenore K. Bradley (1935-1998) Papers (KC309)

Jewish Community Archives (JCA)

This collection by Lenore Bradley, a local author, consists of notes made, drawings, pamphlets, maps, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs of the life and work of Louis Curtiss, noted Kansas City architect.

The amount of education Curtiss received is not clear, although it is known that he was enrolled in the University of Toronto in the fall of 1884. Sometime later he went to Paris to study architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, although there is no record of his attendance. Curtiss moved to Kansas City about 1890, where he gained the reputation as an eccentric. He entered his first and only partnership with Frederick C. Gunn soon after his arrival, and together they designed the Missouri State Building which won the competition at the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago. Curtiss' partnership with Gunn lasted less than a decade, after which he went on to design many other buildings including the Baltimore Hotel (1898) and the Willis Wood Theater (1904). A large source of commissions for Louis Curtiss was the railroad industry, for which he designed hotels and depots. Curtiss is credited with designing the first metal and glass curtain-wall building for the Boley Clothing Company. The building was seen as ugly and barren by the public when it was built, for it did not have the ornamentation and overhangings that was the style of the day. By the 1950s, however, the glass and metal building was very popular. 1966-1982

1/3 cubic foot

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updated: Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Kansas City
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