The J. C. Nichols House on 55th Street Just West of Ward Parkway.
This large house served as home and hotel for J.C. Nichols after 1920. The second floor was designed as a series of suites which enabled the realtor to host many traveling dignitaries and business friends in his residence.

Originally built for coal and lumber baron Charles S. Keith, the house came to Nichols when Keith decided that it was “too much house” for his needs. Nichols had been living just east of the Kansas City Country Club grounds [now Loose Park] on 52nd Street. The 1917 map reproduced on Panel #3 of this exhibit indicated that the developer planned to build a house just across the street from the Keith home at the southeast corner of 55th and State Line Road. When Keith decided to sell the house in 1920, Nichols bought it. Their three children, Eleanor, Miller, and Clyde, Jr., came to maturity within its confines and the surrounding two acres of grounds.

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