The Tom Pendergast House, 5650 Ward Parkway, completed 1927.
Very possibly the most famous house on the thoroughfare, the Thomas J. Pendergast residence presents one example of modified French Provincial architectural design. Nichols Company architect, Edward Tanner, designed the structure to dominate a large lot covering over one-third of the total 5600 block frontage on the west side of Ward Parkway. Members of the Pendergast family lived in the house from its date of completion until just after the political boss’s death in 1945.

This was not the first residence owned by Pendergast in a J.C. Nichols neighborhood. In 1916, he had a smaller house constructed at 54th and Wyandotte, two blocks east of the Kansas City Country Club grounds [now Loose Park].

It is interesting to consider the fact that the infamous political kingpin lived on or near Ward Parkway during the years of his greatest political influence.

© WHMC-KC, University of Missouri