Name: "Spider House"Architect: Unknown
Year Designed: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Year Built: Unknown
Size: Unknown
Location: Belinder Street, Mission Hills, Kansas
Type: Residential
Style: Modern
Status: Demolished
Photographer: Robert McLaughlin
We do not know a lot about this house except about its untimely demise. Sorry for the uninspiring photo of this cool design, but I always thought that I would get back on a better day to shoot it. Before I knew it, this one was gone. If anyone has some better photos of this house that was somewhat famous in the community, please let us know.
This butterfly roof design was amazing with a big exposed exoskeleton, big south facing windows and redwood throughout. The original owner actually sold this house to the person who demolished it. Reportedly she could not bear the thought of someone else living there. It did have deferred maintenance issues, but I would have loved to have seen this one brought back.
Unfortunately the value of the land in this Belinder Street neighborhood has made smaller Modern Houses easy targets to be scraped for more Mission Hills McMansions. Architect, John "Jack" Morley's house next door fell to the bulldozer not long after this one. In the 1990s, Don Drummond's personal home diagonally across the street, designed by Architect, David B. Runnells was demolished to give the adjacent house a golf course view. Across the street to the south a Modern Drummond Castilian was remodeled into a hacienda. All of this makes us very worried about the future of the Marcel Breuer designed home just down the street.
4 comments:
I met with the owner of the Breuer house about 3 years ago. She was convinced the house will be torn down when she leaves. I fear she may be correct.
Mrs. Snower passed away not too long ago. KCMODERN has talked to Mr. Snower, who is still living in the house, about the preservation of his house. He showed moderate interest in seeing the home saved, but the home has already been deeded over to his son, who lives out of state. It would be a great loss to see the Breuer house torn down.
I am sorry to hear about Mrs. Snower. She was very nice and walked me through the entire process with Breuer. Hopefully someone can step up when the time comes and save the house. I fear It will be very costly since it sits on a double lot.
That house is a big part of why I became an Architect. I had a good friend who lived across the street when I was a boy, and I loved to go to his house so I could look at the Snower house.
My heart is broken that these gems have been demolished! I grew up in KC and Sheila Morley was one of my best friends. I loved going to that house! I had the great fortune to grow up in a completely different style of home (I know it is still there because a childhood friend bought it), I lived in the home that was designed by Mary Ingram Hook on Indian Lane, also in Mission Hills. Will I find out next that it has been demolished to make way for ten track houses? What has happened there, I left in 1982,and was back every year to visit my dear family. I am doing research as I am looking for a Mid-Century Modern home here in Las Vegas and happened to run across this blog. I will be following it now. I always brag about the diversity and the beauty of Kansas City's architecture, someone stop the carnage!
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