Forgotten landmark: the Municipal Auditorium of Kansas City, Missouri

Abstract

The Municipal Auditorium is a grand civic building in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, which encompasses venues for theater, music and athletics. Designed by Gentry, Voskamp, and Neville, and associated architects, Hoit, Price, and Barnes, and built between 1933-1936 during the Depression, the structure is a Streamline Moderne relic that has been underappreciated in recent times. More than thirty years ago, Cydney Millstein created the only dedicated study of the building, but her research dealt primarily with the history of its creation. In my research, I examine its place in the political climate and infamous boss system of Kansas City. I also underscore the city's need for a new auditorium by illustrating the outdated previous convention halls in Kansas City. Additionally, I site the Municipal Auditorium within the architects' oeuvre and examine how auditoriums from other cities influenced their designs. Two of the most inspirational auditoriums were the Radio City Music Hall and the RKO-Roxy Theater in New York City, which have never before been compared to Kansas City's auditorium in such detail. And yet, the Municipal Auditorium retains its own impressive brand of Midwestern restraint and stateliness. As a grand civic building, many city officials, architects, and artists worked together to create the Municipal Auditorium, but some of their contributions have been forgotten over the years. By using personal scrapbooks and a diary from architect Alfred Barnes, interviews with architect Homer Neville and with architect Alonzo Gentry's niece, newspaper articles from the 1930s, and original sketches and architectural plans, my research uncovers these significant contributions. Together they make up the streamlined shell and the opulent interior of the Municipal Auditorium