Loretto Academy (Kansas City, Missouri)

The Loretto is a multipurpose venue in the Westport neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. It was adapted from a former girls' academy known as Loretto Academy, dedicated in 1904[2] as a "boarding and day school for girls."[3] It is named after the Sisters of Loretto, who established a presence in Kansas City in 1899.[4]

The Loretto
The building in August 2015
Former namesLoretto Academy
Address1111 W. 39th St.
LocationKansas City, Missouri
OwnerLoretto Redevelopment Corp.
Construction
Built1902
Website
Official website
Loretto Academy
Coordinates39°3′35″N 94°36′1″W
Built1902
ArchitectBarnett, Haynes & Barnett
Architectural styleColonial Revival
NRHP reference No.83001009[1]
Added to NRHPJuly 28, 1983

History

The land upon which Loretto Academy was built was purchased in September 1902 by Mother M. Praxedes Carty.[5] The architect of Loretto Academy, Thomas P. Barnett of Barnett, Haynes & Barnett, was soon after appointed the architect of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.[6]

The academy was the site of a fire in 1909 at a Halloween party; three students lost their lives when a paper dress became ignited by a lit jack-o'-lantern.[5]

Loretto Academy admitted its first black student in September 1947.[7]

The Academy moved to 12411 Wornall Road in 1966.[2]

Subsequent uses

In 1966 the site was sold to Calvary Bible College,[2] who owned it for two decades; it then passed through the hands of three owners until a 1993 foreclosure.[2] By then it had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places for a decade.[1]

As The Loretto, it currently hosts weddings in the historic cathedral chapel and wedding receptions in the ballroom. The building also offers apartments and offices. Its current owner, Loretto Redevelopment Corp., taking advantage of a tax abatement, has had plans for further redevelopment since 1996; as of 2011, those plans include "a hotel conversion, a small office space facing Mercier Street and two small rental buildings" on the 6-acre (2.4 ha) site.[8]

See also
  • Loretto Academy (St. Louis, Missouri), also NRHP-listed

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Owner of Loretto Academy wedded to $15M renovation, a May 11, 2007 article from the Kansas City Business Journal
  3. Greater Kansas City Official Year Book, 1904-05 from the Missouri Valley Special Collections of the Kansas City Public Library
  4. Nomination for the National Register of Historic Places from the Jackson County National Register Listings at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources
  5. 1905 Postcard of the Loretto Academy from the Missouri Valley Special Collections of the Kansas City Public Library, accompanied by an excerpt from an October 23, 1971 article from Kansas City Star
  6. http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=company&lng=3&id=100775
  7. First Black Student at Loretto Academy Remembers Angry Parents, Best Friend, from the Missouri Valley Special Collections of the Kansas City Public Library
  8. Vockrodt, Steve (September 6, 2011). "Stalled Kansas City redevelopment project can proceed, court rules". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
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