This is Richardson Romanesque with Queen Anne details creeping in, very typical for 1880s commercial architecture ... I'm pretty okay with this building.

I dunno, bohneyjones. Maybe not to contemporary tastes, but it's not a bad example of Romanesque revival. And that is some pretty sporty brickwork. But then again, I LOVE Frank Furness, and his stuff gets a hearty thumbs down from most Shorpy-ites.

Goodness, what a God-awful mess - pick a theme and stick with it. You don't get bonus points for mixing 3-4 different styles!

Headlined: WEST SIDE IMPROVEMENT, Kansas City Star, March 3, 1887

Based on the shadows, and the fact that 12th Street goes downhill to the right of the photo, I'm pretty sure this was on the northeast corner of 12th and Wyandotte.

That corner is currently occupied by the 12 Wyandotte Plaza office building, which was built from 1984 to 1986. The Internets tell me that 12 Wyandotte Plaza was preceded by the Hotel State, which was there from about 1923 to 1973. I can't readily find anything older than that.

The closest place today where CARS STOP HERE is two blocks west, at 12th and Main, where the new streetcar line runs north and south along Main.

I'm not sure where the closest place is today to reliably obtain popcorn. I *know* you can get some at Topsy's, but that's several blocks southeast, at 24th and Grand. The Marriott, on the northwest corner of 12th and Wyandotte, probably has a popcorn machine, but I don't know if it's a regular menu item. (That Marriott is the one with LEDs all over the south side that gets used to spell out messages to the whole city.)

On a more aesthetic note... the Wyandotte Street frontage of this building certainly has a lot going on. Three joined arches, a second-floor patio, that rounded section, a fourth-floor patio, and a single arch up there on the fourth floor. It's almost like it was made by taking leftover pieces of other buildings and making them fit on the lot.

This is possibly the most godawful ugly building I have seen on Shorpy...posthumous (I hope) winner of the Pontiac Aztek Award for Design Malfeasance. Ugh.

for such a small building. And that's a good thing. It's hard to feel any affection for a box. I wonder what surprises are hiding on the other two sides?

"The Kansas City Club, after 133 years, has closed its doors," as its "cash flow situation has become untenable," a note to members said.

The club, founded in 1882, has struggled financially but remained open with the help of loans and gifts and the personal time and very often personal funds of members and the club's board of directors, club officials said in the note.

More here.

I spy six people!

Yes, Kansas City still has cable cars, and they will run for six more years, although electric trolley cars are already sharing the tracks.

They gone about as fer as they can go