Former Catholic Girls School in Kansas City MO

Loretto Academy, Kansas City Missouri

Date added: May 03, 2024 Categories:

The Loretto Academy, a Catholic girls' educational facility, is one of only a few early 20th-century large-scale institutional buildings erected in Kansas City in a pure Georgian Revival style. The architects of the building, Barnett, Haynes & Barnett of St. Louis, were acknowledged as one of the most prominent and distinguished firms practicing between 1890 and 1920 in the State of Missouri. The Loretto Academy was occupied from 1903 until 1966 by the educational order of the Sisters of Loretto, an order that earned renown for both their innovative educational approaches, and their racial and religious tolerances. The building, located within a residential district, deliberately employed green spaces to lend a rural campus atmosphere to an urban setting.

The Loretto Order, the first religious order of women in the United States, was founded in 1812 by the Reverend Charles Nerinckx in Kentucky. The Sisters operated a convent for girls in St. Paul, Kansas, before coming to the Diocese of Kansas City in 1899. The Sisters taught in parochial schools before the purchase of property at 35^th Street and Broadway, where they established their first Academy, in 1901.

As the demand for their religious and educational services increased in direct proportion to Kansas City's rapid population growth, the Sisters commissioned the architectural firm of Barnett, Haynes & Barnett to design new and spacious quarters. To accommodate the erection of the building envisioned by the Sisters; property was purchased at 39^th and West Prospect Place (now Roanoke Road) in September of 1902. By October of that year, the construction contract had been awarded to Stephen J. Hayde, and construction was ready to begin.

The cornerstone was laid on April 25^th, 1903, with the building already half completed. It was to be ready for occupancy in September. The building, exclusive of its furnishings, was erected at a cost of $350,000.

The Loretto Academy began its third year of operations in its new home on September 15^th, 1903, with an enrollment of 55 pupils. An advertisement for the new school carried the following description: "...The location is beautiful and convenient, the house spacious and equipped with all the appliances of the modern classroom. The course embraces the Preparatory, Academic, and Business Departments, Music, Art, Languages, etc." The Academy served a population that was drawn from the city of Kansas City, as well as from surrounding communities in Missouri and Kansas. In designing the building, the architects provided enough dormitory space on the third floor to accommodate as many as 300 young women. Living quarters for the Sisters were located on the fourth floor of the main building.

Since their founding, the educational order of the Sisters of Loretto has been associated with progressive, innovative approaches to education. The Sisters were committed to providing broad-based education for women. In order to accomplish their goals, the Sisters themselves earned advanced degrees, which was an unusual accomplishment for women at the beginning of the Century. Their curriculum stressed the sciences and the arts on an equal basis, thereby providing women with a full spectrum of disciplines from which they might consider a career. The Loretto Academy was designed to prepare young women for matriculation into colleges at an age when only a small percentage of women pursued higher academic studies. Enrollment at the Academy grew rapidly, and by 1906 the school had been accredited with the University of Kansas. In summarizing the creed of Loretto, from its beginnings in 1901, Sister Eleanor Craig observed:

" Academies were a way to give women an education that otherwise might not have been available to them. We (the Sisters of Loretto) served the communities of Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa, and the Osage Indians in Oklahoma."

The expansive policies of the Sisters of Loretto were not always greeted with a collective enthusiasm. While the Academy was founded as a Catholic institution, it had always admitted non-Catholics. A school catalog from the early 1900's stated that "...no student's religion should be opposed." While religious observances were frequently held for Catholics, students of other religious persuasions were not required to attend. This magnanimous philosophy was not viewed by everyone as the best policy for the school, but nonetheless continued to be the official policy throughout Loretto's long history. In 1947, with the admittance of Black students, the Loretto Academy became one of the first educational institutions to integrate. While enrollment figures temporarily declined as the opposition made its presence felt, the school soon regained its momentum and prospered.

In 1966, the Loretto Academy moved to a spacious 3-acre tract at 124^th Street and Wornall Road. The buildings and grounds at 1111 W. 39^th Street were sold to the Calvary Bible College, an organization that continued to use the building as an educational facility. Calvary Bible vacated its quarters in 1982 because of a need for expanded facilities.

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 included "a hotel conversion, a small office space facing Mercier Street and two small rental buildings" on the 6-acre site.

Barnett, Haynes & Barnett (St. Louis)

The firm of Barnett, Haynes & Barnett was formed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888.12 Two of the principals in the firm--George Dennis Barnett and Tom P. Barnett--were the sons of architect George Ingham Barnett (1815-1898). George Barnett was recognized as "...the leading professional architect in Missouri for more than 50 years." Barnett was responsible for residential, ecclesiastical and public designs.

The Barnett sons entered into a partnership with their brother-in-law John Haynes and began to practice independent of their father. Their distinguished designs ranged from ecclesiastical buildings to hotels. Among their most impressive works were: the Hotel Lafayette in Little Rock, Arkansas; the St. Louis Roman Catholic Cathedral (1907-1914); and the Visitation Convent (1393) in St. Louis. The Cathedral featured a Romanesque-Byzantine interior, and was said to have cost over two and one-half million dollars to construct. The Visitation Convent, similar to Loretto Academy in its use, scale, and reliance on classic architectural style, was Singled out as one of the "...three notable additions to the picturesque architecture of St. Louis built between 1893 and 1894." The other two buildings in St. Louis cited as exemplary for their time were Union Station Railroad Terminal, and City Hall.

Building Description

The Loretto Academy, 1111 West 39^th Street, is located on an irregular tract of approximately six acres in Kansas City's Westport District. It is bordered by West 39^th Street on the north, Mercier Street on the west, and Roanoke Road on the east. The Loretto Academy is composed of three buildings: the Main Building, a Laundry Boiler House Building, and a shop building. The Main Building sits back approximately 100 feet from West 39^th Street. The strictly symmetrical massing and the profusion of Classical ornamental details characterize the building in a Georgian Revival style of architecture, especially popular in the United States between 1890 and 1915.

Main Building

The width of the building is approximately 270 feet in length, with the end wings extending to a depth of 107 feet.

The building is constructed of brick-bearing walls, with a stone foundation. Smooth stone composes lintels and sills, string courses, and window surrounds. The building is roofed with composition shingles embellished with red tile on the roof ridges. The cupola is clad with copper sheathing.

The main building faces north. It is designed as a modified "T", created by recessed connecting wings joining the projecting center with projecting end bays. The entrance portico features paired Corinthian columns resting on square bases supporting the pediment. Anthemions accent the slope of the pediment which is denticulated. A round arch with a marble Corinthian keystone enframes the doorway and is carried over the semi-circular transom. Brick quoining supplies definition for the wall surface, as well as to accent the corners of the building. Fenestration consists of narrow, paired rectangular windows flanking a tri-partite arrangement of windows. The window of the center bay directly above the pedimented entrance, features stained glass sidelights and carved relief swags on the window embrasures.

Vermiculated stone work surmounted by a smooth stone string course composes the basement (ground story) level. The connecting wings are three stories in height, while the center and end bays are four stories in height. The center and end bays terminate in hipped roofs, while the connecting wings have gabled roofs. Pedimented dormers pierce the north roof slope of the connecting wings. A denticulated wooden cornice, with egg and dart molding and block modillions extends around the perimeter of the roof line.

The focal point of the north facade is the cupola placed at the junction of the roof ridges of the center bay. A balustrade runs along the base of the tower. The cupola is clad in copper and has achieved the patina of age.

The wings of the east and west facades extend south on the lot. Pedimented dormers pierce the roof slopes. Window treatments mirror the main facade.

The south, or rear facade of the building contains the three-story chapel wing, which connects perpendicularly with the main mass of the building. Windows of the chapel, and rear of the main building are segmentally arched. Pedimented dormers pierce the south roof slope.

The chapel wing contains stained glass panels on the second story level, consisting of a rectangular center pane flanked by narrow rectangular sidelights. The clerestory contains semicircular single-pane windows. The roof of the chapel is gabled, and the cornice repeats the treatment found along the perimeter of the main massing of the building.

A one-story gymnasium addition, constructed in 1928, extends southward from the chapel with which it shares a common wall. The fenestration of the gymnasium consists of multipaned rectangular lights. The gymnasium addition consists of 4875 square feet.

The interior of the building is lavishly appointed with marble and rich wood. The entrance foyer contains a staircase of white Italian marble. The ceiling heights are approximately 13 feet. The chapel, an integral part of the structure, features vaulted ceilings and stained glass panels.

Out Buildings

The Laundry/Boiler House is a detached structure immediately adjacent to the gymnasium wing on the south. The brick building was constructed simultaneously with the Main Building in 1902-03. The building has not been altered on the exterior, with interior changes consisting only of partitioning. The building is square in plan, approximately 50 feet by 50 feet. It is covered by a hipped roof of asphalt shingles. The articulation of the facades is virtually identical. The basement/foundation level is constructed of coursed stone. Fenestration is with narrow, rectangular multipaned windows, appearing singly in the end bays, or in a tripartite configuration in the end bays.

A brick stack which rises above the building is located at the southwest corner of the building. Entrance doors are located at the north and west facades.

A decorative ventilator hood is placed at the peak of the hipped roof.

The one-story shop building is a metal frame building set on a concrete slab, constructed in 1967.

The irregular plot of land that comprises Loretto Academy has a gradual grade upwards from the streets.

The grounds are heavily landscaped with trees and shrubbery. A circular asphalt drive provides vehicular access to the front of the building. Residential structures line the rear property line of the Academy. Residential properties are also to the east and west. To the north are residences that have been converted to commercial use. The designers of the building incorporated large expanses of green space into the campus arrangement, in order to provide a rural atmosphere within the heart of a busy residential district.