Longview Mansion. The country estate of Kansas City lumber baron (Long Bell
Lumber Company) and philanthropist (he spearheaded the drive to build the Liberty
Memorial), R.A. Long (1850-1934). Long's city home was Corinthian Hall, now the
Kansas City Museum in Northeast Kansas City. Longview Mansion and 50 other
farm structures (including the mansion, show horse arena and racetrack, horse and
dairy barns, greenhouses, a school and a church) were constructed in just 18
months between 1913 and June 1, 1914. More than 50 Belgian craftsmen and 200
Sicilian stonemasons were among the 2,000 workers employed to turn 1,780 raw
acres into what was called "The World's Most Beautiful Farm." It was considered the
largest constructions project of its kind in the U.S. at the time. The farm employed
175 people. Besides horses, Longview was known for its pure bred Jersey dairy
cattle that provided milk for Long's family, his employees and area charities.
Furthermore, Longview Farm's greenhouses produced prize-winning roses and
other flowers. Tours are available. www.longviewmansion.com. Another tidbit --
Long also built the city’s first skyscraper, the R.A. Long Building, at 10th & Grand as
headquarters for his lumber company.
From 1910-1925, J.C. Nichols developed the Plaza and the Country Club District
homes. He had traveled throughout Europe and was impressed by the art and
architecture that he saw there. He bought European art by the carload and created
the most extensive public display of European statuary and fountains in the country.
Many of the pieces were used to create distinctive markings at the entrances of his
developments No other city has such an extensive public display of outdoor
statuary. Care of the statues, many of which are of museum quality, was given to
each neighborhood association.
Fountains
Kansas City, Missouri
1925 Meyer Circle Fountain, Meyer Boulevard & Ward Parkway. The Seahorse
Fountain was donated to the city by J.C. Nichols and installed in 1925. The center
sculpture stood in a square in Venice for about 300 years before Mr. Nichols bought
it. The bowls, made of Carrara marble (quarried in Carrara, Italy) are held up by 3
seahorses, 3 cherubs and a dolphin. With limestone pedestal, it is 16 feet high. With
the redesigning of the traffic circle in 1994, it was found that the figures had
deteriorated beyond repair and so were recast in sandstone. And in 2000, vandals
damaged the cherub at the top of the fountain. A St. Louis area stone craftsman
restored the damaged sculpture for free, a gift valued more than $100,000,
1928 Boy and Frog, Nichols Road. Bought by the Nichols Company in Florence in
1928, the bronze figure of a boy is above that of a frog who is shooting water up at
him. On the base is a faun on a dolphin. The bowl and pedestal are rose colored
Verona Marble. The sculpture was made at the Raffaello Romanelli Studio in
Florence, a favorite of Mr. Nichols.
1928 Four Fauns, Nichols Road. Fauns are Roman mythological creatures that are
half human and half goat and are called children of the spirit of the forest. The
original fauns were made in the 1700's in Brindisi and bought by the Nichols
Company in 1928. These bronze figures are 15 inches high and have cloven hooves
and horned heads. There were 4 different fauns at the corners of this pool but 3
were stolen so 3 copies were made of the remaining statue and placed in the
fountain.
1933 Rozelle Court, Nelson Atkins Museum. Since 1933 Rozelle Court has had as
its centerpiece this almost 2,000 year old Italian bowl made of cipollino marine
marble. The bowl is 8 feet in diameter and weighs 4 tons. The building architects,
Wight and Wight, designed the base consisting of 4 lion paws, and the 18 foot in
diameter collecting pool below. Rozelle Court is named for Frank Rozelle, William
Rockhill Nelson's Attorney, who donated the money for its construction. In 1981 the
courtyard was roofed to become the museum dining area.
1962 Allen Memorial Fountain, Nichols Road. This sculpture of a bathing female
figure and a child standing on a turtle was erected in 1962 in memory of J.C.
Nichols' daughter and her husband who died in a fire in their home. The water flows
from a sponge down into the pool below. The figures are bronze and the pedestal is
marble. It was created in the Gemignani Marinelli Studios in Florence.
1967 Seville Light, 47th & J.C. Nichols Parkway. A marble, shaft supports a bronze
chandelier 40 feet above the street. Water flows from 4 masks on the sides of the
shaft and into the pool below. This reproduction of the original light across from the
Giralda Tower in Seville Spain was a gift from the J.C. Nichols Company. It was
made in Carrara, Italy at the studios of Bernard Zucherman using 3 kinds of marble
from Italy and Pakistan. The mayor of Seville was present at its dedication in 1967.
1969 Pamona Courtyard, Wornall & Ward Parkway. Pamona is the Roman goddess
and protectoress of vineyards, gardens and orchards. The marble original of this
statue is at the king's palace in Bangkok, Thailand. This bronze replica was sculpted
in 1900 by Italian artist Donatello Gabrielii in Florence. It was erected here in 1969.
Mission Hills, Kansas
Mission Hills City Hall Fountain. The bronze sculpture at the center of the fountain,
Boy on a Snail, was created by artist G. Cappelletti in the mid 20th century. It is
number 7 of 10 originals produced. The sculpture replaced the original millstones
in 2005 as the focal point of the fountain.
Infant of Prague Memorial. The Catholic Cemeteries Association of Wyandotte and
Johnson Counties created this memorial dedicated to the hundreds of infants
buried in Resurrection Cemetery in Lenexa, Kansas. The cemetery at 83rd Street
and Quivira Road is owned by the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan. Infants have
been buried in a special section of the cemetery since its creation in the early 1960s.
The memorial features a 130-foot-long walkway made of concrete, natural stone
and limestone beginning at 83rd Street, leading to a 26-foot by 20-foot plaza. Along
the walkway there will be four stone-and-limestone benches and about 400 granite
bricks. The focal point of the plaza is a 4-foot bronze statue of the Infant of Prague on
a granite pedestal. The statue was made in Italy by BLP Bronze International. The
statue stands between two 4-foot by 10-foot granite walls featuring the names of the
400 infants.
John Brown. The idea for the statue dated to 1907, when a collection was taken to
fund a monument to Brown, the Kansas abolishionist whose attacks on slavery
proponents in the 1850s foreshadowed the Civil War. The life-size statue was
carved in Italy from white Carrara marble. Dedicated in 1911, it was placed at
Western University, the first African-American university west of the Mississippi River.
After the college closed, the statue remained on the campus until the 1970s, when
the city of Kansas City, Kansas acquired it and moved it to its current location near
the Quindaro Ruins.
