Historic Northeast Kansas City/ Bellefontaine Historic District (Independence, Gladstone: apartments, houses)

[elle555]

Moving to KC, Bellefontaine Historic District
Interested in this area...


What do you all know about it?

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

The Northeast is a rather large and diverse portion of urban KC.

It can vary drastically block-to-block with one street being mostly well maintained Victorian mansions next to a block of run down bungalows. I am not certain where the Bellefontaine Historic District is, but if it is around Bellefontaine Ave, that is not one of the nicer areas in the Northeast.

In general, the further north, the better, with Independence Ave and St. John Ave being two north/south dividing lines.

The Northeast is an interesting area with some beautiful historic housing stock and affordable prices - but it isn't for everyone - it can be a bit of an urban pioneer area is some locations. It also seems a bit isolated from other parts of the city (Plaza and Midtown) and doesn't have quite the amount of amenities.

[TabulaRasa]

Love the Northeast. My husband used to teach there. It can be quite rough in parts and isn't for everyone, but lots of history and some amazing homes. One of the more interesting parts of the city, IMO.

[Bellefontaine719]

Originally Posted by WiseOwlSaysHoot

The Northeast is a rather large and diverse portion of urban KC.

It can vary drastically block-to-block with one street being mostly well maintained Victorian mansions next to a block of run down bungalows. I am not certain where the Bellefontaine Historic District is, but if it is around Bellefontaine Ave, that is not one of the nicer areas in the Northeast.

In general, the further north, the better, with Independence Ave and St. John Ave being two north/south dividing lines.

The Northeast is an interesting area with some beautiful historic housing stock and affordable prices - but it isn't for everyone - it can be a bit of an urban pioneer area is some locations. It also seems a bit isolated from other parts of the city (Plaza and Midtown) and doesn't have quite the amount of amenities.

Unfortunately this thread just came to my attention, but I would like to correct certain inaccurate information that was presented here in hopes that anyone doing future searches will receive a more balanced opinion.

The Bellefontaine Historic District comprises the area from 500-524 Bellefontaine, last remaining row of Victorian houses in Kansas City. There has been considerable work done on all of these houses. Many of these houses were gutted and completely renovated in recent years, to include new Timberline roofs, electric furnaces and heat pumps, new oak floors, custom oak cabinets, modern plumbing, kitchens, and bathrooms. You'll recognize some of these homes by their "painted lady" appearance, trim being painted with 3 colors. The area is clean and quiet.

We believe that these houses are not only some of the nicer ones in the Northeast area, but they would be nice for any part of the city.

As far as "isolated" goes, downtown Kansas City, the River Market area, and Power and Light District are within 5-6 minutes of the Bellefontaine Historic District. The area is centrally located close to I-70, I-29, I-435, and 71 Highway so that virtually any part of the city is easily reached. If you were to look at a map, the "isolated" areas of the city would be Midtown and the Plaza. Just saying.

[luzianne]

I lived in northeast KC in the mid-80s. I think the demographics have changed some since then. Then the neighborhood we lived in was mainly Italian families. The house we lived in was old, of course (1916), but I loved the woodwork - hand carved and really stunning. People would come in the front door for the first time and say "Wow!"

[Tenebrae]

Interesting! The "painted lady" houses are a personal favourite of mine, having been quite popular and spectacular throughout the island of Alameda in California's SF Bay Area. Seems this historical district was registered fairly recent (2011):
http://www.dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/11000010.pdf

And it can also be found in the list here:
National Register of Historic Places listings in Jackson County, Missouri: Kansas City other - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bellefontaine719, I am not sure of your relationship / affiliation with this area, but maybe you can get somebody to put some info up for the public to search for on wikipedia as well, maybe with a picture of the work done! I know I'd love to see them.

-T.

[Bellefontaine719]

Tenebrae:

That's an excellent idea! No problem getting either photos or a brief history. I'll check into it and get back to this thread. Thanks.

Luzianne:

Thanks for your post! Yes, my wife is Italian and grew up in the area. Her family has owned a home in the Bellefontaine Historic District since 1918. It was originally built in 1880. Scarrett Renaissance Neighborhood Association conducts a homes tour once a year. This is an event where 5-6 homes are open to the public so that they can tour the older homes and see what people have done with them. This year the homes tour just took place a couple of weeks ago. There was a large crowd of people that toured these places that day. It was really an enjoyable, spectacular event. I recommend that anyone attend when it occurs, generally in the fall.

[Kcmo311]

"Bellefontaine Avenue Historic District" are made of Kansas City's "Painted Ladies". A complete row of houses from 500-524 Bellefontaine Ave backing up to now, Kessler Park. Placed on the "National Register of Historic Places" by the "United States Department of the Interior". They are now apart of the adjacent Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood.

Built from 1889-1890, they are a brick, shotgun style of home. Shotgun, meaning they have a very long and narrow build. Most would refer to them as victorian homes. They are the only remaining row of identical houses from that time period that are still standing in KCMO. Even at the time they were built, it would had been very unique to build that many identical houses in a row.

The entire row of houses have been remodeled since 2019. They would all originally had 2 parlor rooms on the main floor with a set of 3-4 pocket doors. Hand-carved lattice woodwork above doorways. A staircase with carved spindles up to the second floor, and then a butler staircase down to the kitchen along the north side. Most butlers stairs have been removed with modern upgrades. Unique ceilings on the first and second floors originally would had been 12 foot tall, with modern upgrades ceilings now vary height 10-12 foot. Stone front porches would had been from end to end of the length of the house. Some of those porches were extended their length around the 1930's. All wooden floors on second and main floors, parlor rooms would had a square layout of wooden floor boards. A chimney from the front parlor up to the main bedroom. Most fireplaces were sold subway tiles, various colors, around early 1900s, most likely purchased from a known salesperson living on Gladstone. Most homes in the area have similar tiles. Some of the attics have been converted to a finished bedroom with staircase replacing what would had been the space for the master bedroom closet increasing the livable space to around 3,700 square feet. During modern remodeling, some of these homes were split into smaller apartments to accommodate multi-family dwellings adding additional kitchens to the second floors.

Originally would had been built for upper-middle class families wanting to be close to public transportation connecting to downtown KCMO, west, and east bottoms.