KANSAS CITY, Missouri - In 1907 and 1908, lumber millionaire R.A. Long was building a ten horse barn with room for five stable boys when he looked around and decided the nearby land at the crest of a hill known as Scarritt Point was perfect to build a new home for his family. It would take two years for Long to acquire a full city block at 3218 Gladstone Blvd., but the yellow-pine king was determined. He had to move two existing homes from the property he desired. In the end Long would build a 70 room palace on three acres complete with several other buildings surrounded by three-thousand feet of iron fence. The stables and even the master bathroom were nicer than many homes at the turn of the 19th century in Kansas City.
Corinthian Hall
While passersby in the 1900’s called it the Long estate, palace or mansion, we know it as the KC Museum today. In 1901, owner Robert Long called his home Corinthian Hall.
“It was named after the capitols on the six columns standing on the south facade of the building,” explained Christopher Leitch, Director of Kansas City Museum. “They're in the Greek Corinthian order, which is very intensely decorative and very ornamental.”
Corinthian Hall is undergoing major renovation in hopes of returning the estate to its former glory to preserve the Long legacy along with KC’s early history. Leitch says like any home remodeling project, the renovation has been met with many delays due mostly to the complexities of authentic and museum quality restoration.
“The house is really an incredible engineering marvel,” Leitch continued. “In some ways it's more of a small commercial building than it is a large residence. The interior walls are 24 inches thick, masonry and plaster and all the floors are poured in place with steel reinforced concrete.”
The construction was very unique for private residences but Long had made millions selling lumber to people after their homes burned to the ground. He was determined his holdings would withstand fire.
Architect Henry Hoit designed the Beaux-Arts style mansion with elaborate entries. Marble floors and stairs led to the single largest stained glass window inside a KC residence. Long’s daughter Loula was married in front of the picturesque window as would be many brides after her when the mansion later sold.
The mansion was decorated in an explosion of colors with the finest and most expensive of everything from the statues, gilded furniture to the fine wools and silks that draped the walls and windows.
“The bronze stair rail in the grand stair was designed after one that is in a house that Louis XVII had built for his mistress Madame DePompedor,” pointed out Leitch. “Historians call it the most important decorative architectural feature in any house in the state of Missouri. “
This home was also filled the most modern conveniences available. Indoor plumbing was rare and at Corinthian Hall it was exotic for the times.
“There was a shower and a bath tub independent of each other installed,” said Leitch, “which was an amazingly ridiculous luxury at the moment. Mr. Long had a barber chair where he got a daily trim from his butler.”
Leitch describes the bathroom as bigger than many people’s entire homes. High on the hill in what was then the suburbs the public water system wasn’t well developed. Long installed private water, plumbing, and electricity generated from a plant under one of five other buildings on the property.
Life at Corinthian Hall
It took 25 servants to keep the estate’s 70 rooms clean. Only three family members lived there at one time. Mrs. Ella Long was said to often feel lonely and sad despite her splendid surroundings. Still, that part of town in those days was considered mildly rural. The grandchildren tell stories of their parents and grandparents remarking about how isolated they felt.
“You had to hitch up a horse and ride into town when you wanted to go shopping or go to the office,” Leitch offered to explain the disadvantages of the estate’s location. “Mr. Long did have a motor car built it was more of a novelty than a functional everyday vehicle.”
Mrs. Long wrote aching letters to her daughter who lived down the street. Ella Long was a single family person at home alone during the day while Mr. Long went to work. There were 25 servants and a big class distinction that limited interaction. The class distinction spilled over into the community.
“You can’t live in a four story limestone Beaux-Arts mansion surrounded by a several thousand foot long wrought-iron fence on a bluff overlooking a river and expect to be treated as one of the normal neighbors who you can go visit and borrow a cup of sugar,” Leicht explained matter of fact.
Mrs. Long also wrote about her discomfort of her high society lifestyle as she came from a very modest middle class background. She wrote that her happiest days were working by her husband’s side at the beginning of their business success when she felt like she was really contributing to the day-to-day work.
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