Living at Mac
Our Community
100-118 W. Armour Blvd Progress Photos
In 1921, the Kansas City Star called W.H. Collins “a man who was not daunted by early misadventures in real estate.” The builder is best remembered for developing a new style of apartment layout, “a floor arrangement that eliminated the long-hall type of suites that were characteristic of the first ‘flats,’” the Star said. “The ‘Collins plan’ became almost standard until another innovation, the kitchenette, came along. – Excerpt from the Midtown KC Post
To skip the history and renovation info and go straight to the floor plans and pricing, visit:
100-118 W. Armour Floor Plans
John McKecknie (architect pictured below) and William H Collins (developer builder) combined forces to realize the original “Collins Flats” at 100-106 W Armour Blvd. (the largest of the 4 structures pictured above) in 1902 along with other colonnade apartments in KC. Collins built another building near by and named it “Collinwood”.
“Kansas City’s colonnade apartment houses played a key role as the City’s dominant architectural building type that defined the majority of middle-class apartment dwellings during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Their size, setting, design, plan and materials, reflect important aspects of the City’s cultural history and development. The Kansas City Colonnade Apartment Buildings is typically a brick, multi-story, masonry apartment building with one or more prominent multi-story colonnaded porches. They contained at least two self-sufficient apartment units per floor opening onto a central hall plan. The use of round, polygonal, and/or square columns reflects, in varying degrees, classical design references.” – Taken from http://history.hydeparkkc.org
William H Collins (developer builder) who pioneered this new apartment typology, built the landmark Colonnade Apartments at 201-219 Armour in 1905 (see postcard above). This building was torn down in 1963 for the Commercial Union Assurance Companies and is now currently occupied by the American Red Cross.
As an ode to the past and with the connection to the builder and architectural style, we have chosen the name, “The Colonnades” for 100-118 W. Armour Blvd.
Sept 1, 2016 – Now that construction has started on the KC coveted 100-118 apartments, we want to provide periodic updates regarding the progress. It will be a 9 month-1 year process, so hang with us. These were designed in 1902 and 1903, so they have 114 years of living wear and tear. We look forward to seeing them revitalized. Below are updates of the construction process and also an online form if you would like to be the first to tour these units.
To skip the remodel process and go straight to the floor plans and pricing, please visit The Colonnade Floor Plans.
September 29th, 2016 – The Colonnades – 100-118 W. Armour Blvd.
November 1, 2016
January 31st, 2017 – Update
April 21st Update:
June 20th, 2017 Update: The Colonnade
August 30th Update:
As you can see from the historic photo above and the rendering, the exterior facade and porches are will be restored to to historic standards. Half of the rental homes will be finished and ready to rent mid-late June and the other half of the homes will be September to mid-October. The smaller three buildings will feature one bedroom and two bedroom units and the larger building will feature two and three bedroom units. We are very excited to have a smaller rental community with real wood floors, washer and dryer in-unit, balconies, and modern finishes. If you would like to schedule a tour and see floor-plans and pricing, please visit The Colonnades Floor Plans page.
The brick underneath all the facade paint is a beautiful taupe, an expensive brick duplicated by other historic buildings of the era, including a mansion in Janssen Place. The columns are made of a taupe granite (at least the first floor columns on the duplexes were) that if restored could make this set of apartment buildings stand out among MACs others. MAC might want to consider making these particular buildings into “vanity properties”; the moniker that MAC can use to project as the best their company imbibes. They are more desireable as smaller density units than their bigger counterparts along… Read more »