This 96-year-old, $1.3M home near Ward Parkway may soon be torn down for rebuild
Andrea Ketcherside understands “1,000%” why some people will be upset to see her family’s nearly 100-year-old, Tudor-style home — valued by Zillow at around $1.3 million — come tumbling down.
Thirteen years ago, when she and her husband, Chris, bought the nearly 3,000-square-foot house in the affluent Sunset Hills neighborhood on Mercier Street just south of Ward Parkway, it was never their intention to raze it and build anew.
“The reason we bought the house is because of the aesthetic. . . .We love where we live. We love the look of that neighborhood. I totally understand the ruffled feathers,” Ketcherside said Thursday. The Ketchersides also hope people will understand their plan to build a new home that captures the style and spirit of the old.
On Friday, the proposed demolition of the house in the 5200 block of Mercier Street is scheduled to be discussed as part of the 9 a.m. meeting of the Kansas City Historic Preservation Commission. Although neither the 1930 home nor the Sunset Hills neighborhood are on the National Register of Historic Places or the Kansas City Register of Historic Places, the city’s Historic Preservation Office, in its own review, is recommending that demolition be delayed for 45 days to explore “possible reuse” to save “a potential historic building.”
Lane Johnson, the public information officer for the Neighborhood Services Department, explained that, in December 2024, the city council passed an ordinance requiring that all demolitions, except those on the dangerous building list, be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Office or the Historic Preservation Commission. If the commission finds the property is eligible to be listed on the Kansas City or national register, Johnson said, demolition can be held for 45 days. The commission can’t stop a demolition, but if a neighborhood or preservation group wishes to submit a historic designation application, it would give them time to prepare and submit an application.
Discussion of the demolition allows public comment.
Paying homage to the original home
The Ketchersides have already hired a firm as both architect and builder. The home has been all but emptied. Two signs for Homoly Design + Build have been planted at the edge of the 0.6-acre property.
Mason Homoly, co-owner and vice president of operations for the firm, is scheduled to speak before the city commission Friday. His presentation is to include renderings of a new home designed not only to emulate the Tudor-style, but also one that will also incorporate timbers and elements of the former house.
“The family has lived in the home for the past 13 years,” Homoly said in an emailed statement, “and over time, significant structural issues have emerged. Much of the original woodwork is being carefully salvaged and repurposed in the new residence, preserving its character and craftsmanship. Stylistically, the new design pays homage to the original Tudor’s architectural beauty while thoughtfully reimagining it for the future.”
Ketcherside said, “Our intent was, I guess, restoration—rebuild. We are taking the design from the inside and reapplying it to the new house, the same Gothic archways, and the big, big beautiful beams, which are actually going to be saved from the current house and used again.”
Flooding and other problems
Ketcherside said that after 96 years, the two-and-a-half story home — built by William S. Rawlings & Co., and clad in brick, stone, stucco half-timbering and with a slate tile roof — was beset with problems including cracked clay pipes and a stone basement that regularly flooded.
“There are lots of water issues that have really taken a toll on our house over the years,” Ketcherside said. “We feel almost unsafe. I don’t even know the amount of work it would take to save our foundation. . . .We have done everything we possibly can. Still, every time it rains our basement is just soaked and soaked.”
The Ketchersides applied for a demolition permit in January. Homoly said the firm hopes to begin demolition in the next 30 to 60 days. He estimated that construction would take 12 to 14 months.
Another option, Ketcherside said, would have been to sell and move. But among the reasons they did not, she said, was their concern that someone else would buy the home, tear it down and put up a modern box that would not fit in with the neighborhood.
She referenced the $7 million glass and cantilevered house now rising at 6215 Ward Parkway.
“I hope people aren’t too worried,” Ketcherside said. “We were kind of proud of what we’re saving and restoring and trying to keep the neighborhood. I know it’s not kind of the common theme for what’s going on now in home building.
“You know, I love, we love — we really take pride in what we’re doing and how we’re rebuilding. It’s a beautiful Tudor with stone. It’s going to be really pretty.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 12:46 PM.
