That’s not Bruce Wayne’s mansion. It’s Kansas City’s newest downtown bar
Guests enter a circular foyer lined with bookshelves and push past a heavy black curtain, stepping into a main room with high ceilings and a long, table-like bar.
Light pours in from the window-covered walls of a solarium, where greenery sprouts out of planters and crawls up ledges.
Despite its appearance, The Residence isn’t the inside of a well-to-do executive’s mansion. A sign outside its entrance on 14th and Main Streets beckons customers.
The Cordish Companies and architect David Manica partnered to open Power & Light’s newest cocktail lounge in the KC Live! District. Manica took inspiration from the elegant designs of affluent houses to bring the bar to life.
“I wanted it to feel comfortable and welcoming, and I thought, ‘Wait, what if it actually felt like someone’s house that you got invited to?” Manica told The Star Tuesday afternoon. “The idea is to sort of move from one room to another.”
The space, across from Palm Tree Club, had never been finished out as another concept. Manica worked with the spot’s bare bones — a large room with high ceilings — and divided it into smaller sections. As he was drawing up plans, he began to visualize a house with several rooms.
“It felt like a really fulfilling and active and dynamic … concept,” he said.
He began drawing up a piano, fireplaces, a grandfather clock, marble tables. He likened The Residence to Bruce Wayne’s mansion.
As for the menu, Manica said they’re still figuring that out. But expect cocktails and small bites. All in all, the space will fit about 100 to 150 people.
Local musicians will be featured in the space, as will a rotating residency of “Kansas City’s finest bartenders,” according to a press release from the company. DJs will bump lively tunes as the night wanes.
John Moncke, president of Kansas City’s Power & Light District, said in a press release that he hopes the new bar will further give Kansas City global appeal.
“The Residence brings together Manica’s vision and Live!’s world class hospitality in a way that sets a new standard for the District. We’re proud to continue building a dynamic, best-in-class destination,” he said.
Manica founded his architecture firm in 2007 and has worked on several well-known local projects, like The Monarch Bar, The Mercury Room, and Jade Jaguar.