This monument to electricity nears 100 years old and still lights Kansas City’s skyline
In 1931, the Great Depression was throttling America’s economy and dashing people’s spirits.
But Kansas City’s Power & Light building, which opened that year at 1330 Baltimore Street, was a beacon of better times ahead..
The 34-story tower not only scraped the sky (it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi) it joined the ranks of Art Deco masterpieces like the Chrysler and Empire State buildings in New York City.
The massive structure was built with Indiana limestone and granite, and adorned with flourishes in the form of sunbursts and lightning bolts. Thanks to “stepbacks” it tapered gracefully as it rose upward.
And when it got there, a sixty-seven foot rooftop lantern beamed out a light show, changing from amber to red to green. Reportedly, the electricity used to operate it could power a small town.
The inside was also an architectural wonder, with marble walls, patterned floors and a bank of eye-popping elevators. It housed a gym, a large auditorium for screening films, and showrooms in which electrical appliances were displayed and sold.
All this was the brainchild of the company’s president, Joseph F. Porter. Decades earlier, Porter had worked alongside Thomas Edison to help bring electricity into the public eye.
Kansas City Power & Light eventually sold the building in 1957, though the company continued to lease office space there until 1991 . By 2014, the building’s last tenants left, and work began on converting the local landmark into what’s now called the Power & Light Apartments.
As it has for nearly 94 years, the building still lights up the downtown skyline nightly. But now it’s done with LEDs.
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Looking for more Kansas City history?
The first skyscraper in Kansas City was built in 1909. The same architect designed it and the Power & Light building.
The majestic Midland Theatre opened its doors just before the Great Depression began.
A cryptic tombstone in Union Cemetery points to a murder mystery from the 1880s