Literary castle & haunted brothel: Century-old KC home with rich history for sale
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- The 1909 stone mansion near Uptown Theater is listed for sale at $825,000.
- The home’s diverse past includes use as a brothel, multiple churches and a literary hub.
- Current owner renovated the 4,800-square-foot structure for residential living in 2019.
A midtown castle with a ghostly, storied history could be yours for $825,000.
Located a block away from the Uptown Theater, 3607 Pennsylvania was built as a mansion, then allegedly used as a brothel, a string of churches and then the Writers Place, a literary space.
The 4,800-square-foot structure was constructed around 1909 for the widow of a produce merchant, and includes three full stories and a finished basement.
When Steven Soby bought the building in 2019, it had been a commercial property for decades. Now, Soby is selling the house through his real estate company, so his blended family can have more outdoor space in the suburbs.
When Soby bought the building, the kitchen was in the basement, and the main floor was totally empty. After a year of renovations — adding a kitchen to the main living space and bathrooms to the upper floors — the Kansas City real estate investor moved into the castle with his two young children.
The walls are 28-inch-thick stone, which Soby said kept the house’s structure in better condition than many other houses of its age. He said there is no “movement or settling or deflection.”
The thick walls mean thick windowsills, which the children use as window seats for reading and the adults use as bedside tables in the primary bedroom.
Soby said the open first floor was perfect for keeping his kids entertained during the winter months. With the furniture moved out of the way, Soby said, “My kids ride their bikes inside. We play catch with baseball. We play football.”
And the 13-foot ceilings were perfect for the holidays. Soby said he put up nine Christmas trees one year. And the six bedrooms and ample floor space fit all of their out-of-town relatives, said Meghan Butler, Soby’s fiancee.
Soby’s young daughter and her friends had many “Frozen”-themed princess dress up events at the castle-like house. A grand U-shaped staircase with wooden balusters graces the center of the house, making even jaded adults feel like they’re entering a ball.
Up the stairs, the windows look out into the mature trees. You can almost touch the leaves from the two terraces, which are protected with castle-like notched stone. Look up and you have a close-up view of the curved cornices.
The hidden back staircase allowed the two daughters to escape their brother. Downstairs, Soby finished half of the basement with carpet and a half bathroom, which has both a separate outdoor entrance, along with a door into the house. The rest was left with the original linoleum tile and serves as a storage space.
Many lives for midtown building
The house was constructed for Mary A. Charles, born Mary A. Brady in 1850 or 1851. The 1909 permit for the $12,000 “stone dwelling” was filed a year after the death of her husband, Augustus L. Charles, a produce merchant.
Charles’ business was located on the River Market’s Delaware St., at a now demolished building near present-day Il Lazzarone Pizza. A 1898 advertisement in the Kansas City Times states, “Your consignments of butter, eggs, produce, game, fruits, poultry and hides are solicited by A.L. Charles, general commission merchant.”
In 1934, an article in the Kansas City Times announced plans for a language center inside of the building, called the Kansas City Philological Society, at the building. Each day of the week, members would converse and read in a different language, rotating through French, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish and English.
A description of the society’s opening event, published in The Kansas City Star, described the building, “The room in which the concert-conference was given is spacious, occupying almost the entire first floor of the building – drawing room, dining room and hall have been thrown together in a single apartment.”
But this society was short-lived. Starting that same year, area newspapers list a number of unrelated individuals with the address, indicating the house was split into apartments.
From brothel to church
By midcentury, later accounts say the house was used as a brothel. In 2001, Writers Place founder Bill Hickok remembered a childhood friend who dared approach the building and was shooed away by the ladies.
The structure took a more holy turn in 1954, when a 3607 Pennsylvania was purchased by a church. Thus started an almost 40 year string of churches operating there, including The First Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Church of God (Seventh Day) and Bible Missionary Fellowship.
The pews were sold off in 1992 as the Writers’ Place, a nonprofit literary organization, moved in. The Star reported at the time, “The Writers’ Place, to be installed in a large stone house undergoing restoration in the Valentine neighborhood, will serve as a resource center and meeting place for writers, readers and the public.”
The Writers Place hosted talks by prominent authors and poets, exhibited visual art and welcomed book clubs.
For the first year after they moved in, Soby said up to 75 people came to their doors looking for the Writers Place. The nonprofit is now located at The Nonprofit Village off of 31st and Main. Maintaining the building had become too difficult for the small nonprofit, a Writers Place leader told KCUR in 2018.
Vestiges of the Writers Place remain at the home. Soby kept posters of authors and poets on the side. Most of the land around the building is paved over, a reminder of the years when it was used as parking for events.
Writers Place employees said in 2001 that the building was haunted, noting footsteps on the stairs, unknown perfumed smells, and phones that cut off each day at 3:45 p.m. each day. At a 2000 seance held at the Writers Place, a psychic said they found a specter named Clara, a ghostly woman of the night.
Butler said the family hasn’t encountered any hauntings. Whether Clara or any other supernatural beings still walk the building is a question to be answered by the next resident.
Elijah Winkler with the Kansas City Public Library’s special collections contributed to this story.
This story was originally published August 7, 2025 at 1:44 PM.
