Sondern-Adler House

[loo tee]

The Sondern-Adler house in Kansas City, next door to Thomas Hart Benton's house, sold at auction yesterday to an unidentified Nebraska buyer for a bid of $920,000 plus the auction house commission of 10%, making the total price $1,012,000. Hardly a steal.

[Roderick Grant]

It isn't out of the woods yet. The new owner could easily demolish the place if the lot is big enough for a new McMansion with a view of Devil's Dip.

[loo tee]

Speculation in Kansas City is that the buyer, who promises to be a diligent caretaker of the house, will use it as a high-priced Air B&B--unless he already planned to move from Nebraska to Kansas City for business reasons. The neighborhood (Roanoke) is not particularly desirable. Hemingway lived nearby when young and writing at his best.

[Michael Shuck]

I've been to the house. Plenty of room for a McDonald's but too far from the beaten path. Not a great neighborhood. It certainly is next to the TH Benton house.

[DavidC]

KC Frank Lloyd Wright home’s new owner, from Nebraska, toys with idea: A Husker room?


David

[loo tee]

Not sure I'd want a weekend house in Kansas City. The rich bachelor in Omaha must be thinking, instead, of Fallingwater. A "retreat" in a sprawling city makes no sense. But it's his money.

[peterm]

I think for some, a Wright house anywhere could be considered a retreat. Kansas City is a wonderful place, and the house feels secluded enough to imagine that it could be in a more rural setting.

[loo tee]

Beg pardon, but Kansas City is a dreadfully segregated place, where the races have been divided for decades by Troost Avenue. The city still is unable to name a street for Dr. King. Kansas City also suffers from an inferiority complex, not without reason. It continually tries to "catch up" with other cities. I have heard even a native of the place call it "Suck City."

[SDR]

State House just called: loo tee banned from Kansas and Missouri, until further notice . . .!

S

[loo tee]

Forgot to mention that Kansas City can also boast one of the worst per capita murder rates in the nation. And a public school system that cheats on statistics in order to achieve state accreditation.

[SDR]

And some of the people are ugly. Also, it's too far from an ocean . . .

S

[DRN]

Ah well,

loo tee, I recall some of your posts in previous threads commenting on the Sondern house and the Community Christian Church, even some comments relative to Curtis Besinger...are you from this part of the country? Did you have opportunity to meet Mr. Besinger? Any thoughts on Steven Holl's addition to the Nelson -Atkins Museum of Art?

[Roderick Grant]

I recall a post some months ago on, I believe, SWCCAFLW which showed a charming house in South Carolina, upon which I expressed satisfaction. The response was quick and uncompromising: The mere fact of its location in a southern state where racial tensions continue was adequate reason to repudiate anything of a positive nature about the house. Yet here we have a similar situation, but with the exact opposite response.

[SDR]

Rural North Carolinians were interviewed for a radio piece on, among other things, gun control. Some expressed misgivings about visiting the city (Charlotte in this case); one man said he "never felt safe" there, his rationale for always being armed (with a 40-caliber Glock, in his case).

I wonder how widespread is this suspicion of cities, among those raised in "the country" . . .

S

[Roderick Grant]

Obviously quite high, given the response to SWCCABFLW.