On Sunday I took a "hard hat" tour of Corinthian Hall, the former mansion home of Robert A. Long and now the Kansas City Museum.
Corinthian Hall, now celebrating its 100th birthday, and Longview Farm were parts of the life-ling dream of Robert Alexander Long, the leading lumber baron in the world by the early 1900's. Moving from Kentucky to Kansas in his early 20's he found himself almost accidentally in the lumber business.
Regal Corinthian Hall, once hailed as a "Palace on Gladstone Boulevard," is the largest private home in Kansas City and is now being totally renovated as not only a museum, but as an example of Beaux Arts architecture and representative of the great American mansions of the "Gilded Age." Many of the original furnishings will once again grace its interiors, and the amazing carriage collection will return to its original home in the stable and carriage house. (Ironically, the property was purchased for horse boarding, but "Daddy decided we might as well have a new house too.")
Robert Long also spearheaded the movement to build Liberty Memorial (see previous post) to honor those who served in World War I.
Next month I will be touring Long's other estate, Longview Farms, in Lee's Summit, MO.
