As I walked to my car on Sunday, I walked passed a very interesting building and snapped a picture. I could not go in because I was still sweaty and nasty from my run, but I enjoyed looking at the outside and was not sure I would ever have the opportunity to come back. Originally built by Manuel A. Diaz, the Richardson Romanesque styled building was the home of a public school named after Daniel Webster.
After the school moved out in 1932, the building sat vacant until it became the State of Missouri Social Security offices and the Midland Radio School, which later became the Missouri Institute of Technology. Then in 2002, when it became the “Webster House”.
We truly have Shirley Helzberg to thank for restoring this beautiful building for she led an effort to put considerable energy and resources to restore the building to its present condition. This restoration came complete with a rebuilding of the bell tower removed in the late 1800s after a tornado removed a similar bell town for anther nearby school. The tower was never replaced until the remodeling.
The Webster School now stands as a reminder of the early years of Kansas City when several structures where built with a similar style. The Webster School is one of the few buildings of this type still standing in Kansas City. The building shares a hill with the Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts and is truly an artistic treasure of its own.