The 8-story reinforced concrete St. Regis Hotel at the northeast corner of Linwood and the Paseo was a fashionable family hotel built in 1914 by Howard Vrooman and designed by Owens & Payson, architects. Theodore Gary, steel magnate, occupied the largest hotel suite in town at the St. Regis. A story in The Star of Aug. 23, 1914, had this to say of the location: A new altitude record was established with the erection of the St. Regis hotel at Linwood and the Paseo. Linwood Boulevard traverses what was a high ridge in the original topography of the city. As a result it was found recently that the roof of the ballroom on the 9th floor of the hotel was the highest point in Kansas City. French Sienna marble lined the lower halls and parlors. A billiard room in the basement had an especially designed system of ventilation to carry away every ring of smoke that springs jauntily from the lips of the players, being sucked into the giant system and wafted away to the roof. There naturally will be considerable smoking indulged in by the billiard players. Popular with hotel guests and the public was Mrs. Searcy's Tea Cup Inn, which operated for years on the first floor. Today the building is still in use as Mid City Towers, furnishing housing for an integrated clientele of senior citizens, with 85 apartment units under the management of James Taylor, representing the Mid City Community Congress of Representatives.The transmission tower for FM radio station KWKI is on the roof of the building. Kansas City Star, March 26, 1977.
Reproduction (printing, downloading, or copying) of images from Kansas City Public Library requires permission and payment for the following uses, whether digital or print: publication; reproduction of multiple copies; personal, non-educational purposes; and advertising or commercial purposes. Please order prints or digital files and pay use fees through this website. All images must be properly credited to: "Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri." Images and texts may be reproduced without prior permission only for purposes of temporary, private study, scholarship, or research. Those using these images and texts assume all responsibility for questions of copyright and privacy that may arise.