3312 Campbell Street: Kansas City, MO

In the late 1800s, Kansas City was quickly growing into the largest city between St. Louis and the Pacific Coast. As the population doubled, then tripled in size, there was an on-going demand for new single-family residences that continued into the 1920s. Most of this development occurred in the southern reaches of Kansas City proper and the town of Westport, which was incorporated into the City Limits in 1897. The neighborhood known as Hyde Park was a hot bed of new residential growth, attracting mostly upper and middle-class professionals.

Bordered roughly by 31st Street, Troost Avenue, 47th Street, and Gillham Road, the Hyde Park Neighborhood is still characterized by its tree-lined streets and turn-of-the-century houses. These range in style from Queen Anne to Colonial Revival to Craftsman, including many vernacular examples of the Kansas City Shirtwaist and the Bungalow. The neighborhood has been at the forefront of rehabilitation efforts since the late 1970s, and large swaths are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

This flamboyantly painted Queen Anne house typifies one of the dominant styles of Gilded Age domestic architecture. Inspired by England’s Victorian Gothic architecture, American Queen Anne is an ironically modern and industrial style. Advances in machined woodworking made turned posts, wooden tracery, and stencils affordable and widely available; and the second industrial revolution developed new building technologies, including chemically derived paints in an array of colors. Though the style references earlier Gothic architecture, America's late-nineteenth century industrial prosperity offered choice, abundance, and innovations to middle class homeowners.