Liberty Memorial, 100 West Twenty-sixth Street, Kansas City, Jackson County, MO

Significance: Liberty Memorial vividly exemplifies the fulfillment of city planning concepts, combining monumentally scaled Beaux Arts Classicism envisioned by some of the nations most notable and diverse delineators of the City Beautiful movement working in the early twentieth century. Liberty Memorial's complex of limestone buildings, together with the towering shaft, vast sculpture, bas-reliefs, decorative bronze art, and dramatic open vistas, all contribute to its power and distinction. Today it stands as one of the most important landmarks in Kansas City and one of the most commanding memorial sites in the nation. Moreover, Liberty Memorial remains one of the nation's most compelling monuments to those who sacrificed their lives during World War I and a remembrance of those who survived. Its dramatic combination of elements envisioned by architects, landscape architects, artists, and city leaders, is not only a momentous tribute to those veterans but also an important expression of American memorial architecture of the early twentieth century. Additionally, the Liberty Memorial houses the only public World War I museum in the United States.

Survey number: HABS MO-1936

Building/structure dates: 1923-1938 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1994 Subsequent Work

memorials high rise buildings stone buildings limestone concrete block buildings war world war i commemoration city planning city beautiful movement landscape architects veterans organizations military organizations war world war ii building deterioration civic improvement competitions works progress administration kansas city mo liberty memorial liberty memorial twenty sixth west twenty sixth street kansas city jackson county missouri robert aitken edmond amateis american legion llc architectural and historical research asai architects earl beatty edgar f bircsak d putnam brinley pierre carrier belleuse city of kansas city civil works administration calvin coolidge edward buehler delk armando diaz ferdinand foch auguste francois gourguet jules guerin john w gutowski walter hancock historic american buildings survey hool and johnson arthur hyde jacques f lynn jenkins inc john donnelly kessler and hare hare thomas kimball rebecca kumar liberty memorial association robert alexander long daniel macmorris cydney e millstein harold van buren mogonigle olmsted brothers frederick law olmsted john j pershing john polachek sterling bronze company angelo tagliabue westlake construction company white and white photo ultra high resolution high resolution neoclassicism beaux arts architecture monument library of congress

1938 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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