Unfettered Letters

Theaters being restored

The restoration of the Armour Theatre in North Kansas City and Lowe’s Midland Theater downtown brings back memories.

Who can forget the Sweet Shop off the lobby of the Armour? There was a popcorn machine and penny candy counter. Licorice Nibs; BB Bats that helped pull out loose teeth; and Liberty Banners, those long strips of white paper with red and blue dots. You had to eat the paper that stuck to the dots, but they lasted through the serial “Nyoka the Jungle Girl.” Then we’d see a double feature.

But the Midland was really special. The red velvet drapes and huge tassel tiebacks, shiny gold and brass, statues, the mezzanine. The ladies’ restroom was beautiful, with fancy furniture, settees and a curved glass china cabinet with porcelain figurines. And there was the Chinese room with its huge statue. I wonder what ever became of it and the rest of those lovely things.

I remember leaving the movies one day to see a commotion outside. It was the end of World War II.

Then it was off to the Forum Cafeteria for the chicken pot pie.

Just a few musings from maybe a happier time.

Barbara Hardy
Gladstone

Ranch homes

As coordinator of the grant survey project for the Broadmoor/Southmoor subdivision, I cannot express to you how much I appreciated the wonderful article “Reverence for ranch homes” published in the Shawnee Mission Neighborhood News (11/27, “Historic status sought for more than two dozen homes in 1950s Overland Park neighborhood”). The recognition of the Broadmoor/Southmoor 1950s ranch houses as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places has been a two-year project, and I am hopeful that this will be the beginning of preservation efforts for the historic Southmoor neighborhood.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that my dream could not have become a reality without the support of the Overland Park Historical Society and its board of directors, who applied for and were awarded a National Park Service 2007 Historic Preservation Fund Grant. This grant is administered by the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office.

Linda Hanson
Overland Park

Getting around downtown

Regarding “KC works to give new downtown landscape a welcoming atmosphere” (9/26, A-1): This article surely is not to be taken seriously by the citizens of Kansas City or anyone wanting to attend any event in downtown Kansas City.

As we all are made aware by a number of articles in recent weeks in The Star, the atmosphere downtown will not be welcoming.

According to The Star, the attempts to go to any event at the Sprint Center (and probably many other events) is a exercise in frustration.

The frustration begins with an effort to get tickets to an event.

The next exercise in frustration is trying to get to your downtown destination. I am sure the police will try their best to direct traffic, but they can only do so much with all of the traffic restrictions.

The next (but surly not the last) act of frustration is trying to find a place near by to park.

The reporter must have had his tongue in cheek when he wrote that article.

Francis S. Maschler
Kansas City

Building resembles swastika

Are we really smarter than monkeys and dolphins? I used to believe the odds were 4-to-1 (in favor). After reading about the Navy installation in California that, from a satellite, looked like a swastika, and the public reaction that followed the photos’ release, my odds now favor the dolphins (9/27, A-5, “Swastika shape will go”).

The war is only going to cost us several hundred billion, so what’s $600,000 more to change the appearance of a building for a flock of seagulls, or an orbiting satellite (or a few people lower on the brain chain), right?

This symbol has been used since before Jesus, right up to our more modern-day American Indians. And I believe that except for about 10 years (Hitler), it always represented something positive.

Let us never forget what Hitler did. However, if after more than 60 years in the grave, his insanity can make us change the shape of a building, I begin to wonder, who defeated whom?

Monte Miller
Overland Park

Kemper museum

The more one views the Bloch addition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the more one appreciates the visual appeal that the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art conveys.

The architect, Gunnar Birkerts, created a smaller edifice that is exemplary of contemporary architecture. Juxtaposed next to the Bloch’s bumbling blocks exterior appearance, the Kemper projects a sense of ascension and provides one a far more exhilarating structure to view.

Kansas Citians are fortunate to have such a structure to exhibit art and a free admission policy that encourages all to attend.

Bruno Gavriloaia
Kansas City

Not earth-friendly

The Nelson-Atkins’ addition and the H&R Block world headquarters are shining new examples of how not to design buildings in the future, literally.

I live in Brookside and my morning commute takes me past both buildings before the sun rises. Although the structures are stunning, the only way to fully appreciate their exterior beauty is for every light to be left on. And that they do.

Although both organizations can easily afford the electric bill, the environment can no longer sustain this type of irresponsible design.

In 1979, I learned as a fourth-grader to turn off the lights and conserve energy because that’s what President Carter did in the White House. As a 38-year-old man, I continue to practice what President Carter preached.

Leading by example works best, and the city’s great institutions and businesses should set the highest example for others to follow.

David A. Young
Kansas City

Bloch Building disappoints

This past weekend, I finally had the opportunity to visit the recently opened Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Despite my misgivings about the exterior of the building (namely that it looks too much like a cheap prefabricated building one would normally expect to see at an airport or industrial park), I made a concerted effort to withhold final judgment until I had seen the interior.

The first thing I noticed upon entering was the vast amount of empty, wasted space one had to traverse before actually encountering any artwork. Surely this amount of square footage, no doubt constructed at considerable cost, could have been used more efficiently.

It became readily apparent that the architect, Steven Holl, is not an adherent of the "form follows function" hypothesis in architectural design.

Unfortunately, Mr. Holl has given Kansas City a monument that is more a testament to architecture than to the visual art it houses.

Like Frank Lloyd Wright in designing the Guggenheim Museum, Holl's structure is all about the aggrandizement of architecture rather than facilitating the display of works of art.

William S. Eickhorst
Professor of art, retired
Kansas City

Don’t believe Nelson praise

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art promos keep telling us the Bloch Building interior is exquisite, but you have to wonder if folks who approved the exterior design know that when they see it.

They replaced and disfigured architecture that was beautiful, elegant, tasteful and proportioned with stuff that is makeshift, tasteless, disproportional and ugly.

If we keep it up, I’m always saying, there will come a time when nobody can remember what beauty looked like, and soon after there will be no one who can even imagine it.

Judging from comments actually praising the obtrusive clutter of the Bloch building add-on, that prophecy is coming true, and that time is already here.

Sam Gill
Kansas City

Give Nelson a chance

My husband and two of our daughters spent Father’s Day at the Nelson-Atkins Museum. I am not sure what I expected of the new Bloch Building, but we were all pleasantly surprised that the addition, while quite a contrast in architectural style, complemented the museum by being tucked into a hillside with berms and trees surrounding it.
The view of the sculpture garden from the small gift shop located at the exit of the two exhibits was breathtaking.
My only disappointment in the changes at the museum was the removal of the wonderful statues in Kirkwood Hall.
I encourage citizens to visit the museum and the two wonderful exhibits now on display before forming an opinion on the latest treasure of Kansas City.
Julie Green-Temm
Independence

Nelson addition

Obviously there are those of us who appreciate contemporary architecture and those who do not. There are those who would prefer to live in, work in and visit buildings which were built a century or two past, or look that way.

Fortunately, we have excellent examples of both in Kansas City, and now they share a location at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

I am glad that most visitors are open enough to give something new a chance to influence and inform them in a meaningful way, and that there will be some in the community who might not have visited the museum in the past, who will now come into the Bloch Building because it is a new experience for everyone.

The others could perhaps even allow that there are sincere, educated opinions besides one’s own without denigrating them.

I am pleased to celebrate the new Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Karen Hartzler
Grandview