The Argyle Building Was Originally Built for Commercial Use in 1906
Over 100 years later, it was repurposed into luxury apartments
In 2005, the Argyle Building in Kansas City, Missouri was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This building was built in 1906 and architect, Louis Curtiss, had designed it to be 4-stories tall. The architectural design is the Early Commerical style.
Architect Curtiss was originally from Canada. Before he came to Kansas City, he studied architecture at the University of Toronto and Paris. He arrived in Kansas City in 1887. He also designed what used to be known as the Boley Clothing Company Building in Kansas City.
Around 1924–1925, the building was expanded to 10 stories by the firm of Keene & Simpson. The new floors contained medical offices. It also used to be home to the Katz Drug Store on the ground floor from 1914 to 1970.
Katz Drug Store, the building’s most notable tenant, opened in 1914 as a confectionery. When Kansas City passed new laws requiring stores selling tobacco to close at 6 p.m., however, Isaac and Ike Katz got creative. The brothers hired a pharmacist and began selling prescription and over-the-counter drugs–but they didn’t stop there. They sold everything from appliances to groceries to even exotic pets, earning the…
