Corrigan Building

The Corrigan Building at 19th and Walnut maintains a bold presence in Kansas City’s trendy Crossroads neighborhood. With ten stories in height, it towers above its neighbors, most of which range from one to three stories.

Corrigan Building was designed by architects Keene and Simpson in 1921 as a speculative office/warehouse building for Kansas City businessman Thomas Corrigan. Initially planned as a five-story building, the strength of a lease with the post office garnered the increase to ten stories. The Gateway Station Post Office was the building’s principal tenant from 1921 to 1931. From 1925 to 1947, the Donnelly Garment Company occupied a portion of the building. The Veterans Administration occupied the entire building from 1947 to 1958. During the second half of the twentieth century, the building contained multiple commercial tenants.

When the current owner acquired it in 2013, the building had been updated and renovated numerous times throughout its history. Some floors had typical office finishes (dropped ceilings, carpeted floors, and drywall partitions) and others had been gutted to the original structure. With two other successful historic rehabilitation projects under his belt, the owner had a bold vision to create dynamic office space for multiple tenants. The vibrant mix of occupants includes a local coffee shop and a James Beard finalist restaurant on the ground floor; a national co-working purveyor on the middle floors; and a local architecture firm on the top floors. An outdoor event space occupies the roof, offering spectacular views of downtown Kansas City.

Rosin Preservation facilitated the historic tax credit application process and consulted with the team on design issues to ensure the project met the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. Window replacement and new signage for multiple tenants were challenging issues on this project and Rosin Preservation negotiated carefully with the National Park Service to find appropriate solutions that maintained the client’s vision for the building.