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23-647: The hotel opened on July 1, 1980, as the Hyatt Regency Kansas City . It is part of the Crown Center complex, built by Hallmark Cards , adjacent to their headquarters, and southeast of the Downtown loop , where most of Kansas City's tallest buildings are located. On July 17, 1981, 114 people were killed in the Hyatt Regency when the fourth-floor walkway in the atrium collapsed on the second-floor walkway during

46-409: A tea dance attended by more than 1,600 revelers. An investigation revealed that tie rods supporting the walkway did not meet Kansas City building codes. The hotel went through a $ 5 million reconstruction following the collapse, replacing the skywalks with one large second floor balcony supported by massive pillars, with local authorities saying in 1983 that the building was now "possibly the safest in

69-507: A dedicated exhibit hall with 15,360 sq ft (1,427 m). It has 733 guestrooms, including 42 suites. The hotel was formerly topped by a revolving rooftop restaurant , Skies, which closed in 2011 along with the hotel's Peppercorn Duck Club when the hotel became a part of Starwood . The former Skies restaurant reopened as the Sheraton Club Lounge, a private club. Crown Center Hallmark Crown Center Crown Center

92-465: A family he described as "incense-swinging High Episcopalians", consisting of Cecil Barnes, a lawyer, and Margaret Helen Ayer , recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for the novel Year of Grace . Barnes graduated from Harvard in 1938 after studying English and Art History before switching to architecture, then taught at his alma mater Milton Academy , before returning to Harvard for further studies under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer . He graduated from

115-488: Is a shopping center and neighborhood located near Downtown Kansas City, Missouri between Gillham Road and Main Street to the east and west, and between OK/E 22nd St and E 27th St to the north and south. The shopping center is anchored by Halls , a department store which is owned and operated by Hallmark Cards . The neighborhood contains numerous residences, retail establishments, entertainment venues, and restaurants including

138-523: Is included in the hotel's design as a waterfall. Norman Fletcher designed the first residences. Henry Cobb of the I.M. Pei firm designed 2600 Grand office and Dan Kiley laid out the park in the south area of the complex. Warren Plattner, designer of Windows on the World , designed the interior space at the American Restaurant when it was operated by Joseph Baum (who also operated The Four Seasons and

161-529: Is located on the eastern side of Crown Center. A century-old tradition , the Mayor 's Christmas tree at Hallmark Cards ’ Crown Center is strung with more than 7,200 white lights during the winter holidays and stands 100 feet tall, which is taller than the famous National Christmas Tree and Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree , and the White House Christmas Tree . A special guest or celebrity "flips

184-815: The American Academy in Rome . In 1969, Barnes was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full member in 1974. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978. In 2007, he was posthumously honored with the American Institute of Architects ' highest award, the AIA Gold Medal . He also received the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture ,

207-736: The Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1942 and served in the Navy during World War II . After the war he worked for Henry Dreyfuss in Los Angeles designing prototypes for mass-produced homes. In 1949, Barnes founded Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates in Manhattan. During his long career, Barnes, with his wife Mary Barnes as interior designer, designed office buildings, museums, botanical gardens, private houses, churches, schools, camps, colleges, campus master plans, and housing. Although best known for

230-638: The Haystack Mountain College of Arts and other smaller residential homes, the firm also completed a number of master planning urban development projects. The firm's planning projects include: Over the years, he also taught at Harvard University , the Pratt Institute , and the University of Virginia , and served as a member of the Urban Design Council of New York and as vice-president of

253-465: The Rainbow Room ). In 2016, the restaurant announced plans to close and to become primarily a special event venue. The original concept for the shops was an international bazaar, part of which was a maze-like area known as West Village. Designed by architects François Dallegret and Joseph Baker, West Village proved unsuccessful and was replaced by a more conventional layout. Western International Hotels

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276-599: The American Restaurant, the only Forbes Travel Guide four-star restaurant in Missouri. It is home to Hallmark Cards , and the headquarters of Shook, Hardy & Bacon and Lathrop GPM, two of Kansas City's largest law firms . Before the First World War , Downtown Kansas City was heavily populated and bustling. The area today home to Crown Center was an extension of the Union Hill historic neighborhood. Gradually, however,

299-579: The Harvard University 350th Anniversary Medal, and some forty other awards. His Haystack Mountain School of Crafts won the AIA Twenty-five Year Award . In 1993, Barnes announced his retirement but he continued to work as a consultant for Lee / Timchula Architects , founded by Barnes' lead partner, John M.Y. Lee, and associate, Michael Timchula. Lee / Timchula inherited various projects that

322-486: The Mayor's Christmas Tree Fund, which assists city residents in poverty. 39°04′52″N 94°34′53″W  /  39.080995°N 94.581442°W  / 39.080995; -94.581442 Edward Larrabee Barnes Edward Larrabee Barnes (April 22, 1915 – September 22, 2004) was an American architect. His work was characterized by the "fusing [of] Modernism with vernacular architecture and understated design." Barnes

345-406: The area around the corporate headquarters, and with his new leadership Donald Hall quickly made it known that he wished to renew the area entirely. Hallmark quietly began acquiring all the property surrounding its headquarters, and consulted with urban planning experts about the possibility of creating an experimental "city within a city" on the property. The City of Kansas City formally approved

368-640: The center of population for the metro area moved south, and by the Second World War the area today comprising Crown Center had become dilapidated. Although Hallmark had maintained its headquarters at 26th Street and Grand Boulevard since 1922, the headquarters itself and nearby Union Station comprised the only non- slum in the area. Instead there were old warehouses , used car lots, and vacant buildings. In 1966, Donald J. Hall, Sr. became President and CEO of Hallmark Cards, taking over from his father, Joyce Hall . Joyce Hall had long wished to develop

391-570: The country." The hotel was renamed the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in 1987. Starwood took over the hotel November 30, 2011, renaming it the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center the following day and announcing $ 30 million in renovations and a $ 5,000 donation to The Skywalk Memorial Foundation. The hotel has 42,860 sq ft (3,982 m) of function space, a 17,487 sq ft (1,624.6 m) ballroom and

414-573: The deadliest non‑deliberate structural failure in American history. Because of the Barnes' firm's relationship to the developers, he was tapped to redesign the lobby of the hotel. Today, the shopping and entertainment complex features three levels of shops and restaurants, a set of grand open air fountains , live theaters, an ice skating rink and over-street walkways leading throughout the complex and to Kansas City's Union Station . The Halls department store

437-670: The plans for Crown Center (named after the Hallmark corporate symbol) by the end of 1967. The master design was prepared by Edward Larrabee Barnes . Ground was broken for the complex in September 1968. Construction of the hotel, designed by Harry Weese in the Brutalist style, began in 1971. It opened in May 1973 as the Crown Center Hotel , managed by Western International Hotels . Signboard Hill

460-429: The switch" each year. For example, in 2010 Chef Celina Tio (owner and chef of Julian in K.C. , Missouri ) on Food Network 's The Next Iron Chef , joined Kansas City's Mayor Mark Funkhouser to light the tree. The lighting ceremony is held the day after Thanksgiving and the annual Country Club Plaza Lighting Ceremony . After the holidays, the tree is cut into commemorative ornaments and sold to benefit

483-726: Was best known for his adherence to strict geometry, simple monolithic shapes and attention to material detail. Among his best-known projects are the Haystack School , Christian Theological Seminary , Dallas Museum of Art , the Walker Art Center , 599 Lexington Avenue , the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building , and the IBM Building at 590 Madison Avenue . Barnes was born in Chicago, Illinois, into

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506-489: Was designed by Paul László . The complex includes the 45-story Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center (which was Missouri's tallest building when built), a Westin hotel, and two upscale residential apartment skyscrapers . Kansas City's three largest law firms maintain their headquarters in other skyscrapers in the neighborhood. The neighborhood's grounds include parks, fountains, green spaces, and unique sculptures . The global headquarters campus for Hallmark Cards

529-624: Was rebranded as Westin Hotels in 1981, and the hotel was renamed The Westin Crown Center soon after. In addition to the Westin, the Crown Center complex includes the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center , opened July 1, 1980 as the Hyatt Regency Kansas City. The roof had collapsed during construction, and then the hotel suffered the walkway collapse on July 17, 1981, killing 114 people in

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