Ambassador Hotel

The Ambassador Hotel at 36th and Broadway was the largest apartment hotel here at the time of its opening in 1925. It was designed by Nelle Peters, Kansas City's first woman architect. Twelve major hotels were being built here that year, four of which Peters designed.First conceived as a four-story structure, developers became enthusiastic over its possibilities, and the plans were extended to eight stories and the roof garden with wrought iron balconies added later. There were 105 apartment units, 108 hotel rooms. Retail shops were housed along the hotel's frontage and inside the building. The units were compact but livable. Peters, who had no formal education in architecture, once said she tried to design each apartment as if I were building it for myself.The location of the hotel in mid-city at the time, was convenient, with several nearby restaurants and transportation of street cars and buses at the door. A tribute to architect Nelle Peters and her early work in a field usually occupied by men was published in the January 1989 Historical Review of the State Historical Society of Missouri. A seven-page story, written by Dr. George Ehrlich, professor of art and art history at the University of Missouri--Kansas City, and Sherry Piland, M.A., University of Missouri--Kansas City, told of her talent for design and of her many kitchenette apartment buildings and cluster type apartment buildings, such as the James Russell Lowell apartment building at 722 Ward Parkway. Many of Peters' apartments and hotels of Kansas City are pictured. The Ambassador Hotel, as depicted on the old postcard, ranks as among her most important works. Today's directories list the old hotel as Ambassador Apartments. A 1983 remodeling of the old hostelry converted all rooms to apartments. A large Arthur Kraft mural found during the rehabilitation now hangs in the main lobby. Kansas City Times, January 20, 1989.