Hyde Park

The 1915 post card shows a view in Hyde Park taken from the tennis court (still there) at the north end of the park. Seen in the distance is one of Kansas City's notable homes of the day, that of Mr. and Mrs. William Magraw Reid. Reid, a realtor, was the builder and owner of the Postal Telegraph Building at 8th and Delaware and a former director of the First National Bank. Mrs. Reid was the former Mary Alice Moore, whose father was a partner of Bullene, Moore and Emery, which later became Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods Company. The great Renaissance dwelling at the busy intersection of three streets, Gillham Road, McGee and 36th, was the work of Root and Siemens and was erected in 1907. It was patterned after a very large English house built in Wiltshire in 1675. Mr. and Mrs. Reid traveled in Europe extensively and many winters were spent in Paris and on the Riviera. On these travels antique furnishings were accumulated for the Reid home. Mr. Reid sought to reproduce, as far as possible, the atmosphere of an English country house. He spent many years collecting furniture, lamps, wall hangings and rugs, some woven to his specifications in Turkey. A feature story describing the house stated: Here was created an atmosphere, not of a home furnished all at one time, but suggesting a collection of articles that might come naturally in a family during a generation or two. There is an old world hush, a pungent fragrance of burnt pine logs, ancient textiles and sandalwood that suffuses the still atmosphere, unruffled by mechanical fans or artificial draughts. In December, 1921, the mansion was sold with its furnishings to D. M. Skinner, general agent of the Aetna Insurance Company for $70,000 and the Reids departed for Paris. Since 1956 the property has been occupied by the chancery offices of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese. A 3-story block-long addition was built on the west side of the residence. Built of matching brick, it blends nicely with the original structure. Kansas City Star, August 18, 1973.