National and State Registers of Historic Places
Fairfax Hills Historic District (Parkwood Estates)
Bounded by Esplanade Ave, Brown Ave and 12th St and including both sides of Parkwood Blvd, Coronado Rd & Hilltop Rd
Kansas City (Wyandotte County)
Listed in National Register
Jun 30, 2007
Architect: Hare & Hare (landscape architects); George Metz
Category: multiple dwelling; residential district
Thematic Nomination: Historic Residential Suburbs in the United States, 1830-1960
The Fairfax Hills Historic District is a 33-acre landscaped site adjacent to the Fairfax industrial district. Using federal financing incentives, private developers built Fairfax Hills to help alleviate the housing shortage that accompanied the influx of defense workers to Kansas City during World War II. Landscape architects Hare and Hare applied their considerable skills in subdivision design to the property, creating a layout of roads, buildings, and open spaces that responded to the rolling topography and reflected the precepts of development recommended by the FHA. Architect George Metz adapted a standard apartment unit plan into four distinct multi-family building types. Each building type has a unique appearance that reflects an amalgamation of traditional Colonial Revival architectural treatments and the stripped-down Modern Movement design the FHA preferred for public housing projects during this period.
