The extraordinary Walter E. Bixby, Sr. House built in 1935 on State Line Road was designed by Edward W. Tanner

Walter E. Bixby House, Kansas City, Missouri.Estately website.

The house

The Walter E. Bixby home located at 6505 State Line Road, Kansas City, Missouri, is a two-story home with a basement. It's chiefly constructed of reinforced concrete and stucco. The architectural design is International style. Construction began in 1935 and was completed in 1937. The house faces west. According to Estately, this property sold in April 2021 for $1,499,000. Click here to see some of the images inside the home.

On November 21, 1978, this home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The house was the setting for some scenes from the 1990 movie 'Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,' which starred Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward. The house, which we in the neighborhood call 'The Ship,' was for sale for more than a year before being purchased within the last few months. It has been gutted, and a remodeling is underway. (Source.)

The Bixby house is in the Country Club District of Kansas City in a residential area near the state line of Missouri and Kansas. There is a circular driveway leading out to State Line Road. At the time the property was sold, it appeared to need some restoration. In the images at the above link, it appears the rooms were in need of renovation.

There was a swimming pool and outdoor kitchen and patio built in 1971-1972. What's so unique about this house is that it represented some intricate examples of International style architecture in the city.

The architect who designed the house was Edward W. Tanner. The builder was J.C. Nichols Company. Hare and Hare was the landscape architectural firm.

The most common characteristics of International Style buildings are rectilinear forms; light, taut plane surfaces that have been completely stripped of applied ornamentation and decoration; open interior spaces; and a visually weightless quality engendered by the use of cantilever construction. (Source.)

The interior of the house was designed by Karl Emanuel Martin (Kem) Weber (1889-1963).

When Kem Weber designed a piece, it would be the most comfortable and ergonomic possible. His pieces embodied modernism as well as the fashion of the time, and he created several pieces that added to the definition of iconic modernist style. (Source.)

Redfin website.

Architect Edward W. Tanner

Edward W. Tanner (1896-1974) was a prominent architect and city planner in Kansas City.

Tanner was born in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas in 1896 and raised and educated in Lawrence, Kansas where he attended the University of Kansas. He graduated in 1916 with a degree from the School of Engineering and Architecture.

When Tanner moved to Kansas City, he joined the firm of Shepard, Farrar and Wiser. He also joined the Concrete Engineering Company later. During World War I, he enlisted as an artillery instructor and was stationed at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma. He had the rank of captain when he left the service in 1918. He went to work for J.C. Nichols Company.

Tanner remained connected with the J.C. Nichols Company even after he became independent and formed Edward W. Tanner and Associates. Tanner was influenced by prominent European architects and he used that influence to come up with the house plans for Walter E. Bixby in 1915.

In World War II, Tanner was an architectural engineer with his firm, Tanner and Mitchell, and they made plans for hospitals and airfields for the U.S. government. The hospitals included the O'Reilly Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, and the Hays-Walker and Great Bend airfields in Kansas.

In 1961, Tanner and Mayol H. Linscott formed Tanner, Linscott, and Associates. Tanner was the chief designer until he retired in 1964. He did maintain a capacity with the firm as an advisory director.

He supervised the construction of the nationally famous Country Club Plaza in Kansas City and designed other shopping centers. He also designed hundreds of homes in Johnson County, Kansas, and the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri. Tanner was also a member of the Kansas City Art Institute and the American Institute of Architects. Tanner died in Kansas City Missouri on April 26, 1974.

Walter E. Bixby, Sr.

Walter E. Bixby, Sr. was born in Champaign, Illinois in 1896. He attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, and the University of Missouri at Columbia. Although he was interested in petroleum engineering, he worked as a clerk for the Kansas City Life Insurance Company.

Bixby knew from the outset that he wanted a modern house-something different from the many other stately homes that framed State Line Road. (Source.)

Bixby married Angeline Reynolds who was the daughter of the company chairman, J. B. Reynolds. He rose up in rank and helped to develop the success of the company. Bixby served as the company's assistant secretary all the way up to Chairman of the Board. He died in Kansas City, Missouri on August 16, 1972, at age 75.

Thanks for reading!