TWA Corporate Headquarters Building
TWA Corporate Headquarters Building | |
International style,[1] Miesian | |
NRHP reference No. | 02001403[1] |
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Added to NRHP | November 20, 2002 |
The TWA Corporate Headquarters Building, located at 1735 Baltimore Avenue in the Crossroads neighborhood of downtown Kansas City, was Trans World Airlines headquarters until 1964, when the airline moved to New York City.
The selection of Kansas City as the headquarters for TWA (
By 1964 TWA had become a major international figure in aviation, which prompted a move of the airline's executive offices to
In 2002 the TWA building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It had been vacant for several years, though plans as late as 2003 called for it to be converted to residential condominiums under the name of TWA Lofts LLC. Instead, in early 2005, the Kansas City-based urban development firm The Nicholson Group hired local architectural firm el dorado inc to design and coordinate the restoration. Following the renovation, it was then leased to the Kansas City-based advertising agency Barkley Inc.; the agency moved into the renovated building on November 14, 2006.[2]
TWA Moonliner II
During TWA's heyday, its headquarters building was easily identified by the 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) TWA Moonliner II rocket that stood on the roof's southwest corner. It was modeled after the original 76-foot-tall (23 m), one-third scale TWA Moonliner at Disneyland's Tomorrowland attraction; TWA was the Moonliner's corporate sponsor until 1962. The Moonliner II was then removed from the building's roof by TWA's new owners, shortly after Howard Hughes sold his controlling interest in the airline. The iconic rocket was then sold to SpaceCraft, a Kansas City, MO travel-trailer company.
When SpaceCraft moved to
The historic restoration of the TWA headquarters building led to the fabrication of a brand new Moonliner II replica begun in March 2006 by the Kansas City office of the Bratton Corporation. The completed replica was installed on September 29 of that year at the same southwest corner roof location as the original.
See also
References
- Barton, Eric. "Incoming: A Rocket That Once Graced TWA's Office Heads Back To Its Spot Over Downtown." The Pitch weekly entertainment journal, August 17, 2006 issue, Kansas City, MO. No ISSN.
- Haggerty, Jack. "The YABAR Chronicles (Yet Another Born Again Rocketeer)", Sport Rocketry magazine, July/August, 1996. No ISSN. 5-page article and Haggerty interview about Disney's 1955 Tomorrowland and TWA Moonliner attractions.
- Janzen, Jeck E., and Janzen, Leon J. "Disneyland's Rocket to the Moon." The "E" Ticket magazine #24, Santa Clara, CA. No ISSN. 5-page article and Haggerty interview about Disney's 1955 Tomorrowland and TWA Moonliner attractions.