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UMKC’s historic, maybe-haunted Epperson House will be reimagined as boutique hotel

The vacant Epperson House, a Gothic Revival style mansion, sits atop a hill on the UMKC campus at 52nd and Cherry, Kansas City, Missouri.
University Of Missouri-Kansas City
New plans for the century-old Epperson House would transform the 4-story building into a 14-room boutique hotel and spa. The Gothic Revival style mansion, sits atop a hill on the UMKC campus at 52nd and Cherry streets, in Kansas City, Missouri.

The century-old, 54-room mansion has sat vacant for more than a decade. Now there are plans to transform the historic building, on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, into a boutique hotel and spa.

After more than a decade of standing empty, with an uncertain future, a historic 20th century mansion built by a Kansas City insurance tycoon is on the cusp of a new life.

Sunflower Development Group and hospitality veteran Jen Gulvik plans to maintain the historic feel of Epperson House, at 52nd and Cherry streets, while transforming it into a 14-room boutique hotel with a cafe, small library bar, full-service restaurant, event space and a hydrothermal spa.

“I hope that it becomes a real destination in Kansas City,” Gulvik told KCUR’s Up To Date on Tuesday. “We expect students to be milling about, going to the coffee shop, people having meetings.”

The building is among several former mansions donated to the University of Missouri-Kansas City over the years, including Scofield Hall, now home to UMKC's School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Troy Lillebo, associate vice chancellor, said the mansions are gorgeous buildings, but not always ideal for a second life in a university setting.

“We figured out how to renovate some of them,” Lillebo said. “This one we've been looking for a different use for years, and haven't been able to find the right fit until now.

Gulvik said her group plans to honor the architectural integrity of the building, and expects the hotel will be ready for operation in a couple years.

“Most of the building will look as it is now, just updated, cleaned up, and ready for modern use,” Gulvik said. “We don't really have plans to even add walls or move many walls.”

Lillebo said this approach was a big part of why the university, which began its search for a partner to restore the building in 2021, was so excited with Sunflower Development Group’s proposal. The university has offered it a long-term lease, and will maintain ownership of the grounds and building.

“The entire team wanted the building to maintain its historic relevance and that charm,” Lillebo said. “Anyone that approached us with a plan that would kind of gut it or change it dramatically wasn't something we were (considering).”

‘They spared no expense’

Kansas City insurance tycoon Uriah Epperson hired eccentric French architect Horace LaPierre, who worked in Kansas City and Oklahoma, to design the mansion. Construction began in 1919 and was completed in 1923 at a cost of $450,000.

Lillebo said if Epperson Hall were built today, it would cost approximately $13 million.

In the photo on the left, Uriah S. Epperson and Harriet E. Barse stand on the porch of the Epperson House. At right, a group of visitors walk down the north entrance.
LaBudde Special Collections, UMKC University Libraries
Kansas City insurance tycoon Uriah S. Epperson and Harriet E. Barse stand on the porch of the Epperson House, at left. At right, a group of visitors walk down the north entrance in the 1920s.

“It has incredible charm,” Lillebo said. “LaPierre created 1,500 different designs before they finally settled on it, so you can tell the meticulous detail that they put into the home.”

Epperson splurged on impressive architectural features and many extras in the original design, including a Grecian-tiled swimming pool, billiards room in the basement, formal dining room on the ground floor, a barbershop, and an “Elephant Room” for Mrs. Epperson’s travel collection.

“They spared no expense,” Lillebo said. “And it was the extravagance of a tycoon of that era. Every amenity and every dollar was poured into it.”

Epperson died in 1927 and left the house to his wife, who died in 1939. A few years later, Epperson’s business associate J.J. Lynn donated the building to the University of Kansas City, now UMKC.

A history of hauntings

The building also features a great hall with a stage where the Epperson family hosted performances back in the day.

“They hosted a lot of parties and were hugely philanthropic in Kansas City,” Gulvik said. “So they built a loft above the Grand Hall specifically for an organ and musicians to come in and play.”

The organ loft is connected to decades of ghost stories told about the building.

Chris Wolff, who manages the UMKC Bookstore and offers campus tours, told KCUR in 2021 the stories trace back to Harriet Barse, an organ instructor at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, now the UMKC Conservatory. The Eppersons, who did not have children, invited Barse to live with them and considered her an adopted daughter.

The gates of the Epperson House at 52nd and Cherry Streets.
University Of Missouri-Kansas City
The gates of the Epperson House at 52nd and Cherry streets. After more than a decade, the building's uncertain fate appears to be over.

In December 1922, Barse was rushed to the hospital with a gallbladder infection and died on the operating table.

“Ever since the home was donated to the university in 1942, people have claimed to see the ghost of Harriet,” said Wolff. “And the sound of organ music coming from the basement is one of the most common supernatural phenomena that people report in the house.”

Eventually, the building would serve as a dormitory for Navy air cadets during World War II. Then it was used by various UMKC departments, including the School of Education and, most recently, the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design. It has been closed since 2011.

“Through the years, some windows have been knocked out, and some of the plaster needs some work,” Gulvik said, but the Tudor and Gothic home still has a European feel, with marble floors and ornate hand-carved walnut and oak woodwork throughout.

Gulvik said she’s looking forward to seeing the building spruced up and teeming with life.

“I can imagine with our programing, having wellness speakers and classes … workshops on the arts — we definitely plan to engage that part of Epperson's history,” Gulvik said. “We hope that it's an amenity for the neighborhood that we're all going to be proud of and use.”

Disclosure: KCUR 89.3 is licensed to the University of Missouri Board of Curators and is an editorially independent community service of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

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