The major architectural character of the 63rd Street Corridor, between Oak and Prospect, has two prominent styles and an interesting sub-style.
The first major style is Spanish Revival. Notable for its mixture of red and buff brick, tiled roofs, towers, and terracotta decoration; this style dates to the 1920’s. While there are relatively few buildings in this style along the corridor, their baroque decoration, interesting color palate, and prominent locations make them stand out among more contemporary structures.
Small Commercial strip in a Spanish Revival style at 63rd and Oak. Note the tower, tiled roof and terracotta accents. This example is prominently located at the busy corner of 63rd and Troost.A 3-unit commercial structure on 63rd, between Tracy and The Paseo. The Convent of Christ the King dates to a later period than many other of the nearby examples (1940) but maintains the hallmarks of the style. It’s tower is visible from many points in the area. The relative locations of the Spanish Revival buildings
The second major style, and one that dominates the western portion of 63rd Street, is Modernism. Identified by the style’s clean lines, concrete, steel, and glass construction, and lack of ornamentation; these structures can be found in many forms along the corridor. A subsection of these structures feature concrete or metal screens which partially shield the structures from view.
Many of these modernist structures have integrated, structural parking adjacent to their usable space; evidence of their later period of development, well into the motor age.
A low-rise office building with a patterned screen shielding its second floor. Found near Cherry on 63rd Street. A modernist mid-rise office building is vaulted over its parking garage; which is partially below street-level. Found at Cherry & 63rd. This structure and the one below are separated by their shared parking structure; seen to the left of this photo. This example is less dramatic than its neighbors but sits at the prominent corner of Rockhill Road and 63rd. It shares its parking structure with the building in the photo above. This former school building features a patterned metal screen along the lower portion of its facade on Rockhill Road. The visible structural concrete is another hallmark of modernist design. Found at Meyer Boulevard and Rockhill Road.This former church, just south of the building above, also features prominent structural concrete in its main facade and tower. The main entrance of The Landing shopping center still bears marks of modernist design, despite a number of retrofits throughout the years. Visible structural elements and a patterned concrete screen are evidence of its stylistic roots. This is another example of modernist design in a small structure. This one features a broad rectangular facade of glass shaded by a simple concrete eave and pillars. Relative locations of the featured modernist buildings along with the sites of others in that style.
A fun subsection of modernism make a few appearances along the corridor in the form of highly stylized small structures with prominent automobile accommodations. These quirky structures bring a lot of mid-century character to the corridor and some have been re-purposed for contemporary uses.
A small, truncated A-Frame structure with matching automobile passage. The glass front of this building also features a patterned screen of concrete circles.Simple modernist boxes are stacked off-center, leaving an open carport below a portion of the second floor. Just west of Rockhill Road on 63rd. This former gas station has space-age angles in its awning and sign post. Located at Bushman Drive and 63rd Street.Locations of the sub-style auto-centric modernist structures.
While there are a number of other architectural styles represented in the corridor, the dominating character is defined by these examples. Any new development in the area should look to complement these existing structures.
