Fairfax Hills Historic District
a.k.a. Parkwood Estates
Bounded by Esplanade Ave., Brown Ave. and 12th St., inc. both side of Parkwood Blvd., Coronado Rd. and Hilltop Rd., Kansas City, KSThe 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.
Local significance of the district:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.