Kansas City’s historic Loose Mansion lists for $4.3 million

Unique Tiffany chandelier. Three antique safes. 8 fireplaces. Marble flooring. A dozen balconies.

The historic Unfastened Mansion — at the moment an function location — has strike the marketplace for $4.3 million.

Homeowners Ken and Barbara Saathoff have partly retired and want to absolutely retire in the upcoming calendar year or so.

“We have an outstanding staff and this is the time for us to just slip out the doorway and enable a new proprietor, or group of house owners, consider it to the future stage,” Barbara Saathoff stated. “This was a landmark that was just remaining disregarded, and it has been a truly very good matter to deliver it back again the place folks can definitely appreciate it. I’ve cherished it. This has been these a fun, enjoyable small business.”

Block & Business Inc. Realtors has the listing.

The Unfastened household is perhaps very best identified for Free Park, on 75 acres just south of the Place Club Plaza. But their mansion, at 101 E. Armour Blvd., also is outstanding.

In accordance to The Star’s archives and the Saathoffs, Jacob and Ella Free broke floor for the mansion in 1907, and it was accomplished in 1909.

He built his fortune with Loose-Wiles Biscuit Co. (also acknowledged as Sunshine Biscuits). But the primary funds for the mansion arrived from a copper expense manufactured by Jacob, his brother Joseph, and a pal. Their $10,000 investment experienced a payoff of $1 million each.

Jacob explained to his wife she could use the windfall however she preferred. She used $250,000 to assemble a mansion that would be a showplace for large parties.

Their Washington, D.C.-dependent architect — recognized for constructing embassies — set in cement flooring, high ceilings, broad doorways and many entryways. Pocket doorways could be shut for more intimate settings.

It experienced a grand salon and songs space on the most important degree, cigar and billiards space on the lessen level, and a third amount ballroom for dinners and dancing.

The 4-tale mansion, outlined on the Countrywide Historic Registry, has the unique Italian tile flooring and marble foyer with brass railings, along with the Unfastened loved ones risk-free, Ella’s jewelry secure and a superior-stability bank harmless. Eight of the primary 11 fireplaces keep on being, alongside with four of the 12 loos. It also has 12 balconies.

Jacob’s affectionate nickname for Ella was Sunshine, and S’s are hand-carved in the mahogany grand staircase.

The main setting up is 16,204 square toes, and the carriage house is 2,200 sq. toes (at the moment a bed and breakfast sleeping up to 10 men and women). The sale also features function bookings — some two decades out — and it has a whole liquor license.

Following obtaining the assets, the Saathoffs used a few years and about $3 million restoring and converting the mansion into an celebration space. It little by little opened from 2004 to 2007. Situations have involved rehearsal dinners, weddings (nearly 2,000), and civic and corporate gatherings.

“Our aim has mainly been on weddings and we are extremely, very very good at it,” she stated.

They have ongoing to sustain the facility and took time in the course of COVID to do this sort of projects as resurfacing the parking ton and refinishing wood flooring.

Bookings are finding back again to pre-pandemic levels, and they experienced their greatest Oct in 4 several years.

Loose Mansion has four total-time staff members, and about 20 typical contractors who function the functions, likely the “best personnel we’ve ever had.”

“They know it is a retirement situation and that we have attained the proper to retire. We weren’t confident what they would say but they are enthusiastic,” said Ken Saathoff.

This tale was initially released November 1, 2022 2:57 PM.