Architect Biography - Mckecknie

National Register of Historic Places — Historic Colonnade Apartment Buildings of Kansas City, Missouri — Section E Page 32

One of the City’s most prolific architects, credited with over 120 buildings, John McKecknie’s pioneering work in the apartment houses in Kansas City established the colonnade apartment building style as the preeminent apartment design for the first two decades of the twentieth century.  His early work in reinforced concrete construction and his treatment of residential structures and apartment buildings is important to the architectural history of the City. 

John W. McKecknie was born in Clarksville, Ohio on October 3, 1862.  In 1880, he entered Wilmington College at Wilmington, Ohio where he studied for two years.  He then took a four-year classical course at Princeton University and graduated in 1885.  After graduation, he spent two years studying architecture at the Columbia School of Mines in New York City.  While studying in New York, he worked in the office of prominent architect J. Cleveland Cady who specialized in the design of school and college buildings.  After graduation from Columbia, McKecknie worked in various architect’s offices in New York for several years and then opened his own office and engaged in a general architectural practice for three years.  In 1895, McKecknie traveled to Europe as an assistant to Professor William H. Goodyear, augmenting his formal training and work experience with work related to Italian architecture.  In 1898, McKecknie moved to Kansas City and worked as an architect for the Hucke and Sexton Contracting and Building Company until 1900, when he opened his own office.  He practiced alone until 1914, when he formed a partnership with fellow Columbia University of Architecture School graduate Frank Trask.  The partnership continued until McKecknie death in 1934.

McKecknie enjoyed immediate success in his practice and was an active member in the Kansas City Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  His early years in the City coincide with a period of rapid growth and subsequent increases in building construction.  McKecknie’s contribution to Kansas City’s built environment was diverse.  He pioneered the use of reinforced concrete construction and effectively combined utilitarian purpose with attention to decorative detail.  He designed houses and apartment dwellings of unusual stylistic quality.  His early work established the colonnaded porch apartments as comfortable and stylish places to reside.