William Rockhill Nelson Chapel - Mt. Washington Cemetery

For the first time in over 100 years, the public was allowed to tour the interior of the William Rockhill Nelson Chapel at Mt. Washington Cemetery in Independence, Missouri (just east of Kansas City proper).

From the stained glass, the groin vaults, the masonry and tile work to the ornate wooden doors and grand stair promenade, this was truly spectacular. An architectural and historical gem “lost in time.” Our team is so thankful to the people of Mount Washington Cemetery Historical Society who are restoring this piece of KC and architectural history. They were gracious enough to share their progress with the public this Memorial Day, May 30th, 2022. We founded Urban Cool KC on not only the cool and beautiful of KC, but remarkable preservation stories like this.

This historic structure had almost become forgotten, but recently a group, including photographer Bruce Matthews and writer Judith King (coauthors of Mt. Washington Cemetery In Search of Lost Time), helped dissolve the trust that was struggling to maintain the chapel and developed the Mount Washington Cemetery Historical Society to begin restoration of the chapel and promote its historical significance in accordance with the Nelson family’s wishes.

The chapel was commissioned by William Rockhill Nelson to serve as the final resting place for him, his wife Ida, their daughter Laura, and her husband Irwin Kirkwood. The chapel was designed by prominent American architect, Jarvis Hunt. Hunt designed Kansas City’s Beaux Arts style Union Station, the 1910 Kansas City Star Building, Kansas City’s second skyscraper, amongst many other Midwest structures like The Vermont Building for the 1893 World’s Fair.

Spanish architect and immigrant, Rafael Guastavino (a contemporary of Antoni Gaudi) and his son, Rafael Guastavino III, laid the tiled structural vaults of the chapel. The tile of this project is laid in a simpler pattern than Guastavino used for other interlocking gridded tiles since the groin vaults of the chapel didn’t span as great of a distance as his other works. However, the inherent structural integrity of Guastavino’s tile work meant the stunning tile and the interior it shelters has been more or less protected over the past century, despite complications with the old roof (new roof was recently installed by the Mount Washington Cemetery Historical Society). Guastavino and his son contributed to other works around the United States including the tile work in the Grand Hall of Ellis Island as well as the Boston Public Library.

The large plot of rolling hills of the cemetery was originally developed in 1887 to be the largest amusement park in Missouri. It closed 13 years after its conception. This led Kansas City officials to seek out renowned landscape architect George Kessler to recreate this land. Kessler, who helped develop Kansas City as a “city within a park,” declared the best use of the land would be a cemetery. He developed the land, the pathways and sites of the serene Mt. Washington Cemetery with the chapel situated at its core.

Photos taken by the Urban Cool KC Team, May 30th, 2022. (Don’t hate on our photo quality please, we used an iphone and the chapel was a bit dim at times).

For more photos go to: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1brMNZ9yweY2ZJbw_iCoD0scKU5AiQYUW?usp=sharing

References for Additional Information:

Mt. Washington Cemetery In Search of Lost Time: https://mwchs.org/book

New York Public Radio’s telling of “Palaces for the People: Gustavino and the Art of Structural Tile”: https://www.wnyc.org/story/palaces-people-guastavino-and-art-structural-tile/