Stop Eight
3400 W. Coleman Road
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The Dutch Colonial house at 3400 West Coleman Road was built in 1924 for Godfrey Swenson. Swenson was born in Sweden and came to Kansas City at the age of 20, where he founded the Swenson Construction Company. He was often referred to as the man who built Kansas City’s skyline, because his construction company built City Hall, the Jackson County Courthouse, the Kansas City Power and Light building and the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company building. He was reportedly a friend of Tom Pendergast Jr.’s and kept a safe for him in the basement of this house. Swenson lived in this house until 1934, when he built a home at 3427 Coleman Road.
This type of Dutch Colonial, with a side-gambrel roof and a front shed dormer, was a very popular style in the 1920s and 1930s. The first floor of this symmetrical house built of solid stone, and contains sturdy stone window sills.