| Kivett & Myers | |
| Partners: | Clarence Kivett ; Ralph E. Myers |
| Founders: | Kivett |
| City: | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Founded: | 1931 |
| Dissolved: | 1975 |
Kivett & Myers was a Kansas City, Missouri architecture firm that pioneered the design of modern professional sports stadiums. The firm was established in 1931 as the sole proprietorship of Clarence Kivett. With the addition of Ralph E. Myers in 1945 the firm became the partnership of Kivett & Myers. The firm was acquired by HNTB in 1975.
Kivett's first big design project was the art deco design of the flagship Katz Drug Store (1934), later an Osco, at Main Street and Westport Road in Kansas City. The owners, Mike and Ike Katz, were his mother's brothers. He was joined by Ralph Myers in 1940, and they became partners in Kivett & Myers in 1945. They went on to design the Cumonow Residence in Mission Hills, the Missouri State Office Building at 13th and Holmes, the old Temple B'nai Jehudah at 69th and Holmes, Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences Building at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the Fairmount Hotel in the Country Club Plaza and the Mission Hills Country Club clubhouse.[1]
The partners had a major role in the introduction and expansion of modern architecture in Kansas City and were committed to modernist principles. The two most prominent commissions came in the late 1960s and early 1970s with terminals and control tower at Kansas City International Airport (a design layout with in "C" shape so that all gates were within a few feet of the road) and the Truman Sports Complex for Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals.
A prominent feature of the stadia design favoured by Kivett and Myers is the spiral ramps leading to the higher echelons of seating. This can be seen at Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, as well as the now-demolished Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The initial design in 1967 called for the baseball and football stadiums to be built side by side sharing the same parking infrastructure as well as a rolling roof that was to slide from one stadium to the other. The concepts of separate stadiums for baseball and football was revolutionary at the time when stadiums were designed as gigantic multipurpose venues. The rolling roof was initially too expensive and too impractical in Kansas City however it was to be applied at several stadiums elsewhere in the decades that followed.
In 1975 the Kansas City civil engineering and architecture firm HNTB acquired Kivett & Myers, with Kivett retiring and Myers becoming HNTB's first architectural partner. At the time of the acquisition, major in-progress projects included the Lisbon Airport and Munich Airport. Myers retired in 1982.[2]
During the thirty years the partnership was active, Kivett & Myers were awarded nearly half of all design awards awarded by the local chapter of the AIA.
In addition to HNTB as the firm's official successor, Kivett & Myers employees would found over fifty independent architecture firms in the Kansas City area. The largest and best-known of these is BNIM, founded by R. Bruce Patty and three other Kivett associates in 1970.
HNTB went on to build several professional stadiums, indoor arenas and ballparks. Several of the firm's architects also went on to open a sports architecture office in Kansas City for Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum in 1983, now the independent firm of Populous, with offices in Kansas City, London and Brisbane. In 1988 several more architects left HNTB and opened a sports architecture office in Kansas City for Ellerbe Becket. This practice was known primarily for professional indoor sports arenas, but was also responsible for several major stadia.
Clarence Kivett (October 18, 1905 – December 3, 1996) was born Clarence Kivovitch in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was educated at the University of Kansas, graduating in 1928 with a BS in architecture. He worked for Kansas City architects Madorie & Bihr and Hoit, Price & Barnes until 1931, when the economic conditions of the Great Depression caused the latter firm to let him go.[3] [4] [5]
During World War II Kivett was at Knob Noster, Missouri, where he superintended construction for the air force.[5] He was active in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was elected a Fellow in 1967.[6]
Kivett was married in 1934.[3] He lived for twenty years after his retirement and died in Kansas City at the age of 91.[5]
Ralph Elbert Myers (November 30, 1917 – December 3, 2007) was born in Kansas City. He was educated at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1940 with a BArch. He then worked for Kivett for a year while also teaching at the Finlay Engineering College. In 1941, during World War II, he joined North American Aviation and had charge of plant design for the next four years.[7] [8]
Myers was also active in the AIA and was elected a Fellow in 1964.[6] He died in Prairie Village, Kansas, at the age of 90.[9]