The McConahay Building in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

is a two-story Tapestry Brick building designed by prominent Kansas City architect Nelle E. Peters in 1922. From the building's completion (in May 1922) to June 1923 the McConahay building housed

Laugh-O-Gram Studio The Laugh-O-Gram Studio (also called Laugh-O-Gram Studios) was an animation studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri, that operated from June 28, 1921, to October 16, 1923. In Animati ...

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

's first commercial film studio, which occupied a five-room suite of studios on the second floor. Here, he developed the cartoon character

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

based on resident mice that he trained. He frequently ate at the Forest Inn Cafe in the building's first floor. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978. The application for listing describes the building as "a fine local example of tapestry brick design architecture; exterior facades are of brickwork interspersed with cut stone and/or terra cotta blocks to form geometric designs". Historical status generally protects buildings from demolition, but it had deteriorated to the point where this had been considered. A local organization, Thank You Walt Disney, Inc., has acquired the building and is in the process of restoring it.

References

External links

''Thank You Walt Disney, Inc.''
1922 establishments in Missouri Commercial buildings completed in 1922 Buildings and structures in Kansas City, Missouri Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Kansas City, Missouri Laugh-O-Gram Studio {{KansasCityMO-NRHP-stub