“The Kansas City Symphony announced Friday it is moving its offices and other functions into the old Webster School—giving a new life to the historic Crossroads building and moving the symphony closer to its main performance stage,” writes Laura Spencer in Friday’s (3/5) KCUR radio (Kansas City, MO). “The 135-year-old former schoolhouse … last operated as the Webster House, which sold antiques and housed an upscale restaurant and bar. It closed in April 2020, mostly due to the coronavirus pandemic…. Plans for the new headquarters include musician recitals, rehearsal spaces, educational programming and special events. ‘This will be a perfect complement to our main stage performances just next door in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts,’ Kansas City Symphony executive director Danny Beckley said in a news release…. In 2001, entrepreneur and philanthropist Shirley Bush Helzberg bought the two-story building…. Helzberg renovated the building and opened Webster House in 2002. She also restored the Vitagraph Building, a former film-storage warehouse at 17th and Wyandotte, which serves as the Symphony’s current home…. The Symphony is expected to provide a new name for its headquarters in the next few months.”
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