New England Lofts

Constructed in 1887, the New England Building once housed the New England Life Insurance Company’s Kansas City branch. The building largely remains untouched by time, retaining its original elaborate millwork, coal burning fireplaces, and numerous bank vaults. The primary design goal was to preserve, restore, and highlight these historic details.

The construction techniques to build the original structure created unique design challenges in renovating the 50,800 square feet, 7-story load-bearing masonry building.

Extensive coordination took place with the structural engineer and restoration contractors to ensure the historic integrity of the building was preserved. This work included routing all of the new MEP systems as discretely as possible and adding a new egress stair enclosure.

Some of the architectural design solutions included using the existing vaults as walk-in closets within the units and converting the main vault on the first floor into the fitness room.