Feb. 23, 2011

If you’re a big fan of old firehouse architecture, like me, stay tuned because you are going to love this property.

According to Ray Elder’s book “Kansas City Missouri Fire Department History Volume IV, 1868-2006,” Fire Station 12 was located at 3400 E. 12th Street between 1890 and 1898.

In 1898, the fire department moved to bigger quarters across the street at 3324 E. 12th Street. The department occupied that property until 1978. For a time, it was used by the police department as their radio repair building.

This week, “new” Fire Station 12 is our featured property and it’s a real showcase to be sure! It’s listed by Kent Allen of Victor Ross Commercial Real Estate and it’s ready to become home to a Crossroads artist that’s been taxed and priced-out of the now upwardly trendy Southwest Boulevard District. Twelfth Street has its own funk goin’ on, and Station 12 would be a great location for an artist who fabricates large format pieces.

The building’s footprint measures roughly 3,600 square feet, located on the northwest corner of 12th and Indiana. With two floors totaling over 7,600 square feet, there’s plenty of room for gallery, fabrication and living space all in the same building.

Mechanically, the building has a torch-down roof that’s in great condition.

Inside, it’s fed by three-phase electrical service, so there shouldn’t be any worries about lack of power. Additionally, there are pneumatic tubes from the back room with six to eight drops throughout the garage bay area for work with an air compressor. Two 10-foot doors and one eight-foot door face 12th Street, so there’s plenty of room to get delivery vehicles out of the elements when loading or unloading.

The old station still features some of the original elements, too, like two of the three fire poles still in tact and the cast-iron support poles in the garage bay.

This building literally has way too much to list in the space we have here.

If you’d like a private showing of this grand dame of the fire department, call Kent at Victor Ross Commercial realtors today. His office phone is 816/483-0500. Listed at a smart $178,000, this old station is highly affordable for the right artistic-type who’s looking for some cool space to call home!

– Michael Bushnell