Woodneath, Farmhouse in Kansas City, United States
Woodneath is a two-story red brick farmhouse in Kansas City built between 1854 and 1856 in the Greek Revival style. Its brick walls, gabled roof, and symmetrical facade survive from the antebellum period. In 2013 a modern library building was constructed around and attached to the house, its roofline set several feet lower so the historic brickwork stands out.
Woodneath was built between 1854 and 1856 for Elbridge Arnold, who died in October 1855 and left his widow Finetta Ann to finish the brick house with local carpenters and enslaved labor. The Arnolds sold it to Presley Moore after the Civil War; the Moores held it until about 1900, then the Crouches, who ran the Crouch Farm Dairy from 1937 to 1953. It joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The name Woodneath comes from the oak, pine and sugar maples that Presley Moore saw on the farm, and many of those trees still stand on the grounds. During the Civil War the west second-story bedroom served as a schoolroom for Sara M. Arnold's pupils after the Brick-Monroe School closed because of skirmishes nearby. The house is now the Woodneath Story Center, with its rooms used for storytelling programs.
The 2013 library building sits several feet lower than the farmhouse and wraps around it, so the red brick home can be seen from inside the library and from the surrounding grounds. The house now serves as the Woodneath Story Center, and the 33 acres around it are planned for walking trails and public green space.
The 2013 library addition was built several feet lower than the farmhouse and given neutral materials so the red brick of the old home stands out; its arching colonnade echoes Greek Revival forms and appears to wrap an arm around the house.
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