Over 100 years, downtown Kansas City hotel has had handball courts and Playboy bunnies

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The northwest corner of 11th Street & Baltimore Avenue in downtown Kansas City was a busy place in the early 20th Century. The storied Willis Wood Theater occupied the space until it was razed to make way for a new skyscraper.

But the building that opened there in 1923 wasn’t yet called the Continental Hotel. The first occupants were the Kansas City Athletic Club, an organization that promoted, among other things, AAU sports teams like the Kansas City Blue Diamonds.

That’s why the Gothic revival style structure contained a number of handball and basketball courts, and on the seventh floor, a near Olympic-sized swimming pool.

But the Great Depression forced the club, whose membership rolls included Harry Truman, to sell the property. That’s how it re-emerged in 1938 as the Continental Hotel, featuring a large ballroom that hosted countless banquets and civic events..

From 1964 to 1975, the hotel’s top floor added a surprising tenant--the Kansas City Playboy Club. “Bunnies” served cocktails, and musical acts, including the late Ida McBeth, entertained members who had to present their coveted key card to get access.

Then in 1982, the plan changed again. The building was converted into offices and renamed the Mark Twain Tower.

This summer, as it turned 100, developers unveiled a return to the building’s roots called the Mark Apartments. Though the old pool remains closed, many of the historic structure’s distinctive details and original architectural flourishes can still be seen.

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