Welcome to The Historic Residences at Dutch Hill, a residential community featuring studio, one and two bedroom apartments in Kansas City, MO. Spacious layouts and amenities welcome you home, along with exceptional service and an ideal location within walking distance to shopping, dining and entertainment options. Are you looking for an apartment for rent in Kansas City, MO?
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Dutch Hill Apartments – originally known as the Rockford Apartments – is a three-story historic apartment building in Kansas City’s Longfellow/Dutch Hill neighborhood. Completed in 1912, it exemplifies the “colonnade” apartment style popular for middle-class housing in early 20th-century Kansas City. Its red-brick facade with Classical Revival details – notably the three-story front porch supported by brick piers and Ionic columns – gave the building a stately, elegant character. The name “Rockford” is still carved in stone above the front entrance, harkening back to its original identity even as it’s now marketed as the Historic Residences at Dutch Hill.
Owner Anna Graham, who is listed as a saleslady in the 1912 city directory a striking example of a woman investing in real estate during that era.
The neighborhood’s nickname “Dutch Hill” dates back to Kansas City’s German immigrant community – “Dutch” a local twist on Deutsch, meaning German.
By the time the Rockford Apartments opened in 1912, Dutch Hill was an up-and-coming enclave for white-collar workers. The building’s construction also coincided with the growth of nearby Hospital Hill and Union Hill areas, as well as the development of other apartment clusters in Midtown. In this context, these residences stood out as a fashionable address offering modern apartments with shared amenities and architectural style that conveyed stability and prestige for its tenants.
By being saved and restored, the Dutch Hill Apartments also illustrate the power of historic preservation. The 2007 National Register listing and the subsequent rehabilitation not only saved the building from potential demolition, but also spurred wider reinvestment in the Longfellow/Dutch Hill neighborhood. Today, the building stands as a blend of old and new: its exterior proudly displays 1912 architecture, while inside it offers updated apartments for 21st-century tenants. This continuity ensures that the Dutch Hill Apartments remain a living part of Kansas City’s history.