Showhouse No. 55, 2025
55th Symphony Designers’ Showhouse, 3621 Belleview Ave, Kansas City, Missouri
Last Update: December 30, 2025
The 2025 Symphony Designers’ Showhouse (#55) is in the Roanoke Historic District at 3621 Belleview across the street from the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio at 3616 Belleview. The Water Permit for the house was issued in October 1906. Fans of the Showhouse have noticed a pattern of beautiful stone houses and outstanding natural settings in Roanoke. Because this is a cohesive neighborhood with residents walking their dogs and children playing, we ask visitors to be careful when driving and parking. The neighborhood has been very generous to make us feel welcome.
The house stands on the original grounds of the Kansas City Inter-State Fair at the turn of the 20th century which was sold to the Roanoke Investment Company. We have not been able to verify that the architect was George Mathews because he died in a tragic streetcar accident in 1903, but he is known to have designed four other houses in the neighborhood.
The builder and first owner was William Dever Johnson, a livestock trader, but it was not until 1908 that his name appears in the City Directory at 3621 Belleview. There were two William D. Johnsons, father and son In 1911 William D. Johnson, Jr. was listed as a student and in 1913 as a farmer. The Johnson family was composed of the mother, Mrs. Anna M. Kern Johnson, born in Texas, four daughters and one son. In 1914 they moved to Grandview, Missouri and called their home Belvedere Farm just off U. S. 71 and Outer Belt Road, formerly the home of Reuben Mastin. Until a stroke caused him to retire in 1948, Mr. Johnson was a millionaire cattleman, landowner, and benefactor of William Jewell College in Liberty, MO.
In 1914 the property was then sold to Alvin L. Harroun. He first worked as vice president of Builders Material Supply Co. Later he had his own investment company and was a broker. His most famous business endeavor was the Lucky Tiger Gold Mine which made many millionaires in Kansas City, but he was also credited for being an early automobile dealer at 2110 Grand Avenue. He was an investor in the Harroun Motor Sales Corporation in 1917 operated by Ray Harroun of Michigan, the first winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 1911 and a cousin of Alvin Harroun.
Mr. Harroun is not known to have married, but he lived in the house as a member of an extended family which included his mother, Mrs. George H. Harroun, who died while living there in 1919. He also had two sisters living in the home, Miss Edna Harroun and Mrs. Katheryn H. Willitt. There must have been financial reverses because by 1938 the house was being cared for by servants, and there was a giant auction of “complete furnishings of a fifteen-room residence, one of Kansas City’s show places” at 3621 Belleview, Kansas City, MO.
In 1939 the next owner is William D. Harris, President of Refinoil Mfg. Corp. and his wife, Velma Claver Harris. His business was refining oil products, specifically cleaning crankcase oil to be useful once again. Velma was assistant to the president and then became head of the company when he died in 1949. She came from Grand Rapids, Michigan and had been a concert violinist on the Shubert Theater circuit and at age 14 played in Kansas City. She was interviewed by the Kansas City Star for the Sunday edition on October 19, 1952, and said that her greatest thrill was a command performance before the Prince of Wales in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Of course, the theme of the interview was how a society woman and artist like Mrs. Harris was also head of a company that dealt with greasy steel drums of recycled oil. She explained that Bill Harris was persuaded to come to Kansas City by businessman A. L. Gustin who saw the future of recycling crankcase oil. It was during World War II that the business really grew to supply reuseable oil to many military installations in the Midwest.
After the war Mrs. Harris was known for the parties, she hosted at 3621 Belleview which often included her neighbor across the street, artist Thomas Hart Benton. However, there were business reverses and by 1956 there was an article in the Kansas City Times called “Bid by Creditors” detailing the sale of the Refinoil plant located at 2020 Charlotte.
By 1978 the house was owned by Jay Martin, a prominent real estate agent associated with Hardin Stockton. With the help of young men making their way in the world, he helped to restore the home to its original glory but did not live there. One task was taking down metal light fixtures and door hardware and sending them to Hiles to be re-plated. One such young man who lived on the third floor while working at the house recalls stripping oil cloth off the plaster walls and repainting the plaster. Another young man from Olde Architectural Salvage stripped paint off the columns in the living room turret and the butler’s pantry and clear coated the beautiful wood. Copper gutters were also installed at this time.
By 1992 the house had been bought by Robert and Cindy Pratt-Stokes who lived in the home and lovingly preserved its rich heritage of early 20th century design and history. Dr. Robert Stokes practiced emergency medicine and later moved into general practice. He was also a skilled woodworker who built the bar in the basement, the wine racks, the shelving on the second floor, and the wood ceiling of the library to match that of the dining room before his death in 2016. Cindy Pratt-Stokes came from a family which collected antiques. Her brother, Wayne Pratt, is credited with the concept for Antiques Roadshow. Dr. and Mrs. Stokes added their personal touch to the third-floor ballroom by commissioning Nicole Emanuel to paint a personal mural in November 1996. In it you can see the Stokes themselves as well as other significant symbols and hobbies they enjoyed.
Mrs. Cindy Pratt-Stokes was instrumental in maintaining the integrity of the house, and the new owners, Tim and Julie Steele and their four children, are very appreciative of her efforts. They have only owned the house since May of 2024 and have added central air conditioning to the upper floors by cleverly using existing structures in the house to camouflage the ductwork. The woodwork just needed to be cleaned to bring it back to its wonderful condition. In December 2024 they created a new kitchen and added central air to the first floor. Tim is president and CEO of Associated Audiologists.
There are some interesting features of the house and carriage house that you will want to see. There was a laundry chute on the second floor which was adapted to hide the wiring for the internet. You can see an “enunciator” across from the first-floor powder room which is tucked beneath the main staircase. This intercom system was used to summon the servants to different parts of the house. The Johnson family legacy is etchings on the south window glass in the living room which seem to be birthdates for the children. The carriage house has an original gas pump and mechanic’s hole for working on some of Kansas City’s earliest cars.
Tim Steele has been given a quick course in the ingenious engineering that undergirds a large, early 20th century house like this one. For example, when the Spanish tile roof needs to be repaired, it’s not just the tiles that need to be replaced like LEGO bricks but the underroof as well. Only a few tiles at a time can be taken off; otherwise, the shift of weight on the roof could destabilize the entire house. The house also has to “breathe.” There is a bellow wall to keep the house from being too snug and to prevent condensation. The sleeping porch off the second floor was called the “tuberculin porch.”
– Beverly Shaw, House Historian