United States · Missouri · Kansas City
Country Club Plaza, Kansas City — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Country Club Plaza opened in 1923 as the first planned outdoor suburban shopping center in the United States, built for shoppers arriving by car.
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Where to stay in Country Club Plaza
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
The Plaza is an outdoor shopping ground first, and the hotels stand against the storefronts. A room on the Country Club Plaza puts The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the open-air shopping streets at the door, which is the trade for a district built around car traffic that thins out once the shops shut. Hotel stock follows the Plaza.
Stay here if you want the museums and the shops on foot; the Country Club District blocks behind, with listed houses like the Bernard Corrigan House, swap that for lawns and a longer walk back.
Find hotels in Country Club Plaza
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On the Plaza
Rooms sit inside the Country Club Plaza blocks themselves, so the open-air storefronts, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art are all walking distance from the lobby door.Find hotels in On the PlazaLawns and listed houses instead of shopfronts, with the Plaza kept a walk awayCountry Club District blocks
Away from the storefronts the district roster runs to the Bernard Corrigan House, the Epperson House and Mineral Hall, so these streets stay residential and quiet after the shops close. Rooms are few around here — worth securing early.Find hotels in Country Club District blocksA base built round the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic SiteThe museum side
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the National Toy and Miniature Museum and the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site cluster close enough that one room covers all three on foot. Lodging is scarce in this area; reserve in advance.Find hotels in The museum sideHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Kansas City
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
2- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Churches & Religious Sites
3- Westminster Congregational Church Heritage
- Pilgrim Lutheran Church for the Deaf of Greater Kansas City and Parsonage Heritage
- Community Christian Church
Stadiums & Sports
1- Gordon and Koppel Field
Landmarks & Notable Places
8- Bernard Corrigan House Heritage
- Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site Heritage
- Mineral Hall Heritage
- House at 5011 Sunset Drive Heritage
- House at 54 E. 53rd Terrace Heritage
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- William D. Repp House Heritage
- William Francis Shelley House Heritage
- George E. Nicholson House Heritage
worth knowingacross 4 categories in and around Kansas City
About Country Club Plaza
What are the main landmarks in Country Club Plaza?
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is the heavyweight on the district roster. Beside it the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Toy and Miniature Museum give the area three collections, while the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site keeps the painter's own house and workshop as a state site. Then the Country Club District houses.
The Bernard Corrigan House, the Epperson House, the Tom Pendergast House and the Reverend Nathan Scarritt Home carry the domestic half of the record, and Mineral Hall and the Community Christian Church round it out.
What is the history of Country Club Plaza?
The Country Club Plaza opened in 1923 inside the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri. The Plaza was built for cars. Reckoned the first planned large outdoor suburban shopping center in the United States, and among the first regional centers arranged for shoppers who arrived by car rather than on foot, it is a commercial development held in private ownership rather than a civic quarter that grew of its own accord.
The Reverend Nathan Scarritt Home and the Westminster Congregational Church carry older Kansas City names on the same district roster.
Where is Country Club Plaza?
Country Club Plaza lies in the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri, out beyond the old downtown and laid out as suburban ground from the start.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Country Club Plaza?
On the Plaza: Shopping and two art museums covered without ever starting a car. Country Club District blocks: Lawns and listed houses instead of shopfronts, with the Plaza kept a walk away. The museum side: A base built round the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site.
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Updated October 2026