Greenlease Cadillac Building
- Address: 2900 Gillham Rd
The Greenlease Cadillac Building retains a high degree of integrity with no significant alterations. All of the character-defining elements of its design, materials, and workmanship remain intact, both on the interior and the exterior. The first-story showroom, in particular, retains all of its distinctive architectural elements, including the Cadillac heraldry at the top of the columns. Cadillac corporate imagery is intact at the building's terracotta cornice as well. The only missing element is the canopy that was originally above the main entrance on the south end of the building. The Greenlease Cadillac Building's form, configuration of spaces, and surrounding environment clearly convey its original function as an early automobile dealership and distributorship.
In addition, the Greenlease Cadillac Building is notable as the headquarters of the Robert C Greenlease auto empire. Founded in 1908, the Greenlease Motor Car Company was both a Cadillac dealer and distributor. Robert Greenlease leveraged the opportunities provided by his role as Cadillac distributor to expand his business. By 1929 his territory stretched across five states and he controlled five of the seventeen Cadillac distributorships nationwide. 1 In 1967, General Motors celebrated the Greenlease Motor Car Company as the most senior of their 14,000 dealerships operating in the United States. The Greenlease Cadillac Building represents not only the expansion of the Greenlease auto empire, but the broader the development of the auto industry in Kansas City, Missouri. - NRHP, 28 April 2003