japanese gardens – mission hills

J.C. Nichols envisioned Mission Hills as a satellite city neighborhood that would insulate its residents from disorder and provide leisurely lush greenery to emphasize the natural beauty of Kansas City. Planning began in the 1910s, a time of frenzied construction in the urban core, and Nichols meticulously laid out a sort of anti-grid made up of winding lanes and large lots to amplify the beauty of his Mission Hills community. He described this vision as a “garden suburb.” Naturally, emphasis was placed on the landscaping. Three golf courses were built within the neighborhood, and under the guidance of prominent landscape architect George Kessler, Nichols’ team implemented Italian flourishes like Verona columns and marble fountains into the public green areas. This serene sunken garden was sprouted in 1925, following visits to the burgeoning development by leading landscape architects from Japan in the early 1920s.