Epperson House is vacant. No one has lived there for 70 years. The new owners are renovating and remodeling and redeveloping the 24,000-square-foot property and plan to open its doors at a soon-to-be-determined date as a 14-room boutique hotel with spa, restaurant, library bar and special event space. Until then, you can get up-close-and-personal and admire the massive exterior and imagine what the interior looks like. Located at 6200 Cherry Street in Kansas City, where it is part of the University of Missouri--Kansas City campus, the four-story Tudor-Gothic structure was built between 1919 and 1923 by Uriah Spray Epperson, a banker, insurance tycoon, industrialist and philanthropist who amassed significant wealth from insurance and meat-packing industries. At the time, it was a monumental residence unlike any other this side of Newport. It contained 54 rooms, including a grand hall with performance stage, formal reception rooms, six bathrooms, elevators, a Grecian-tiled swimming pool, billiard room, barber shop, a custom organ designed for the loft space of the 48-square-foot living room, library, conservatory, formal gardens, servants' quarters, a tunnel linking the east and west wings, a room for Mrs. Epperson's collection, hand-carved walnut and oak paneling, imported marble, decorative ceilings and leaded glass windows. The cost was $500,000, equivalent to $13 million in today's value. Epperson died in 1927, only four years after he moved into the house. His widow died in 1939. In 1942, the house was donated to the University of Missouri.

Construction on this 54-56 (depending on which article you read) room mansion started in 1919 and took six years to complete. It was owned by Uriah S. Epperson and was eventually donated to the University of Kansas City in 1942. It’s served a variety of purposes over the years, including housing aviation cadets during World War II. It currently stands vacant, awaiting renovations. The mansion has actually been featured on Unsolved Mysteries as being one of the top five most haunted houses in the United States. Most of the windows are boarded up, but you can still walk right up to the mansion. It’s architecture is amazing!