Hydrangea House grows into long-vacant, Tudor-style Brookside police and fire station

Brookside’s historic former police and fire station — dark since a beloved retailer closed nearly seven years ago — is finally getting a new tenant.

Hydrangea House has leased the two-story Tudor-style brick building at 22 W. 63rd St., and plans a soft opening the night of Thursday, Nov. 12.

The luxury antique and homegoods store is owned by longtime interior designer Jessica Carpenter and her daughter, Abigail Gaughan. Since getting the keys Monday afternoon, the owners and their seven team members have spent long days trying to hit next week’s deadline. 

They’ve been deep cleaning the 6,265-square-foot space — previously home to the popular Fiddly Fig floral shop, which relocated in early 2020 — putting in new ceiling and floor tiles, upgrading plumbing, and hanging one-of-a-kind chandeliers. Three trucks of merchandise await, filled with vintage and antique furniture reupholstered in designer fabric, as well as some new European furniture, and home furnishings.

The business offers such high-quality fabric brands as Schumacher, Thibaut, Kravet, and Covington, and will now have a conference room where clients can pour over books of fabric and wallpaper samples.

It all started as a hobby.

Carpenter, with more than two decades as a designer, started redoing her historic Hyde Park home during the pandemic. She advocated for antique pieces with “good bones” and reupholstered with designer fabrics.

Newlywed Gaughan was so inspired by her mother, she bought a home on the same block, with the same goal.

“Now you would be hard pressed to get her in the parking lot of an IKEA and for someone 26 that’s rare,” Carpenter said.

Gaughan, a full-time nurse practitioner, noted her mother is the talent, while she’s the labor.

“She tells me what looks incredible and I put it together,” Gaughan said.

The pair were so absorbed by their new hobby, they ended up with enough pieces to nearly furnish two more large houses.

So just over a year ago, they launched Hydrangea House in a 160-square-foot space in Overland Park’s Glenwood Antique Mall.

They just wanted to cover their $165 a month rent. Customer demand was high — especially for custom pillows, starting at $350 for two in designer fabrics — and they expanded in February. Their next goal was to cover the new $655-a-month rent. When they expanded again in March, rent rose to $2,270 a month, but they had room for more furniture.

“We went to lunch and when we came back it looked like we had been robbed,” Carpenter said. “We sold out.”

While her mother was a bit sad to see the last of some favored items, Gaughan said, she reminded her, “It’s a good thing to sell stuff, mom. That’s the point.”

Carpenter was running an errand at Westlake Ace Hardware in Brookside, when she took note of the historic building for lease next door.

“It was now or never. We just felt like we had more to offer than we could do at the antique mall,” Gaughan said. “Custom drapes, custom upholstery and headboards, antiques as well as new furniture, custom woodwork, and one-on-one design services.”

They closed the original space in mid-October, but gave a shoutout to the Glenwood Antique Mall. 

“We adore the people there. We wouldn’t be where we are without them, their love and support,” Gaughan said.

In Brookside, their sister brand to Hydrangea House — The Gilded Fox — will take over the west side of the building, featuring more of a dark, moody Ralph Lauren vibe. The main lobby — with an entrance off West 63rd, as well as a back parking lot — will be Grandmillennial with a palette of corals, blues and greens, lots of florals, china, and gilded Trumeau mirrors.

David Behnke, operations manager, has 40 years retail experience including more than 20 years with Tivol.

The team plans to hold events on the space’s upper level in late 2027, organize classes, and perhaps configure a couple of showrooms.

But for now Carpenter and Gaughan are excited to welcome people in for a soft opening  — 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday — where they can get a closer look at the historic building during Holiday Spirits: A Brookside Cocktail Crawl, which kicks off the district’s holiday events.

Hydrangea House at 22 W. 63rd St.; photo by Joyce Smith

Original tenants in the 22 W. 63rd St. space were the Brookside police and fire departments.

Firefighters stand outside the former Brookside fire station building, Station 29, at 22 W. 63rd St.; photo courtesy of the Kansas City Fire Historical Society

Station 29 opened on Jun 1, 1918, and closed in 1978, according to the Kansas City Fire Historical Society on Troost. In the mid-1960s, applicants for a police career were asked to apply at that police station.

Then it was home to a couple of banks; later a car dealership.

Sheryl White and her father, Jim Shannahan, bought the building in 1995 and relocated their Fiddly Fig floral and gift shop there from another Brookside space. They were happy in the space, with no thought of leaving.

But in late 2019, Brookside landlord Joe Zwillenberg made them a better-than-expected offer.

He had another bank lined up. If that deal didn’t work out, he planned to use it for his home office.

“I paid because I wanted to own a premium location in Brookside. I was born and raised in Brookside and I own other parcels there, so it was a good fit,” he said. “It’s the old jail, built like a brick shithouse. It’s awesome. But (Hydrangea House) will be the perfect fit.”

Sean Ackerson, director of the Brookside Business Association, agreed.

Fiddly Fig was a cherished local business that left a hole when it relocated, he said.

“Fiddly Fig was kind of like the Dime Store. You weren’t just going there for stuff, you were going for a relationship,” Ackerson said, noting the 2020 relocation was a great business move for White and Fiddly Fig, but ultimately had an unexpected ripple effect on the neighborhood. “In a lot of ways it was a community center. When it left, foot traffic dropped.”

The landlord, Brookside businesses, and their patrons all hoped for another tenant that would become a community anchor.

“The care and respect that Jess is already showing to that building, to honor the legacy now and over time, to just enhance what is there,” Ackerson said. “That she’s asking about the history and had done research is pretty telling. And it fits her brand. Her speciality is giving new life to old things.”

About three years ago, a local joint venture headed by Block & Company Inc. Realtors purchased the building.

Ryan Cline and David Block of Block & Company represented the landlord in the lease transaction with Hydrangea. Service businesses had been interested — with doctors, dentists, therapists, banks, and real estate offices considering the space.

“But we were very invested in finding the best possible use that the community could benefit from,” Cline said. “This opens it up so the community will be able to enjoy this historic building in Brookside.”