On May 18th, 1922 Walt Disney incorporated the Laugh-O-gram Film Studio at 1127 E. 31st Street in Kansas City, Missouri. Here’s a picture of that building getting a facelift today. Thank You Walt Disney, the non-profit owner of the building, secured a $160,000 Heart of the City TIF award from the city of Kansas City, Missouri which they matched with $152,000 from the Walt and Lilly Disney Foundation and $8,000 from local donors. The building is now undergoing significant tuck pointing and other renovation work to its façade. Significant effort is also underway behind the scenes to raise the funds required to completely restore the building. Once renovated, the building will feature historical exhibits about Walt’s work in the Laugh-O-gram Studio, a classroom for digital media training, a small theatre and a Plexpod co-working facility for digital media entrepreneurs. To see a presentation showing plans for the renovated building click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYLn8omM5R4&t=3355s
Dello Eco Industrial is the restoration company working on the tuckpointing and façade restoration. The architectural firm Gould Evans has completed building drawings and construction firms have been submitting cost projections for the full construction project. Gould Evans is also developing a 3-dimensional walk-through of the building. Dimensional Innovations of Lenexa is working on exhibition concepts to tell the story of Walt’s first commercial animation studio here in Kansas City.