The Raphael Hotel is one of the central locations in Kansas City’s renowned County Club Plaza. The plaza first came into existence at the start of the 20th century, when real estate developer J.C. Nichols began acquiring several plots of land along Ward Parkway near Brush Creek. Nichols was already well regarded throughout the city for his work creating attractive residential and commercial neighborhoods, the most notable being his “Country Club District” located just south of today’s Loose Park. (Loose Park was once part of the prestigious Kansas City Country Club, which originally opened in 1896.) Yet, many in the city thought that his plan was a mistake, often referring to it as “Nichols Folly.” This was due to the fact that the land was considered to be very unattractive at the time, as most had been reserved exclusively for pig farming. Nichols pushed forward with his vision in spite of the criticism, employing architect Edward Buehler Delk to design the first iterations of his mixed-use shopping district. Delk envisioned a brilliant sprawling series of towering buildings that used beautiful combinations of Spanish and Mediterranean-themed architecture for its appearance. Construction began in 1907 and took the better part of three decades to finish. Nevertheless, the facility debuted to thunderous applause when it finally opened as the “Country Club Plaza” in 1923, becoming an overnight sensation throughout Kansas City. For decades, some of the finest shops operated from within the Country Club Plaza, such as Sear’s, Woolworth’s, Harzfeld’s, and Jack Henry’s Clothing. Many more unique businesses called the plaza home as well, like a bowling alley, movie theater, a grocery store, and several exclusive restaurants. Some entrepreneurs decided to open a few upscale apartments in the district, too, including the Villa Serena Apartments that the owners of the McCanles Building Company had developed. By the 1970s, the Country Club Plaza was regarded as one of Kansas City’s most popular shopping destinations. Dozens of high-end businesses fought to reserve a space in the center, including Polo Ralph Lauren, Saks Fifth Avenue, and FAO Schwarz. The Country Club Plaza continues to be rated among the best places to shop in the entire country, filled with many upscale vendors like Michael Kors, Cole Haan, and Tiffany & Co. All are sure to provide for hours of entertainment.

Kansas City itself is among the most historic cities in all of the United States, dating back to the first decades of the 19th century. French fur traders led by the Chouteau family traveled up the Missouri River from St. Louis to create a trading post in the area at the start of the 1820s. It was later joined by a rival settlement founded by John Calvin McCoy some ten years later called “West Port.” West Port gradually evolved into an important embarkation point for settlers eager to cross the Great Plains, serving as the starting location for those destined to travel along such famous historic frontier routes like the Santa Fe and Oregon trails. Enough people had moved to the area that the State of Missouri incorporated it as the “Town of Kansas” in 1850. (It then became a “city” some three years later.) It continued to play a major role in facilitating the settlement of the west, even as the political turmoil of the American Civil War tore at the very cultural fabric of its population. Given Missouri’s status as a slave state and its proximity to the Old Northwest, the city was fiercely divided between Confederate and Union sympathizers. Its significance as a gateway to the frontier also made it a strategic target for both the North and the South, with the notorious Confederate guerilla fighter, William C. Quantrill, conducting numerous raids in the vicinity throughout the war. The two sides ultimately clashed for complete control over the area in October of 1864, when a Union army led by General Samuel Curtis routed a Confederate one under the command of Sterling Price at the Battle of Westport. Fortunately, the city recovered swiftly once the conflict had ended, emerging as a prosperous manufacturing center, specifically for the meatpacking industry. Its population continued to swell, inspiring the community to re-charter itself as “Kansas City” in 1889. Kansas City remained an important socioeconomic center in the central United States, becoming home to Kansas City-style jazz music during the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression. Perhaps the greatest musician to popularize the aesthetic at the time was the great bandleader Count Basie, who played before sold-out crowds all over the city. Today, Kansas City has maintained its place as one of America’s most noteworthy destinations. It is home to countless cultural attractions, including The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Arabia Steamboat Museum, and the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial.

The Raphael Hotel was originally designed as the “Villa Serena Apartments” by noted architect Alonzo Gentry on behalf of the McCanles Building Company. Gentry desired to design the structure with Italian Renaissance Revival-style architecture, in order to integrate it more closely with the Spanish and Mediterranean-inspired buildings of the surrounding Country Club Plaza. The McCanles Building Company was specifically managed by two brothers, who, according to oral traditions, greatly distrusted one another. Some suspect that the presence of a peculiar eight-foot wall in the center of the building was a way of legally separating the two men once they started to supervise it together. Nevertheless, both men spared no expense in erecting the structure, spending a total of $8 million in today’s money to finance its completion—an astronomical number back in the 1920s. Italian Renaissance Revival architecture itself is a subset of a much large group of styles known simply as “Renaissance Revival.” Renaissance Revival architecture—sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance”—is a group of architecture revival styles that date back to the 19th century. Neither Grecian nor Gothic in their appearance, Renaissance Revival-style architecture drew inspiration from a wide range of structural motifs found throughout Early Modern Western Europe. Architects in France and Italy were the first to embrace the artistic movement, who saw the architectural forms of the European Renaissance as an opportunity to reinvigorate a sense of civic pride throughout their communities. As such, those intellectuals incorporated the colonnades and low-pitched roofs of Renaissance-era buildings, with the characteristics of Mannerist and Baroque-themed architecture. Perhaps the greatest structural component to a Renaissance Revival-style building involved the installation of a grand staircase in a vein similar to those located at the Château de Blois and the Château de Chambord. This particular feature served as a central focal point for the design, often directing guests to a magnificent lobby or exterior courtyard. Yet, the nebulous nature of Renaissance Revival architecture meant that its appearance varied widely across Europe. As such, historians today often find it difficult to provide a specific definition for the architectural movement.