See inside 2109 S. Country Club Drive, built for Lakenan and Matilda Price
GUEST POST: By Stephen Bybee, chair of the City’s Historic Preservation Commission, and researched by Deb Sheals, an architectural historian with more than 30 years of experience.
CoMo Preservation cooperates with the city’s Historic Preservation Commission as part of our mission to increase awareness of the importance of historic preservation. HPC will be posting about the 2023 Most Notable Properties List leading up to its mid-January 2024 reveal of properties to be listed. Subscribe to the HPC’s blog here.
2023 Most Notable Property: French Eclectic: 2109 S. Country Club Drive, built for Lakenan and Matilda Price
This house features a formal and symmetrical exterior, by design. It was designed and built by local architect J.B. Tracy. He completed the blueprints for the home in 1925, and work on the home started later in the 1920s.
Lakenan was an attorney in Columbia and a veteran of WWI. He and his wife Matilda purchased the lot for the home from Berry McAlester. The home was designed in what was referred to as the “French Eclectic” style and originally featured a clay tile roof.
Below is the detailed property information prepared by Deb Sheals for the Columbia Historic Preservation Commission:
This is one of the first houses constructed along the edges of the golf course at the Columbia Country Club. It was designed and built for Lakenan and Matilda Price, founding members of the Columbia Country Club. Lakenan Moss Price was a WWI veteran and prominent Columbia attorney. His son, Albert Price, who grew up in this house, later became owner and president of Boone County Bank.
The Columbia Country Club was the first country club in the city. Talk of a local country club began as early as 1915 but it was 1921 before club members were able to purchase enough land for a golf course and clubhouse. The club opened on the Fourth of July 1921 and soon became a popular setting for social functions and meetings. In the 1920s, it was one of the few Columbia establishments to serve alcohol. The new club also boasted a professionally designed golf course. L. M. Price was a member of the Country Club golf team, which traveled and competed with other clubs in the state. His neighbor D. B. Robnett, was also on the team. (The Robnett house at 2105 S. Country Club Drive is also a 2023 Most Notable Property.)
The original plans for the house show that it was designed specifically for the Price family. They are titled, “L. M. Price Residence, J. B. Tracy, Architect, Columbia, MO.” (Little information about Tracy has been found to date.) The house features simple French Eclectic styling. It retains many features shown on the original plans, including a wide symmetrical façade, with a leaded glass window set above the central front door. The roofline also features original shaped rafter ends and copper gutters and downspouts. When new, the house had clay tile roofing that the plans called for being laid in a “French Pattern.” Most of those tiles were replaced in recent decades, but a few are still in place on the shoulders of the original east chimney.
Original interior features include a carved stone mantel, wrought iron stair railings, and ornamental door hardware. A bank of cabinets in the newly redone kitchen includes cabinet doors salvaged from historic cabinets in the house.
The current owners enjoy much the same view as the Price family—a large patio at the back of the house overlooks the golf course where L. M. Price competed with the Columbia Country Club golf team nearly a century ago.
CoMo Preservation is devoted to helping homeowners, landlords, and institutions prevent the destruction of historic architecture. Original period styles might be replicated, but will forever lack the social history of authentic structures. The preservation of historic places and spaces is necessary for Columbia’s residents, students, and visitors to achieve a sense of place and also for our city’s continued economic success.
Questions? Email CoMoPreservation@gmail.com