View source for Architecture of St. Louis

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
[[Image:FromLacledesLanding.JPG|thumb|right|250px|View of the [[Gateway Arch|Arch]] from [[Laclede's Landing]].]]
The '''architecture of St. Louis''' exhibits a variety of commercial, residential, and monumental [[architecture]]. [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]] is known for the [[Gateway Arch]], the tallest [[monument]] constructed in the United States. Architectural influences reflected in the area include [[French Colonial]], [[Architecture of Germany|German]], [[Architecture of the United States|early American]], European influenced, French Second Empire, Victorian, and [[Modern architecture|modern architectural]] styles.

==Skyscrapers==
{{Further|List of tallest buildings in St. Louis}}
St. Louis was home to a cluster of [[early skyscrapers]] during the late 19th century. Two of Louis Sullivan's important early skyscrapers stand among a crop of similar office buildings and department stores built up between 1890 and 1915. His [[Wainwright Building]] (1891) features strong base-pediment-shaft massing and an insistently vertical pattern of ornament; his Union Trust Building of 1893 was stripped of its cave-like street-level ironwork in 1924.
[[File:Wainwright building st louis USA.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wainwright Building]] (1891) by [[Louis Sullivan]].]]
Beyond Sullivan's work, other significant downtown skyscrapers of those years were [[Railway Exchange Building (St. Louis)|Railway Exchange Building]] (1913) by [[John Mauran]], the Fagin Building by [[Charles Boss Clarke|Charles B. Clarke]], and the now-demolished [[Merchants Exchange Building (St. Louis)|Merchants Exchange Building]]. Some warehouse and factory buildings of the early 20th century have been transformed into local attractions, such as the International Shoe factory building and its renovation into the St. Louis [[City Museum]]. However, some buildings of significance have been demolished, such as the [[St. Louis Century Building]].

In [[Midtown St. Louis]], a group of theaters and skyscraper office buildings was constructed between the Central West End and downtown, such as the [[Gothic Revival]] [[Continental-Life Building]] (1929) and the [[Neo-Renaissance]] [[Fox Theatre (St. Louis)|Fox Theatre]] (1929). The Fox, designed by [[C. Howard Crane]], was an exuberant movie palace that once seated more than 5,000 and was the second-largest cinema in the United States. Since 1982, it has been used as a performance hall. Another venue in Midtown built in the 1920s is the [[Neoclassical architecture|Neo-classical]] [[Powell Symphony Hall]] (1925), formerly a cinema and vaudeville theater, now the home of the [[St. Louis Symphony]].

Some notable post-modern commercial skyscrapers were built downtown in the 1970s and 1980s, including the [[One US Bank Plaza]] (1976), the [[AT&T Center (St. Louis)|AT&T Center]] (1986), and [[One Metropolitan Square]] (1989), which is the tallest building in St. Louis. One US Bank Plaza, the local headquarters for [[US Bancorp]], was constructed for the Mercantile Bancorporation in the [[Structural expressionist]] style, emphasizing the steel structure of the building.

During the 1990s, St. Louis saw the construction of the largest United States courthouse by area, the [[Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse]] (completed in 2000). The Eagleton Courthouse is home to the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri]] and the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]]. The most recent high-rise buildings in St. Louis include four residential towers: the [[Park East Tower]] in the Central West End, [[The Tower at OPOP|The Tower at ŌPOP]] and [[Ballpark Village (St. Louis)|One Cardinal Way]] located downtown, and [[One Hundred Above the Park]] in the Central West End, the tallest building outside of downtown.

==Landmarks and monuments==
{{Further|Landmarks of St. Louis, Missouri}}
[[File:Basilica of St. Louis, France (color).jpeg|left|thumb|203x203px|[[Basilica of St. Louis, King of France]] (a.k.a. Old Cathedral)]]
Several examples of religious structures are extant from the pre-Civil War period, and most reflect the common residential styles of the time. Among the earliest is the [[Basilica of St. Louis, King of France]] (locally referred to as the ''Old Cathedral''). The Basilica was built between 1831 and 1834 in the Federal style. Other religious buildings from the period include SS. Cyril and Methodius Church (1857) in the Romanesque Revival style and [[Christ Church Cathedral (St. Louis, Missouri)|Christ Church Cathedral]] (completed in 1867, designed in 1859) in the Gothic Revival style.

Only a few civic buildings were constructed during the early 19th century. The original St. Louis courthouse was built in 1826 and featured a Federal-style stone facade with a rounded portico. However, this courthouse was replaced during the renovation and expansion of the building in the 1850s. The [[Old Courthouse (St. Louis, Missouri)|Old St. Louis County Courthouse]] (locally known as the ''Old Courthouse'') was completed in 1864 and was notable for having an early [[cast iron|cast-iron]] dome and for being the tallest structure in Missouri until 1894. Finally, a customs house was constructed in the Greek Revival style in 1852 but was demolished and replaced in 1873 by the [[United States Customhouse and Post Office (St. Louis, Missouri)|U.S. Customhouse and Post Office]].

Because much of the city's early commercial and industrial development was centered along the riverfront, many pre-Civil War buildings were demolished during the construction of the [[Gateway Arch]]. The city's remaining architectural heritage of the era includes a multi-block district of cobblestone streets and brick and cast-iron warehouses called [[Laclede's Landing]]. Now popular for its restaurants and nightclubs, the district is located north of [[Gateway Arch]] along the riverfront. Other industrial buildings from the era include some portions of the [[Anheuser–Busch#St. Louis headquarters and brewery|Anheuser-Busch Brewery]], which date to the early 1860s.
[[Image:City Hall, St. Louis, Missouri.jpg|left|240px|thumb|St. Louis City Hall, built in 1904]]

St. Louis saw a vast expansion in the variety and number of religious buildings during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The largest and most ornate of these is the [[Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis]], designed by [[Thomas P. Barnett]] and constructed between 1907 and 1914 in the [[Neo-Byzantine]] style. The St. Louis Cathedral, as it is known, has one of the largest mosaic collections in the world. Another landmark in the religious architecture of St. Louis is [[St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (St. Louis, Missouri)|St. Stanislaus Kostka]], which is an example of the [[Polish Cathedral style]]. Among the other major designs of the period were [[St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, St. Louis|St. Alphonsus Liguori]] (locally known as ''The Rock Church'') (1867) in the Gothic Revival and the [[Second Presbyterian Church (St. Louis, Missouri)|Second Presbyterian Church of St. Louis]] (1900) in [[Richardsonian Romanesque]].
[[Image:STLCentrallibrary.jpg|thumb|right|240px|The central branch of the St. Louis Public Library, designed by [[Cass Gilbert]] (1912)]]

Early in the 20th century (and during the years before and after the 1904 World's Fair), several churches moved to the Central West End neighborhood, near [[Forest Park (St. Louis, Missouri)|Forest Park]] and the fairgrounds. The neighborhood features the [[Holy Corners Historic District]], which is a concentration of several historic religious structures, such as the [[First Church of Christ, Scientist (St. Louis, Missouri)|First Church of Christ, Scientist]] (1904).

By the [[United States Census, 1900|1900 census]], St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country.  In 1904, the city hosted a [[world's fair]] at [[Forest Park (St. Louis, Missouri)|Forest Park]] called the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition]] with [[Brookings Hall]] of [[Washington University in St. Louis]] serving as its administrative center.  Its architectural legacy is somewhat scattered.  Among the fair-related cultural institutions in the park are the [[Saint Louis Art Museum]] designed by [[Cass Gilbert]], part of the remaining lagoon at the foot of Art Hill, and the Flight Cage at the [[St. Louis Zoo]].  The [[Missouri History Museum]] was built afterward, with the profit from the fair.  But 1904 left other assets to the city, like [[Theodore Link]]'s 1894 [[St. Louis Union Station]], and an improved [[Forest Park (St. Louis, Missouri)|Forest Park]].
[[File:1904 World's Fair Administration Building (Brookings Hall, Washington University) seen from the southeast with the Italian Pavilion in the foreground.jpg|thumb|[[Brookings Hall]] at [[Washington University in St. Louis]]]]
[[Louis Sullivan]] designed [[Wainwright Tomb|Charlotte Dickson Wainwright's tomb]] on the north side of [[Bellefontaine Cemetery]], surrounded by a collection of similar tombs for the great old St. Louis families, interesting for their late-[[Gilded Age]] artwork.

Shortly after the Civil War, St. Louis rapidly increased its school system and hospital system. One of the earliest structures and the oldest extant hospital building in St. Louis is the St. Louis Insane Asylum (now the [[Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center]]). The asylum is built of brick in the Italianate style, complete with a cast-iron dome and cupola reminiscent of the Old Courthouse.

As St. Louis expanded, the city hall was moved further west of downtown to its present location in 1904 (construction began in 1892). St. Louis City Hall, still in use, was designed by [[Harvey Ellis]] in the [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Renaissance Revival style]]. City Hall also is reminiscent of the famed [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris]], France.

Other significant civic buildings from the late 19th century and early 20th century include the [[United States Customhouse and Post Office (St. Louis, Missouri)|U.S. Customhouse and Post Office]] by [[Alfred B. Mullett]] (1873) and the stately [[St. Louis Public Library]] by [[Cass Gilbert]] (1912). The Old Post Office and the St. Louis Public Library have recently been renovated. In 1923 the city passed an $87 million bond issue for the re-development of the Civic Plaza along the lines of the [[City Beautiful]] movement.  This development resulted in some of St. Louis's major civic architecture:  the [[Soldiers' Memorial]], the [[Civil Courts Building]], and [[Kiel Auditorium]].
[[File:Gateway Arch (St. Louis).jpg|thumb|The southern half of the [[Downtown St. Louis]] skyline behind the [[Gateway Arch]] (center.)]]
Then into the 1940s and 1950s, a certain subgenre of St. Louis modernism emerged, with the locally important [[Harris Armstrong]], and a series of daring modern civic landmarks like [[Gyo Obata]]'s [[St. Louis Science Center|Planetarium]], the geodesic-dome [[Climatron]], and the main terminal building at [[Lambert-St. Louis International Airport]]. The [[Poplar Street Bridge]], a 647-foot (197 m) long (197m) deck [[girder bridge]], was built in 1967 and continues to carry three [[Interstates]] and one [[U.S. route]]. St. Louis also was the headquarters for postwar modernist bank designer [[Wenceslaus Sarmiento]], whose major work in St. Louis is the Chancery Building (1965) on the grounds of the [[Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis]]. The culmination of St. Louis modern architecture is [[Eero Saarinen]]'s magnificent stainless-steel gesture, the [[Gateway Arch]], centerpiece of the {{convert|91|acre|m2|adj=on}} riverside [[Jefferson National Expansion Memorial]].

==Residential forms==
{{Further|Neighborhoods of St. Louis}}
The earliest buildings in St. Louis were constructed in the French Colonial style. Although Spain took possession of the [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana territory]] in 1764 via the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)]] and the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]] (and defended against a [[Louisiana Rebellion of 1768|French rebellion in 1768]]), St. Louis remained largely a refuge for French settlers. Hence, St. Louis remained largely a refuge for French architecture well into the late 18th century. Three distinct types of residential construction existed in early St. Louis, all of which reflected a French influence. The most common was the French Colonial [[log home|vertical-log house]], constructed of [[palisade]]d wood beams for walls. Roofs consisted of [[thatching|thatch]] or [[wood shingle]]s. According to the St. Louis Preservation Commission, at least two-thirds of St. Louis homes in the late 18th century were of this type.

The second type was a [[frame house]], usually in the [[Timber frame#The Canadian tradition|French colonial tradition]]. Such homes were built in the [[poteaux-sur-sol]] (posts on sill) method, in which a wood-frame home was built on a heavy wood sill set atop a masonry and rock foundation. Roofing was similar to the palisaded homes.
[[Image:First Catholic church in St Louis Missouri.jpg|thumbnail|left|240px|The first Catholic church in St. Louis, built in 1770, later replaced with the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France]]
[[Image:First Courthouse, St. Louis, Missouri.jpg|thumbnail|right|240px|Postcard photograph of a building from early St. Louis, showing palisade wall construction]]

The third style of early St. Louis homes was a rock house. Only the wealthiest St. Louisans might afford a home built entirely of rock walls with a masonry foundation due to the difficulty of construction. The earliest house in St. Louis, the home of [[Pierre Laclede]], was made of rock. Similar to the palisade and post-in-sill homes, rock houses tended to have steeply pitched roofs with a gradual slope on galleries and porches.

[[Image:Shaw house tg.jpg|thumb|240px|left|[[Tower Grove House]], built in 1849 for [[Henry Shaw (botanist)|Henry Shaw]]]]

===Rural houses===
The earliest American homes in St. Louis were crude, usually of log construction. Outlying homes in the farmlands were minimally ornamented and were usually of one or two-room construction. However, some rural homes were of the [[I-house]] style or were built with central hallways connecting a two-room house. Such rural homes often were overtaken by the rapidly expanding city and demolished. However, some rural homes were more developed and became integrated into the [[street grid]] of St. Louis.

The more developed rural homes in early St. Louis often bear the mark of the [[Federal Style]], with simple and symmetrical façades,
shuttered windows, and minimal ornament. Although many such homes were built, only a handful survive. Among these is the [[Lewis Bissell House]] (1820), now a restaurant and banquet facility.

Other rural styles found in early St. Louis included [[Greek Revival]], [[Italianate]], and [[Gothic Revival]]. The [[Chatillon-DeMenil House]] (1849) was originally constructed in the Federal Style, only later to be rebuilt and enlarged in Greek Revival. One of the more notable rural Italianate homes in St. Louis was [[Tower Grove House]] (designed by [[George I. Barnett]] in 1849), built in what was then [[Henry Shaw (botanist)|Henry Shaw]]'s garden, later becoming [[Missouri Botanical Garden]].

Other early influences included German architecture, specifically the [[Timber framing#The German tradition|fachwerk]] construction method. Fachwerk construction generally has been enclosed in wooden siding, making such homes appear to be traditional frame homes. Because of the relative difficulty of fachwerk construction, few homes were built after 1840 using the technique. Almost all examples of fachwerk construction exist within the Soulard or Carondelet neighborhoods. German immigrants also brought with them a tradition of stone house construction, with several examples remaining in the Carondelet neighborhood.

[[Image:Eugene Field House, 634 South Broadway, Saint Louis (St. Louis City County, Missouri).jpg|thumb|240px|right|[[Eugene Field House (St. Louis, Missouri)|Eugene Field House]], built as a townhouse in 1829]]

===Urban houses===
The majority of urban homes were of the townhouse type (also known as [[terraced house|terraced housing]]). Similar in style to the country homes of the same period, urban homes in St. Louis were of the Greek Revival, Federal and Italianate styles. Many homes in St. Louis were constructed in a vernacular blending of these forms, even in then-fashionable areas such as Lucas Park or [[Lafayette Square, St. Louis|Lafayette Square]]. Among the homes with a blended style is the [[Joseph Campbell House]] (1851), which has been renovated and operated as a museum. Another of Henry Shaw's homes, the [[Henry Shaw City House]] (1851), was a prime example of a mixture of Federal and Italianate styles in the city. The Shaw City House later was moved to the Missouri Botanical Garden in the 1890s. One of the oldest extant townhouses in the city is the [[Eugene Field House (St. Louis, Missouri)|Eugene Field House]] (1829).

Some less ornamented urban house designs also originated in the pre-Civil War period. These include a variety of [[shotgun house]]s, narrow-front houses with side entry, and [[flounder house]]s. St. Louis is home to a large collection of flounder houses, which are narrow homes with side entry but having a sloped roof moving from a side wall to another side wall, often with the gable facing the street. In the working-class neighborhoods of St. Louis where space was at a premium, tenement houses often faced a street while flounder houses faced an alleyway on the same lot.

St. Louis' residential stock expanded dramatically during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Like many other cities, St. Louis has its share of Victorian homes, including a fair number of [[Second Empire (architecture)|Second Empire-style]] homes in [[Lafayette Square, St. Louis|Lafayette Square]]. During the late 19th century, St. Louis became significant in [[urban design]] for its [[private place]]s, residential developments with large mansions with commonly owned facilities like streets and gardens. Dating from between 1865 and 1910, many of these developments remain well-preserved and functioning private enclaves.

Among the significant styles found in the private places are [[Chateauesque]], [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] (at No. 9 Portland Place, built in 1897), [[Tudor Revival]] (at No. 1 Hortense Place), and [[Jacobethan]] (at No. 28 Portland Place, built in 1919). However, new styles of architecture were not confined to private developments. In areas further west, St. Louis homes show the influence of the [[Arts and Crafts Movement]] and the [[Prairie style]] (especially within what is now the West Cabanne Place Historic District).

After World War I, many new homes began to reflect the [[Colonial Revival architecture|Colonial Revival]] style, with traditional brick, dormers, cornices, and strict symmetry. A prime example of St. Louis Colonial Revival is located at 47 Portland Place. Much of St. Louis' working-class housing in the 1920s and 1930s were [[bungalow]]s, which appear throughout south St. Louis. At the same time, the central corridor extending west from downtown saw an increase in low-rise and high-rise apartment buildings.

Some of the more opulent residential architecture of the 1920s and 1930s was among these apartments and hotels. The [[Central West End]] neighborhood features several examples, including the [[Chase Park Plaza Hotel]] (built in 1931 in the [[Art Deco]] style) and Hampden Hall (built in 1925 in [[Neo-Renaissance]] style).

Few civic buildings existed during the French period, during which time government business often was conducted at the home of the governor (usually the home of Pierre Laclede). The first (and only) religious structure was a palisaded church now, built circa 1770, which was replaced in the early 1810s (and replaced again in 1834 by the [[Basilica of St. Louis, King of France]]).

After the [[Louisiana Purchase|sale of Louisiana]] (including St. Louis) to the United States in 1804, more Americans began moving to the village. These Americans built homes of frame construction prior to the mid-1810s, but after this point, began building using [[brick]]. Some photographs exist of these early structures and of French residences from the 18th century; however, no examples of colonial-era structures are known to exist in St. Louis.

== Urban renewal and preservation ==
After the 1950s, suburban expansion reduced the commercial and residential density of the city, while in 1957, nearby [[Clayton, Missouri]] eliminated its height limitations on buildings. Clayton, which is the [[county seat]] of [[St. Louis County, Missouri]], became an alternative to downtown St. Louis for commercial construction in the 1960s and 1970s. Various [[urban renewal]] projects cleared several low-income areas of St. Louis for residential housing projects.

The first of these projects was the relatively successful [[Cochran Gardens]], constructed in 1953 and home to white residents until 1956 when the project was integrated. Shortly after the construction of [[Cochran Gardens]], the later-infamous [[Pruitt–Igoe]] project replaced the DeSoto-Carr neighborhood with its 33 eleven-story towers. By the mid-to-late 1960s, these projects had become decayed themselves. Although Pruitt–Igoe was designed by [[Minoru Yamasaki]] with several innovative living features, the project ultimately was demolished in the 1970s. Although Cochran Gardens' management was turned over to a tenant association in 1976, it later returned to city control in the 1990s and was demolished in 2008 after several years of decay.

In recent years, several organizations have attempted to promote the [[Historic preservation|preservation]] of historic structures of St. Louis. These include the Landmarks Association of St. Louis (a private organization operating since the 1960s) and the Cultural Resource Office (a city government agency that maintains a [[Landmarks of St. Louis, Missouri|list of St. Louis city landmarks]]). Another organization that works to preserve existing structures but pioneered in salvaging important elements prior to demolition or major remodels is the [[National Building Arts Center]].

== Architects of St. Louis ==
* [[Harris Armstrong]]
* [[George I. Barnett]]
* [[Thomas P. Barnett]]
* [[William Bernoudy]]
* [[Charles Boss Clarke|Charles B. Clarke]]
* [[Eames and Young]]
* [[William B. Ittner]]
* [[George Kessler]], city planner
* [[Theodore Link]]
* [[John Mauran]]
* [[Gyo Obata]] of [[Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum|HOK]]

== Images ==
{{wide image|St. Louis skyline September 2008.jpg|1000px|Downtown St. Louis skyline|alt=Panorama of city skyline with large grey arch in the center, a grey-blue river in the foreground, and numerous skyscrapers in the background}}

<gallery>
File:Cathedral-basilica-of-saint-louis.jpg|[[Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis]]
File:Climatron, Missouri Botanical Gardens.jpg|the [[Climatron]]
File:Wainwright Building, 2007, 2.jpg|the [[Wainwright Building]]
File:Washington terrace gate st. louis.jpg|[[Washington Terrace (St. Louis)]]
File:Compton Hill Water Tower.jpg|The [[Compton Hill Reservoir Park|Compton Hill Water Tower]]
File:McDonnell-Planetarium.jpg|[[St. Louis Science Center]]
File:WashU Bryan Hall.jpg|Bryan Hall in [[Washington University in St. Louis]]
File:Stlouis-grand.jpg|[[St. Louis Union Station]] Grand Hall
File:StLouisArchMultExpCDR.jpg|[[Gateway Arch]] from the mall
File:City House in Grand Center.jpg|City House in [[Grand Center]], [[Second Empire (architecture)|Second Empire style]] [[townhouse]]
File:STL North Grand Water Tower.JPG|Old [[Grand Avenue Water Tower]], 1871
File:STL Bissell and Blair Water Tower 01.JPG|the [[Bissell Street Water Tower]]
File:LafayetteSquareHouses.jpg|Rows of [[Lafayette Square, St. Louis|Lafayette Square]] townhouses surround the city's oldest public park
File:Metropolitan Police Department headquarters, St. Louis, Missouri.jpg|Picture of the [[Metropolitan Police Department, City of St. Louis]] Police Headquarters.
File:Danforth University Center.JPG|[[Danforth University Center]] in [[Washington University in St. Louis]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Caves of St. Louis]]
* [[History of St. Louis, Missouri]]
* [[List of public art in St. Louis]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis (city, A-L)]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis (city, M–Z)]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis County, Missouri]]
* [[Streetcars in St. Louis]]

== External links ==
* [http://www.builtstlouis.net/ Extensive archive of descriptions and photos of St. Louis architecture]

{{St. Louis, Missouri}}
{{Architecture of North America}}
{{Architecture in the United States}}

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