Architecture of St. Louis - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The architecture of St. Louis exhibits a variety of commercial, residential, and monumental architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

. St. Louis is known for the Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States...

, the tallest monument

Monument

A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...

constructed in the USA. Architectural influences reflected in the area include French Colonial

French Colonial

French Colonial a style of architecture used by the French during colonization. Many French colonies, especially those in South-East Asia, have previously been reluctant to promote their colonial architecture as an asset for tourism, however in recent times, the new-generation of local authorities...

, German

Architecture of Germany

The architecture of Germany has a long, rich and diverse history. It is characterized by a high degree of regional diversity, caused by centuries of fragmentation of Germany into principalities and kingdoms. This made for a heterogeneous and diverse architectural style, with architectural...

, early American

Architecture of the United States

The architecture of the United States demonstrates a broad variety of architectural styles and built forms over the country's history of over four centuries....

, and modern architectural

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...

styles.

Skyscrapers

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

Wainwright Building

The Wainwright Building is a 10-story red brick office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The Wainwright Building is among the first skyscrapers in the world. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in the Palazzo style and built between 1890 and 1891...

(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.

Beyond Sullivan's work, other significant downtown skyscrapers of those years were Railway Exchange Building

Railway Exchange Building (St. Louis)

The Railway Exchange Building is a , 21-story high-rise office building in St. Louis, Missouri connected to the now-defunct One City Center mall. The 1914 steel-frame building is in the Chicago school architectural style, and was designed by architect Mauran, Russell & Crowell...

(1913) by John Mauran

John Mauran

John Lawrence Mauran, FAIA was an American architect responsible for many downtown landmarks in St. Louis, Missouri, and also active in Texas.- Life :...

and the now-demolished Merchants Exchange Building

Merchants Exchange Building (St. Louis)

The Merchants Exchange Building was a building at Third Street at Chestnut and Pine in St. Louis, Missouri from 1875 to 1958 that housed the St. Louis Merchants Exchange and hosted the 1876 Democratic National Convention....

. 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

City Museum

City Museum is a museum, consisting largely of repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building in the Washington Avenue Loft District of St...

. However, some buildings of significance have been demolished, such as the St. Louis Century Building

St. Louis Century Building

The Century Building, designed by Raeder, Coffin, and Crocker and completed in 1896, was a 10-story Classical Revival historic building in downtown St. Louis, Missouri that was used for offices, retail, and a 1600-seat theatre. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October...

.

In Midtown St. Louis

Midtown St. Louis

Midtown St. Louis is three miles west of the St. Louis, Missouri riverfront at the crossroads of Grand Boulevard and Lindell Boulevard. It includes the campus of Saint Louis University and the Grand Center arts district.-Historic status:...

, 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

Continental-Life Building

The Continental-Life Building, also known as the Continental Building, is an Art Deco skyscraper in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, which was completed in 1930. The building is located in Grand Center in St...

(1929) and the Neo-Renaissance

Neo-Renaissance

Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...

Fox Theatre

Fox Theatre (St. Louis)

The Fox Theatre, a former movie palace, is a performing arts center located at 527 N. Grand Blvd. in St. Louis, Missouri. Also known as "The Fabulous Fox", it is situated in the arts district of the Grand Center area in Midtown St. Louis, one block north of Saint Louis University...

(1929). The Fox, designed by C. Howard Crane

C. Howard Crane

Charles Howard Crane was an American architect.Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Crane established a practice in Detroit, Michigan early in the 20th Century. Like Thomas W. Lamb and John Eberson, Crane specialized in the design of movie palaces in North American...

, 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 Neo-classical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

Powell Symphony Hall

Powell Symphony Hall is the home of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. It was named after Walter S. Powell, a local St. Louis businessman, whose widow donated $1 million towards the purchase and use of this hall by the symphony...

(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

One US Bank Plaza

One US Bank Plaza is a 36-story building in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The building is topped by an antenna that raises the total building to . In the 1990s the Ambassador Building next to it was razed and became part of the building's plaza.The building has a Structural Expressionism style...

(1976), the AT&T Center

AT&T Center (St. Louis)

One AT&T Center is a 44-story building in downtown St. Louis, Missouri on Chestnut Street on the Gateway Mall. It is Missouri's largest building by area with . It is located...

(1986), and One Metropolitan Square

One Metropolitan Square

One Metropolitan Square, also known as Met Square, or Met 1, is a skyscraper completed in 1989 in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. At , it is the tallest building in the city, and second tallest building in Missouri behind One Kansas City Place in Kansas City...

(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

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri is a trial level federal district court based in St. Louis, Missouri, with jurisdiction over fifty counties in the eastern half of Missouri. The court is one of ninety-four district-level courts which make up the first tier of...

and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Arkansas* Western District of Arkansas...

. The most recent high-rise buildings in St. Louis include two residential towers: the Park East Tower in the Central West End and the Roberts Tower located in downtown.

Landmarks and monuments

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

Basilica of St. Louis, King of France

The Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, formerly the Cathedral of Saint Louis, and colloquially the Old Cathedral, was the first cathedral west of the Mississippi River and until 1845 the only parish church in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of two Catholic basilicas in St...

(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

Christ Church Cathedral (St. Louis, Missouri)

Christ Church Cathedral in Saint Louis, Missouri was designed by architect Leopold Eidlitz and built between 1859 and 1867. The Gothic revival structure was an expression of the city's sense of its significance as the United States expanded westwards...

(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 renovation and expansion of the building in the 1850s. The 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

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

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 U.S. Customhouse and Post Office

United States Customhouse and Post Office (St. Louis, Missouri)

The U.S. Custom House and Post Office is a court house in St. Louis, Missouri.It was designed by architects Alfred B. Mullett, William Appleton Potter, and James G. Hill, and was constructed between 1873 and 1884. Located at the intersection of Eighth and Olive Streets, it is one of three surviving...

.

Because much of the city's early commercial and industrial development was centered along the riverfront, many pre-Civil War buildings were demolished during construction of the Gateway Arch

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

Laclede's Landing

Laclède's Landing is a popular attraction located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.Located just north of the Eads Bridge on the Mississippi Riverfront, the Landing is a multi-block collection of cobblestone streets and vintage brick-and-cast-iron warehouses dating from 1850 through 1900, now...

. Now popular for its restaurants and nightclubs, the district is located north of Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

along the riverfront. Other industrial buildings from the era include some portions of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, which date to the early 1860s.
St. Louis saw a vast expansion in 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

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, also known as the Saint Louis Cathedral or the New Cathedral, was completed in 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri, as the archdiocesan replacement for the Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France...

, designed by Thomas P. Barnett

Thomas P. Barnett

Thomas P. Barnett , also known professionally as Tom Barnett and Tom P. Barnett, was an American architect and painter from St. Louis, Missouri. Barnett was nationally recognized for both his work in architecture and in painting.-Architectural work:Barnett trained under his father, St. Louis...

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 religious architecture of St. Louis is the St. Stanislaus Kostka, which is an example of the Polish Cathedral style

Polish Cathedral style

The Polish Cathedral architectural style is a North American genre of Catholic church architecture found throughout the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic regions as well as in parts of New England...

. Among the other major designs of the period were St. Alphonsus Liguori (locally known as The Rock Church) (1867) in the Gothic Revival and Second Presbyterian Church of St. Louis (1900) in Richardsonian Romanesque

Richardsonian Romanesque

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...

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 and the fairgrounds. The neighborhood features the Holy Corners Historic District

Holy Corners Historic District

Holy Corners Historic District, so named because of its concentration of early 20th century churches, temples and other large buildings of public assembly, is located on both sides of North Kingshighway Boulevard between and including Westminster Place and Washington Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri...

, which is a concentration of several historic religious structures, such as the First Church of Christ, Scientist

First Church of Christ, Scientist (St. Louis, Missouri)

First Church of Christ, Scientist, is an historic Christian Science church edifice located at 475 North Kingshighway Boulevard , corner of Westminster Place, in St. Louis, Missouri...

(1904).

By the 1900 census

United States Census, 1900

The Twelfth United States Census, conducted by the Census Office on June 1, 1900, determined the resident population of the United States to be 76,212,168, an increase of 21.0 percent over the 62,979,766 persons enumerated during the 1890 Census....

, St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country. In 1904, the city hosted a world's fair

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

at Forest Park called the Louisiana Purchase Exposition

Louisiana Purchase Exposition

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...

. Its architectural legacy is somewhat scattered. Among the fair-related cultural institutions in the park are the Saint Louis Art Museum

Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the principal U.S. art museums, visited by up to a half million people every year. Admission is free through a subsidy from the cultural tax district for St. Louis City and County.Located in Forest Park in St...

Cass Gilbert

- Historical impact :Gilbert is considered a skyscraper pioneer; when designing the Woolworth Building he moved into unproven ground — though he certainly was aware of the ground-breaking work done by Chicago architects on skyscrapers and once discussed merging firms with the legendary Daniel...

, part of the remaining lagoon at the foot of Art Hill, and the Flight Cage at the St. Louis Zoo. The Missouri History Museum

Missouri History Museum

The Missouri History Museum is located in St. Louis, Missouri in Forest Park. The museum is operated by the Missouri Historical Society and was founded in 1866...

was built afterward, with the profit from the fair. But 1904 left other assets to the city, like Theodore Link

Theodore Link

Theodore C. Link, FAIA, was a German-American architect.Born in Germany, Link trained in engineering at the University of Heidelberg and, later, at the Ecole Centrale in Paris before emigrating to the United States. He moved to St. Louis in 1873 to work for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad...

's 1894 St. Louis Union Station

St. Louis Union Station

St. Louis Union Station, a National Historic Landmark, is a passenger train terminal in St. Louis, Missouri. Once the world's largest and busiest train station, it was converted in the early 1980s into a luxury hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex...

, and an improved Forest Park.

Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan

Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...

designed Charlotte Dickson Wainwright's tomb in the Bellefontaine side of the Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries

Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries

Bellefontaine Cemetery and the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri are adjacent burial grounds, which have numerous historic and extravagant tombstones and mausoleums. They are the necropolis for a number of prominent local and state politicians, as well as soldiers of the...

on the north side, surrounded by a collection of similar tombs for the great old St. Louis families, interesting for their late-Gilded Age

Gilded Age

In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...

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 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

Harvey Ellis

Harvey Ellis was an architect, perspective renderer and painter. He worked in Rochester, New York; Utica, New York; St. Paul, Minnesota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; St. Joseph, Missouri; St...

in the Renaissance Revival style. City Hall also is reminiscent of the famed Hotel de Ville

Hôtel de Ville, Paris

The Hôtel de Ville |City Hall]]) in :Paris, France, is the building housing the City of Paris's administration. Standing on the place de l'Hôtel de Ville in the city's IVe arrondissement, it has been the location of the municipality of Paris since 1357...

in Paris, France.

Other significant civic buildings from the late 19th century and early 20th century include the U.S. Customhouse and Post Office

United States Customhouse and Post Office (St. Louis, Missouri)

by Alfred B. Mullett

Alfred B. Mullett

Alfred Bult Mullett was an American architect who served from 1866 to 1874 as Supervising Architect, head of the agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings...

(1873) and the stately St. Louis Public Library

St. Louis Public Library

The St. Louis Public Library is a municipal public library system in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It operates sixteen locations, including the main Central Library location. Although similarly named, the St. Louis Public Library is unrelated to the St...

by Cass Gilbert

Cass Gilbert

(1912). While the Old Post Office has been renovated, the St. Louis Public Library is slated for renovation as of 2010. In 1923 the city passed a $87 million bond issue for 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

Soldiers' Memorial

The Soldiers' Memorial in downtown St. Louis is a memorial and military museum, at 1315 Chestnut Street, operated by the St. Louis Board of Public Service. Interior east and west wings contain display cases with military displays and memorabilia from World War I and subsequent American wars.The...

, the Civil Courts Building

Civil Courts Building

The Civil Courts Building is a landmark court building used by the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri in St. Louis, Missouri.The building with its pyramid shaped roof is prominently featured in the center of photos of the Gateway Arch from the Illinois side as its location on the Memorial...

, and Kiel Auditorium

Kiel Auditorium

Kiel Auditorium was an indoor arena, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It was the home of the Saint Louis University basketball team and hosted the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, from 1955-1968....

.

Then into the 1940s and 1950s a certain sub-genre of St. Louis modernism emerged, with the locally important Harris Armstrong

Harris Armstrong

Harris Armstrong was an American regional modernist architect, considered the dean of modernists active in St. Louis, Missouri.After working in the office of Raymond Hood in the 1930s, Armstrong returned to St...

, and a series of daring modern civic landmarks like Gyo Obata

Gyo Obata

Gyo Obata is a significant American architect, the son of renowned painter Chiura Obata and his wife, Haruko Obata, a floral designer. In 1955, he co-founded global architectural firm HOK . He lives in St. Louis, Missouri and still works in HOK's St. Louis office...

's Planetarium

St. Louis Science Center

The Saint Louis Science Center is a collection of buildings including a science museum and planetarium in St. Louis, Missouri, on the southeastern corner of Forest Park. The Planetarium opened in 1963, and it was expanded and renamed as the Saint Louis Science Center in 1983...

, the geodesic-dome Climatron

Climatron

The Climatron is a greenhouse enclosed in a geodesic dome that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Initiated by then Garden director Frits W. Went the dome is the world's first completely air-conditioned greenhouse and the first geodesic dome to be enclosed in rigid Plexiglass ...

, and the main terminal building at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is a Class B international airport serving Greater St. Louis. It is located approximately northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporated St. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state with 250 daily...

. The Poplar Street Bridge

Poplar Street Bridge

The Poplar Street Bridge, officially the Bernard F. Dickmann Bridge, completed in 1967, is a long deck girder bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois...

, a 647-foot (197 m) long (197m) deck girder bridge

Girder bridge

A girder bridge, in general, is a bridge built of girders placed on bridge abutments and foundation piers. In turn, a bridge deck is built on top of the girders in order to carry traffic. There are several different subtypes of girder bridges:...

, 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

Wenceslaus Sarmiento

Wenceslaus Sarmiento, also known as W.A. Sarmiento is a Peruvian-born American modernist architect.Sarmiento studied in various locations in South America, for eighteen months in the office of Oscar Niemeyer, before coming to the United States...

, whose major work in St. Louis is the Chancery Building (1965) on the grounds of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

. The culmination of St. Louis modern architecture is Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...

's magnificent stainless-steel gesture, the Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

, centerpiece of the 91 acres (368,264.3 m²) riverside Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service .The park was established to...

Residential forms

The earliest buildings in St. Louis were constructed in the French Colonial style. Although Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

took possession of the Louisiana territory

Louisiana (New France)

Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...

in 1764 via the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)

Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)

The Treaty of Fontainebleau was a secret agreement in which France ceded Louisiana to Spain. The treaty followed the last battle in the French and Indian War, the Battle of Signal Hill in September 1762, which confirmed British control of Canada. However, the associated Seven Years War continued...

and the Treaty of Paris (1763)

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

(and defended against a 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 vertical-log house

Log home

A log home is structurally identical to a log cabin...

, constructed of palisade

Palisade

A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...

d wood beams for walls. Roofs consisted of thatch

Thatching

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...

or wood shingle

Wood shingle

Wood shingles are roof shingles made of cut wood, used for roofing material. Such roofing material made from split wood is referred to as "shakes"....

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 French colonial tradition. Such homes were built in the poteaux sur solle (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.

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

Pierre Laclède

Pierre Laclède or Pierre Laclède Liguest was a French fur trader who, with his young assistant and "stepson" Auguste Chouteau, founded St...

, 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.

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

I-house

The I-house is a vernacular house type, popular in the United States from the colonial period onward. The I-house was so named in the 1930s by Fred Kniffen, a specialist in folk architecture who identified and analyzed the type in his 1936 study of Louisiana house types...

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 facades,
shuttered windows, and minimal ornament. Although many such homes were built, only a handful survive. Among these is the Lewis Bissell House (1830), 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

Chatillon-DeMenil House

The Chatillon-DeMenil House, located at 3325 DeMenil Place in Soulard, St. Louis, Missouri, was begun in 1848 for the pioneer Henry Chatillon, then enlarged to its present form by prominent St. Louis businessman Nicolas DeMenil from 1855 to 1863...

(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

George I. Barnett

George Ingham Barnett was an architect from St. Louis, Missouri. He was called The Dean of St. Louis Architecture for his contributions to the buildings of St. Louis as well as for his influence on other architects in the United States....

in 1849), built in what was then Henry Shaw

Henry Shaw (botanist)

Henry Shaw was a philanthropist and is best known as the founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden.-Early life:...

's garden, later becoming Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder Henry Shaw, a botanist and philanthropist.-History:...

.

Other early influences included German architecture, specifically the 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.

Urban houses

The majority of urban homes were of the townhouse type (also known as terraced housing

Terraced house

In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...

). 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

Lafayette Square, St. Louis

Lafayette Square is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri that is bounded on the north by Chouteau Avenue, on the south by Interstate 44, on the east by Truman Parkway and on the west by South Jefferson Avenue. It surrounds Lafayette Park, which is the city's oldest public park, created by...

. 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 (1829).

Some less ornamented urban house designs also originated in the pre-Civil War period. These include a variety of shotgun house

Shotgun house

The shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than 12 feet wide, with doors at each end. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War , through the 1920s. Alternate names include shotgun shack,...

s, narrow-front houses with side entry, and flounder houses. 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 style homes in Lafayette Square

Lafayette Square, St. Louis

. During the late 19th century, St. Louis became significant in urban design

Urban design

Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...

for its private place

Private place

A private place is a self-governing enclave whose common areas are owned by the residents, and whose services are provided by the private sector....

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

Châteauesque

Châteauesque is one of several terms, including Francis I style, and, in Canada, the Château Style, that refer to a revival architectural style based on the French Renaissance architecture of the monumental French country homes built in the Loire Valley from the late fifteenth century to the...

, Beaux-Arts (at No. 9 Portland Place, built in 1897), Tudor Revival (at No. 1 Hortense Place), and Jacobethan

Jacobethan

Jacobethan is the style designation coined in 1933 by John Betjeman to describe the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance , with elements of Elizabethan and...

(at No. 28 Portland Place, built in 1919). However, new styles of architecture were not confined to the private developments. In areas further west, St. Louis homes show the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement

Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

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

Colonial Revival architecture

The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

style, with traditional brick, dormers, cornices and a 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

Bungalow

A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...

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

Chase Park Plaza Hotel

The Chase Park Plaza, located at 212 N. Kingshighway in the Central West End, St. Louis, Missouri, is a combination of two buildings housing a condominium tower , hotel , cinema, and several restaurants and bars, all constructed between 1920 and 1930.The hotel replaced nearby Buckingham Hotel as...

(built in 1931 in the Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

style) and Hampden Hall (built in 1925 in Neo-Renaissance

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

Basilica of St. Louis, King of France

).

After the sale of Louisiana

Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...

(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

Brick

A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...

. 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

After the 1950s, suburban expansion reduced the commercial and residential density of the city, while in the early 1960s, nearby Clayton, Missouri

Clayton, Missouri

Clayton is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis and the county seat of St. Louis County, Missouri. The population was 15,939 at the 2010 census. The city was organized in 1877 and is named after Ralph Clayton, who donated the land for the courthouse.-Geography:...

eliminated its height limitations on buildings. Clayton, which is the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

of St. Louis County, Missouri

St. Louis County, Missouri

St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...

, became an alternative to downtown St. Louis for commercial construction in the 1960s and 1970s. Various urban renewal

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

projects cleared several low-income areas of St. Louis for residential housing projects.

The first of these projects was the relatively successful Cochran Gardens

Cochran Gardens

Cochran Gardens was a public housing complex on the near north side of downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Constructed in 1952 and occupied until 2006, it was famous for its residents' innovative form of tenant-led management. In 1976, Cochran Gardens became one of the first U.S...

, constructed in 1953 and home to white residents until 1956, when the project was integrated. Shortly after the construction of Cochran Gardens

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

Minoru Yamasaki

was a Japanese-American architect, best known for his design of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, buildings 1 and 2. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century...

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 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 which maintains a list of St. Louis city landmarks

Landmarks of St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis Landmark is a designation of the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis for historic buildings and other sites in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, such as whether the site is a cultural resource, near a cultural...

Architects of St. Louis

John Mauran
John Mauran
John Lawrence Mauran, FAIA was an American architect responsible for many downtown landmarks in St. Louis, Missouri, and also active in Texas.- Life :...
William B. Ittner
William B. Ittner
William Butts Ittner was an architect in St. Louis, Missouri. He designed many school buildings in Missouri and other areas, was president of the St...
Eames and Young
Eames and Young
Eames and Young, American architecture firm based in St. Louis, Missouri, active nationally, and responsible for several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.- History :...
Theodore Link
Theodore Link
Theodore C. Link, FAIA, was a German-American architect.Born in Germany, Link trained in engineering at the University of Heidelberg and, later, at the Ecole Centrale in Paris before emigrating to the United States. He moved to St. Louis in 1873 to work for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad...
George Kessler
George Kessler
George Edward Kessler was a German American pioneer city planner and landscape architect.Over the course of his forty-one year career, George E. Kessler completed over 200 projects and prepared plans for 26 communities, 26 park and boulevard systems, 49 parks, 46 estates & residents, and 26 schools...

, city planner
George I. Barnett
George I. Barnett
George Ingham Barnett was an architect from St. Louis, Missouri. He was called The Dean of St. Louis Architecture for his contributions to the buildings of St. Louis as well as for his influence on other architects in the United States....
Thomas P. Barnett
Thomas P. Barnett
Thomas P. Barnett , also known professionally as Tom Barnett and Tom P. Barnett, was an American architect and painter from St. Louis, Missouri. Barnett was nationally recognized for both his work in architecture and in painting.-Architectural work:Barnett trained under his father, St. Louis...
Harris Armstrong
Harris Armstrong
Harris Armstrong was an American regional modernist architect, considered the dean of modernists active in St. Louis, Missouri.After working in the office of Raymond Hood in the 1930s, Armstrong returned to St...
Gyo Obata
Gyo Obata
Gyo Obata is a significant American architect, the son of renowned painter Chiura Obata and his wife, Haruko Obata, a floral designer. In 1955, he co-founded global architectural firm HOK . He lives in St. Louis, Missouri and still works in HOK's St. Louis office...

of HOK
Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
HOK is a global architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and consulting firm. HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm and the "No. 1 role model for sustainable and high-performance design." HOK also is the second-largest interior design firm...

Images

External links

Extensive archive of descriptions and photos of St. Louis architecture

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

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Residential forms

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Urban houses

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Architects of St. Louis

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See also

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