Downtown Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Power and Light Building

The Kansas City Power and Light Building was the tallest skysscraper in Missouri for decades, only surpassed by a modernist skyscraper in St. Louis.Its Art-Deco detailing once features a dramatic light show when the building first opened.Hoit, Price and Barnes designed this remarkable building, as well as other buildings around the city.Again, how did St. Louis not get around to building so many tall buildings during this era, even though it was a larger city?

Art Deco Skyscraper, Kansas City, Missouri

Why does Kansas City have so many taller historic skyscrapers compared to St. Louis?

Century Building SLAPP Concluded?

Many years ago, there was a beautiful building in downtown St. Louis, sheathed entirely of marble, and featuring a large open floor plan on the first floor easily adaptable for reuse, as it was once a department store and theater back in St. Louis's heyday. Two citizens, Roger Plackemeier and Marcia Behrendt, believed it was outright ridiculous to tear down such a beautiful building, and they sued to stop it, as is their right as Americans. They were counter-sued by the developers, initiating a SLAPP suit, who tore down the building to build a parking garage with the same shape, with a grocery store on the first floor. The developer refused, for six years, to give the two concerned citizens their day in court. Apparently, last year, the case was finally heard, and the jurors called to the trial. But at the last moment, the parties settled, and the judgment on the one charge the defendants plead guilty to was sealed. What really happened? We'll never know, perhaps, since the two parties are barred from talking about it. Does anyone else know anything about what happened that day in court?

Globe Democrat Building

Missouri Pacific Building

Slightly outside of the heart of downtown and not really near any major attraction, the Missoui Pacific Building recently underwent a massive renovation. I'm not happy that what was originally intended to be another condo tower was downgraded into a hideous parking garage, fronting the major north-south axis of downtown; but nonetheless, I am glad that the building was renovated, and if it took the parking garage being built to get it done, then so be it. The parking garage can be replaced with a more elegant structure in the future.

Interestingly, it seems the Missouri Pacific Railroad was once headquartered in one of the buildings demolished for the Gateway Mall.

Note that the builders didn't sheath the inside wall of the skyscraper; it seems that in the optimistic days of the turn of the century, people were certain that wall would one day be obscured by a skyscraper of similar height.

If only their optimism had come to fruition, we would have possessed a wonderful block of Art-Deco buildings fronting the civic plaza.

I have to admit that the new windows really make the building look great, even if they're not 100% historically accurate.

The Art-Deco detailing, above on the rampart of the building, and below, in the stunning entrance lobby, are what make this building stand out.

I particularly enjoy how the stone switches to gray on the first floor, highlighting the entrance.

The giant C-scrolls, rife with careful detailing, are a stark contrast to the clean lines of the terracotta white building rising above them.

Western Downtown Skyscrapers

I wish the western edge had better connections and just a little historic architecture, but it was wiped out in the name of "urban renewal." At least one building was worth saving, right?

Downtown, From Above in the Early 20th Century

Can you identify which buildings are still standing, and which ones aren't?All photos from "This is Our St. Louis" by Harry M. Hagen.

Riverfront

I never get tired of the view of downtown St. Louis from the river; maybe most people live out in the red brick neighborhoods out of sight of downtown, but looking at these glass and steel skyscrapers and one of the best monuments in the world still inspires me.

Council Plaza and Grand Center Part 3: The Apartment Towers

Out in the middle of the open, right on Highway 40 but largely forgotten by just about everyone in town, I became fascinated with the two large apartment buildings of the Teamsters' Plaza development, designed by Schwarz and Van Hoefen. The shorter, Grand View Apartments, facing north-south, and the taller Council Tower, which faces east-west. As can be seen in the historic photo above, shortly after their completion, they were two of the first developments built in the Mill Creek Valley, along withe accompanying Del Taco building and office and shopping center built at the base of the Grand View Apartments.What makes this complex more than just your normal apartment building complex is the funky art that adorns the buildings. Take the large, abstract medallion hanging on both ends of the Grand View Apartments.Or the stylized, abstract lines of the fountain out front; at first I thought it was damaged, and then I realized it was the artist's composition. I like it nonetheless, and the effort the builders took to enliven the complex.The glass enclosed lobby, separating the ground from the second floor, is a perfect example of Modernist architects using technology to show off. The walls become superfluous, and the steel piers hold up the building above.Council Tower, still one of the tallest residential structures in the whole metropolitan, also featured two large brick walls on its east and west sides. The brick murals, truly unique to St. Louis, are still vivid in my memory from being a child in the 1980's.The west brick mural is gone for good replaced by a surprisingly nice white wall, but the east side is slated for restoration, so I've heard. I will cover the slow dismantlement of that side later this week.The rest of the grounds around the towers are in rough shape, including this gazebo or pavilion-like structure, which is not original, apparently.The grounds between the towers were largely vacant the day I was there, no doubt because of the intense heat that had settled over the city. It is a pleasant spot, decorated with oddly incongruous classical revival cement sculptures.I know the complex is under renovation, but this has to be one of the ugliest parts of the whole development, where someone at sometime cinder-blocked up the entrance to the parking garage in as brutal a manner as possible.I actually covered the complex years ago on this site, and it's interesting to go back and read what I wrote back then. Read the historic nomination form here.

Council Tower Apartment Building

I could have sworn they had begun to fix the giant brick mural on the side of this building, but now it looks like they're ripping the entire thing off the wall. I know they had problems with brick falling from the bottom, but now the upper tenth has been removed as well. See my original post here from 2.5 years ago.

Chemical Building #2

I never get tired of the Chemical Building, with its thousand windows. I hope someday it will find an owner who has the money to renovate it.At least we can hopefully not have to worry if the building will be torn down. I hope we're over that failed policy in downtown St. Louis.

Union Trust

I know in the past I've complained that there aren't more tall buildings in St. Louis, but when you're standing at the base of the Union Trust, you realize that the buildings in St. Louis are tall enough. Humanely scaled and full of wonderful ornament.

Chase Park Plaza

Union Trust, Downtown

The lesser known of the two remaining Louis Sullivan buildings in St. Louis is a gem, even if it's hard to photograph it in its entirety. I guess it's a good thing there are other building blocking the view, in the overall scheme of things.

St. Louis County Government Center, Clayton

The county courthouse is massive, and its repeating pattern design makes it seem even more so. I liked the old one better, but obviously it was too small.The courthouse and nearby jail even have their own Bridge of Sighs, just like in Venice, Italy. I like the one in Venice better.The jail, whether you like it or not, is a great example of 1990's penal architecture. While in the past, jails and prisons were meant to stand out as fortification-like landmarks, nowadays governments attempt to make jails blend in with the landscape, as no one wants to live or work next to a jail.The county jail is a perfect example of the "kinder, gentler" prison.Then there's the county building, built in true Brutalist style, looking more like a fortress than a welcoming government building.The sparse, stripped down exterior is typical of many Clayton office buildings. Across the street is a parking lot.These first floor windows make me wonder if they were expecting an invasion or something. But actually, it was relatively common in the late 1960's and 70's to build government buildings that were "riot proof."