Various picture of City Hall I found on the web.

laboubet · PostFeb 21, 2006#12006-02-21T07:38+00:00

These are pictures of St. Louis City Hall that I found on the web. The main reason that I am posting these is because I have always wished that city hall still had its towers. You will see in the images below what I mean.

And without the towers....

stlmike · PostFeb 21, 2006#22006-02-21T07:51+00:00

Now that St Louis Centre is getting polished, I think the dirtiness of City Hall was the next biggest embarassment that needs to be fixed. I also want to see some St Louis flags here.

matt · PostFeb 21, 2006#32006-02-21T16:04+00:00

Thank you!

Reminds me to ask if anyone knows what happened to the project by Mayor Harmon's wife to restore the exterior? Was the clock restoration as far as it got?

new-to-stl · PostFeb 21, 2006#42006-02-21T16:26+00:00

What happened to the towers in the first place? I don't know the history of City Hall.

steve · PostFeb 21, 2006#52006-02-21T17:01+00:00

They were dismantled--the result of an unfortunately common practice to "streamline" or "modernize" old buildings. Many downtown buildings lost their cornices to this practice, others were disfigured by recladding.

urbanstlouis · PostFeb 21, 2006#62006-02-21T17:09+00:00

Matt wrote:Reminds me to ask if anyone knows what happened to the project by Mayor Harmon's wife to restore the exterior?

Michelle Swatek, the AIA St. Louis Exec. Director had last told me that The Foundation for Architecture was under the management of The American Institute of Architects St. Louis Chapter, who volunteered to steward the funds until the project moves forward, or until a seperate 501 (c) 3 is formed. This was still in process last I heard.

She also had sent me this if anyone was interested in contributing:

Checks can be made to:

Foundation for Architecture - City Hall Fund

AIA St. Louis

911 Washington Ave., Suite 225,

St. Louis, MO 63101

new-to-STL wrote:What happened to the towers in the first place? I don't know the history of City Hall.

This is from the City's website:

The lantern-like central tower, about 80 feet tall, above the Tucker Boulevard entrance and the two smaller spires, each about 19 feet in height, on either side of the tower, were removed in 1936. In the process of reroofing, the structural steel frame of the towers was found to be so corroded that the tower had to be taken down with great care, piece by piece. The public was outraged that the tower was demolished and Mayor Bernard Dickman promised to build a new tower when the city had the money. The replacement cost at the time was estimated to be $10,000. A campaign was started in 1946 to replace the tower and a study was done. It was found to be too expensive and the project was dropped. [ <A HREF="http://stlcin.missouri.org/history/stru ... >source</A> ]

Also, for anyone interested, our city hall was inspired by the Hotel de Ville or City Hall of Paris.

http://citysnapper.org/chantrey/france/ ... 3paris.jpg

http://www.viaggiaresempre.it/Hotel_fontana.JPG

http://pictures.nicolas.delerue.org/fra ... e_2621.jpg

new-to-stl · PostFeb 21, 2006#72006-02-21T17:22+00:00

Thanks for the info. Very interesting.

urbanstlouis · PostFeb 21, 2006#82006-02-21T18:04+00:00

Michelle Swatek just got back to me regarding a request for an update. She said it appears that the effort to renovate City Hall has stalled, but the AIA St. Louis continues to serve as a repository for the funds. They have just under $20,000 and there is a long, long way to go until enough money is donated. Michelle mentioned that she had heard from personnel in the City and that they may request the donors to allow them to use the funds to finish the interior restoration/painting of murals for the lobby and mezzanine areas of City Hall. She then discouraged me from soliciting funds for the exterior.

don koester · PostFeb 21, 2006#92006-02-21T18:15+00:00

Nice photos and relevant issue, the cleaning and flags would look great!

Any French touches to our city would be perfectly keeping with the

historical/cultural traditions here. Being part French (going back to 19th

century Paris environs) I have NO PROBLEM with this. St. Louis seems

to have more in common with Europe than most American cities with

their glass towers and rocketship design buildings,etc....We need a

combination of old and new architectural styles, but always in keeping

with the given area of the city.

steve · PostFeb 21, 2006#102006-02-21T18:17+00:00

I stand corrected. Sorry about that.

trent · PostFeb 21, 2006#112006-02-21T18:55+00:00

Gawd, can we make it more like that hotel? Both are beautiful buildings in structure, but the hotel just looks so pristine...where our city hall...well...it certainly is unique.

st. louis texan · PostFeb 21, 2006#122006-02-21T19:57+00:00

Now that is something Houston can't offer, great historic buildings.

smsplanstu · PostFeb 23, 2006#132006-02-23T08:51+00:00

The old rendering shows City Hall with a green roof. Should we try that again? Blue?

laboubet · PostFeb 23, 2006#142006-02-23T18:54+00:00

if a green roof was original to the building, it must have been striking. The red roof seems to just blend in.

st. louis texan · PostFeb 27, 2006#152006-02-27T17:12+00:00

I dunno a green roof in a city would be kinda wierd looking wouldn't it, especially from above?

new-to-stl · PostFeb 27, 2006#162006-02-27T17:23+00:00

^Several buildings in St Louis have green roofs.

jcity · PostApr 06, 2006#172006-04-06T00:31+00:00

trent wrote:Gawd, can we make it more like that hotel? Both are beautiful buildings in structure, but the hotel just looks so pristine...where our city hall...well...it certainly is unique.

That "hotel" in Paris isn't a hotel at all. "Hotel de Ville" is Paris' city hall...

urbanstlouis · PostApr 06, 2006#182006-04-06T10:15+00:00

JCity wrote:That "hotel" in Paris isn't a hotel at all. "Hotel de Ville" is Paris' city hall...

I did mention that, but I wasn't to clear in my statement. Thanks!

urbanstlouis wrote:Also, for anyone interested, our city hall was inspired by the Hotel de Ville or City Hall of Paris.

http://citysnapper.org/chantrey/france/ ... 3paris.jpg

http://www.viaggiaresempre.it/Hotel_fontana.JPG

http://pictures.nicolas.delerue.org/fra ... e_2621.jpg