The demolition of the old Stouffer’s Riverfront Hotel is going along nicely, and this will be my last post about it, as the above photograph could be at twenty stories, ten stories, whatever. It looks the same regardless. According to my calculations, this is now the record holder for the tallest building in St. Louis to be demolished, unseating the Queeny Tower, which had held first place since 2021.
The photo above is a nice illustration of how modern skyscrapers are held up by steel skeletons and not their exterior curtain walls.
At the time that Stouffer’s was built, it seemed to me that it was not a St Louis identity. Some foreign thing from Detroit. It was the first time something not of St Louis came to my 16 year old mind. I’ve never forgotten how foreign that place seemed at the time. And secretly, I’m not sad to see it demolished. St. Louis has it’s own identity. We don’t want outsiders determining who we are (architecturally).
Thanks, Naffzier. Great post.