Sylvester Lewis opened The Fairgrounds Hotel in 1928 at a cost of one million dollars. This was at least the second hotel he owned, the first one being the Northwestern Hotel. The first manager was Edward T. McFarland, who came from the Hotel Buckingham. A. R. Riley from Chicago took over the management position in…
Tag: Hotels
A New Discovery at the Union Trust Building
It’s long been accepted that Adler and Sullivan’s original design of the round windows on the second floor with bearcat terracotta sculptures and a Damascus arch entryway (seen here) for the 1892 Union Trust Building were removed at some point in the early Twentieth Century. However, we now know it was incorrect to believe that…
Demolition Continuing Stouffer’s Riverfront Hotel
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…
Heaviest Corner on Earth, Birmingham, Alabama
We’ll start our Birmingham tour with the first landmark, the “Heaviest Corner on Earth,” whose name originated at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, referring to the four historic skyscrapers at the intersection of 20th Street and 1st Avenue North. As I remarked yesterday, I think Chicago actually has a heavier historic intersection at South…
Stouffer’s Hotel, Demolition Continues
Demolition has proceeded on the lower of the two cylindrical towers of the former Stouffer’s Riverfront Inn, or whatever name you best know it as, in downtown St. Louis. Demolition began with the low-slung wing that connected the two towers, and some preliminary demolition has begun on the lower floors of the original tower.
From the Vault: Philadelphia, March 2006
I was digging around in the vaults when I came across some twenty year old photographs of Philadelphia. They’re so old that they pre-exist my move back to St. Louis from the East Coast and the founding of St. Louis Patina. This is about five cameras back and lots of growth in my picture-taking abilities….
End of Autumn 2025 Odds and Ends
Here are some leftover photos from the last six months. Above is a Falstaff sign in Benton Park. Above, looking down a street in what I think is Kingsway East towards the Chase Park Plaza, but I can’t be sure. Above is the Missouri Athletic Club, which I snapped while sitting at the light at…
Demolition Commences, Former Stouffer’s Riverfront Hotel
Apparently it was a big deal when the Stouffer’s Riverfront Hotel opened downtown. Personally, I see it as a symptom of a larger problem: the belief that turning St. Louis into a giant showpiece of Modernist superblocks would save the city. I think we can all agree it failed miserably. One thing that always sticks…
Meramec Highlands, Revisited
The Meramec Highlands Hotel must have been a sight to behold. Sitting high up on the bluffs, just to the east of the eponymous train tunnel, it was a short ride out from the city on the St. Louis and San Francisco (Frisco) Railroad. Guests could stay at the hotel, as well as the cottages…
Downtown, Davenport, Iowa
Continuing and ending our end of the month look at Mississippi River towns north of St. Louis for the time being, we come to the Quad Cities, and first we will look at Davenport, Iowa. Of course, Davenport, and Rock Island, Illinois on the opposite bank (which we’ll look at in a few days) are…