St. Louis had a couple of skyscrapers planned in downtown St. Louis, but thanks to Andrew Raimist, to whom full credit is given for this post, I learned that there was a forty story tower planned on Broadway, that would have slid right in between the two large buildings above where the small building on the right, the Post-Dispatch building, would have been demolished.
You can see it better above, it’s the one with the two rounded arches.
The Veterans’ Administration Building would have remained and would have been reclad in the renovation and construction of what would have been the Central Tower by famed St. Louis architect Harris Armstrong in 1931.
As an aside, the second tallest building in downtown to be demolished and replaced with the Metropolitan Square Building was right across the street. So below, here it is! It would have been amazing. But it was never built, and I feel like that loss of momentum reflects a greater loss of civic and business power that never recovered in downtown St. Louis. It would be decades before the first truly tall building in St. Louis would be built.
I love the stair-step design. Wouldn’t the depression have been a major factor in this not coming to fruition?
The structure’s design appears to have been influenced by the output of Raymond Hood (architect) and Hugh Ferriss (drawings). My understanding is that the original developer was seeking partners to contribute capital towards the construction. It does seem likely that the onset of the Depression contributed to its failure to be realized.
The primary company raising funds for the project apparently decided the market wouldn’t support such a building, absconded with the funds it had raised, and promptly left town. I was told by Armstrong’s widow (Louise) that Armstrong and his partner at the time weren’t paid for their work on the project.