"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees," explained a certain eco-warrior in a Dr. Seuss tale. Well, this is the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, and it speaks for the buildings. Landmarks has been speaking for a solid 50 years now, fighting to preserve historically significant structures since 1959. Sometimes it saves a building from the wrecking ball, and other times a grand edifice becomes a parking lot.
SAVED
Old Post Office
"This monumental 19th century French Second Empire glory anchors the city's central business district. It is difficult to believe that it ever faced the headache ball. But beginning in the 1960s, it took a 15-year effort to secure its future."
Cupples Station Warehouse District
"Plans for its demolition were thwarted by a study of its redevelopment potential and the intervention of Mayor Vince Schoemehl. Today the complex has been transformed into a lively residential and business community."
Wainwright Building
"St. Louis' most acclaimed building was threatened with demolition in the early 1970s, until then-Gov. Kit Bond, prodded by Landmarks' H. Meade Summers Jr., championed its reuse as a state office complex."
LOST
Century Building
"The replacement of this magnificent 1896 neoclassical, National Register building with a parking garage was an urban-design and transportation-planning disaster ... This should not have happened."
Ambassador Theater Building
"At its opening in 1926, the building was heralded as the greatest event in St. Louis since the World's Fair ... It was demolished in 1996 in favor of a planned parking garage and what ultimately became an insignificant and rarely used plaza."
Title Guarantee Building
"In my South Side home one day in 1983, I was literally sickened by the thunderous sound that marked the building's implosion. Sacrificed for the sake of an unobstructed view of the Old Courthouse and Arch, the building was replaced by a banal, suburban-style office building."
