“Why have I never heard of Mark Pitliangas before?”
As I walked out of Pitliangas and his wife Mary’s downtown loft last week, I realized I still have much to learn about the talented artists who turn visions into reality around St. Louis. The interior of what had been a downtown office building has been transformed into a mélange of European architectural styles. On one floor, I thought I had stepped back to the reign of Henry VIII, while down in the basement, where Pitliangas and his staff brainstorm new ideas, I felt like I was in an underground 19th-century Parisian club frequented by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.
The force behind the stunning Art Deco renovation of the Thaxton Building, Pitliangas is a self-taught artist, and as we toured his building, more often than not, when I asked who created a particular work of art or architectural detail, the answer was he. Painter, sculptor, iron-worker—there isn’t a single medium that Pitliangas hasn’t tried, and he excels with all of them. Chances are, if you’ve ever dined out in St. Louis, you’ve eaten inside one of his creations. I had always been stunned at the creativity of the interior of the sadly-departed Tripel, a Belgian restaurant in Lafayette Square. Not surprisingly, it was the work of my host for the afternoon. Pitliangas has always been inspired by the historic architecture of downtown, and resolved to one-day purchase and rehab one of those building. Now several buildings later (he was one of the first to purchase a building on Washington Avenue, right next to fellow artists’ Bob and Gail Cassilly’s future City Museum.
But I had not come to discuss those other projects, but to talk to Pitliangas about his current contract restoring the Vess Bottle just north of downtown. Interestingly, St. Louis has a long and influential history of soft drinks. For example, Dr. Pepper was supposedly first served at the 1904 World’s Fair. 7Up was first manufactured in St. Louis in 1920. Vess, dating to 1916, played a role in the city’s blossoming industrial base. And, as those other famous drinks were bought out, Vess continued to operate in St. Louis, as it still does, though it has been bought by the Canadian-based Cott Corporation.
The bottle, now located just north of the former Edward Jones Dome at Sixth and O’Fallon Streets, originally stood at the intersection of Gravois and Hampton. There were in fact three identical bottles created by the Treesh Neon Sign Company, but the other two no longer exist. Constructed of sheet metal with rivets, the bottle also boasted 600 feet of neon tubing. It weighs at least a ton, and stands 25.5 feet, 35 feet including its black aperture, which holds up the bottle itself. Designated a city landmark in 1990, it bears the official title with the City of St. Louis of “Vess Advertising Device—City Landmark #120.” Apparently, since it is still an advertisement, special permission from the Cultural Resources was required.
Just in time for the one hundredth anniversary of Vess, the company called upon Pitliangas and his crew to restore the bottle to celebrate the centennial. While they originally intended to remove the bottle from its aperture and move it a workshop, Pitliangas quickly realized that the restoration needed to occur in place to protect the bottle’s structural integrity. Beginning around 6 a.m. to avoid the crushing summer heat, workers first sanded off the old paint, deferring from sandblasting to preserve the metal. Vess made the decision to remove the neon tubing, and elected to restore just the paint.
I went by one morning last week, and employee Deontay Haire was busy masking and painting the yellow trim on the bottom of the bottle. Restoration is about recreating the artists’ original intentions, and careful adherence to the paint scheme required the use of a small roller to apply yellow paint. While I was watching Haire paint on the bright yellow Pantone color, a woman actually pulled over and talked with us about the restoration. It is clear that the giant bottle still holds a special place for St. Louisans.
I appreciate art that makes people happy, or makes the world a more interesting place. It was a pleasure to see Pitliangas and his crew restore an icon of St. Louis.
Chris Naffziger writes about architecture at St. Louis Patina. Contact him via email at [email protected].
