Grant’s Farm holds a special place in the collective consciousness of St. Louis. Few of us cannot relate fond memories of walking through the historic Bauernhof, or being assaulted by hungry goats in the nearby petting zoo. But perhaps what captivates the people of St. Louis the most is not what they have seen at Grant’s Farm, but rather what they have not seen. Looming larger in the imagination than its actual physical proportions and glimpsed only furtively through the trees is the fabled Busch Mansion itself. The family opened the grounds surrounding the mansion to tours this season, allowing for visitors to see the “Big House” up close. It is well worth the $25 admission price for those obsessed with local history and architecture.
August A. Busch acquired Grant’s Farm in 1903; far outside the city, the land originally served as hunting grounds for August and his friends. His father Adolphus still lived down by the brewery in a now-demolished mansion; the lavish stables are the only remnant of that house. Brewers, and many businessmen, believed one should live close to his place of work, both out of a sense of pride, but also to deal with any problems that might arise.
The ascent of the automobile, and the improvement of Gravois Road, calmed Adolphus’s concerns about his son relocating his primary residence so far away from the brewery. August turned to German American architect Frederick Widman and Thomas Walsh for the design of the mansion; both men had worked for the brewery’s trusted architect Edmund Jungenfeld. Julius Pitzman, the famous German American surveyor and George Kessler designed the grounds around the new house. The new mansion and its deer park continued the theme of Grant’s Farm’s previous role as hunting grounds for the Busch family. Construction costs reached $300,000; the construction firm of Fruin and Colnan began work in 1910.
While usually described as French Renaissance Revival, a close analysis of the mansion’s influences creates a much richer and complex pedigree, drawing from some of the most beautiful and influential European palaces of the 16th through 18th Centuries. The most immediate and obvious source of inspiration was the French Renaissance chateau of Chambord. Built for King Francis I between 1519 and 1547, the palace in the Loire Valley features four massive turrets on each corner of its central residence. Looking at the southern façade of the Busch Mansion overlooking the deer park, one can see the clear similarity of the massing and rooflines of the two flanking towers to their predecessors at Chambord.
Further French archetypes arrive from the 17th-century Baroque palace at Versailles. While the palace is now more famous for its gargantuan additions under Louis XIV, the original horseshoe-shaped hunting lodge constructed by his father Louis XIII provides inspiration for the layout of the Busch Mansion. Following Versailles’s model, Widman and Walsh placed a large entrance courtyard, or cour d’honneur, on the north façade, anchored by the central core, or corps de logis, and flanked by two wings. Known as the Marble Court at Versailles, this “Court of Honor” served as the formal entrance for carriages to the palace; the Busch Mansion inherits this function. Also of note, Versailles provides the exterior decorative scheme for the house, with the use of brick alternating with limestone-trimmed window fenestration.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Busch Mansion’s cour d’honneur consists of the compressed oval-shaped entrance tower, which houses the grand staircase. Breaking with the design of the Marble Court at Versailles, Widman and Walsh seem to have looked to the 17th-century chateau of Vaux-Le-Vicomte. The chateau features a massive, oval-shaped tower that projects slightly from the front façade of the palace. Certainly the memory of that massive tower remains in the Busch Mansion’s north façade.
While the French influence of the Busch Mansion is obvious, the German heritage of the Busch family weighs heavily, if subtly, on the final designs of the house and grounds. Though it might seem chauvinist today, German rulers such as Frederick William I of Prussia had long condemned French art and architecture as too “effeminate” for the manly autocrats east of the Rhine River. The Busch Mansion rejects the elaborate sculpture that permeates its French predecessors. Overall, the articulation of the façade is much more restrained, more “masculine” and less exuberant than at Chambord, Versailles, or Vaux-le-Vicomte. Also, German pride for brick certainly weighed in its use in the construction of the exterior. In fact, the front balustrade rejects the traditional stone for brick balusters. Perhaps keeping with the hunting lodge theme, the Busch Mansion dispenses with the elaborate, ordered gardens that feature prominently in the design of all French chateaux. Nature comes right up to the front steps of the southern façade.
Suffering from terminal illness, August Busch would later end his own life in the mansion. His son, Gussie Busch, would be the last permanent resident of the house. After Gussie’s death, the house became part of a trust for his children and descendents. Walking the grounds of the mansion, one cannot help feeling the centuries of history that surrounds this secluded corner of St. Louis and its rich architectural legacy.
Chris Naffziger writes about architecture at St. Louis Patina. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected].
