St. Louis CITY SC is finally at home in Downtown West.
It’s been a long process, but the club’s sprawling campus of more than 30 acres has taken its final shape, and a former highway interchange is now home to one of the largest urban professional sports complexes in the country. For CITY, the final piece of the puzzle was the recent opening of SoMa House, a former warehouse and climbing gym that is now the headquarters for the club’s front office and creative staff.
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SoMa House— it stands for South of Market—was originally erected as a three-story warehouse in 1918, and was later expanded to five floors after a 1921 fire required massive repairs. The building’s original use was to house and fabricate generators, a key part of downtown St. Louis’ original industrial manufacturing district.
Much as the building’s original purpose was to generate energy, its new purpose will be in energizing the club’s creative efforts. Owing to the building’s history and present-day utility, Lee Broughton, St. Louis CITY SC’s chief brand architect, thinks of SoMa house as the “crown jewel” of the campus.
“From its history and design to its function and feel, SoMa house is looking to inspire a sense of pride and optimism in an exciting future for St. Louis,” Broughton says.
SoMa House and CITYPARK, which is located just a few steps to the north, echo one another. The architectural mimicry can be seen throughout the campus, with little twists that make each building unique.
“One thing we really wanted to do was to ensure that the artistic community of St. Louis played an important role in making this district come to life,” Broughton says. “You can see that with the murals that Eugenia Alexander has done [for SoMa House]. You get that with the flag abstraction sculpture in our multi-purpose room that represents the nations that make up St. Louis. They’re similar to the murals you’ll see on the other side of the district, where we now have the All For CITY mural opposite the stadium.”
On the second floor of SoMa house, look toward the ceiling and you’ll find 50 abstract flags that represent the nationalities of CITY SC staff, players, and supporters. The flags pay homage to everyone who has played a role in sculpting the club’s identity throughout its short existence.
So many individuals and organizations in St. Louis are proud of the region’s rich artistic heritage. On the CITY campus, that vision has morphed into a style all its own at SoMa House.
“One of the things that we always thought to be really important is that aesthetics need to be thought of very carefully.” Broughton says. “The design is critical, and when you only think of function, the forsaking of form can be detrimental to how people engage with it. We want to showcase the culture here; a culture that has been so powerful in St. Louis.”
In that way, SoMa House is a grand collaboration, connecting the seemingly unconnected dots between soccer, art, culture, and the minds that drive the club forward. Peering out from the fifth floor, St. Louis’ downtown skyline beckons. And yet, the best view from CITY headquarters may be of the training fields nestled in the shadow of CITYPARK. With SoMa house, CITY has seemingly found a way to marry old and new in a way that salutes the rich history of the sport in the region, while looking toward all of the exciting opportunities that await.
“Football has an incredible history in St. Louis.” Broughton says. “… It has been wonderful to live and work in an environment that echoes that past.”
