Wainwright building - wikipedia Wainwright building Wainwright Building U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. National Historic Landmark St. Louis Landmark Wainwright Building, spring 1986 Location St. Louis, Missouri Coordinates 38 ° 37 ′ 37 '' N 90 ° 11 ′ 32 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 38.62694 ° N 90.19222 ° W ﻿ / 38.62694 ; - 90.19222 Coordinates : 38 ° 37 ′ 37 '' N 90 ° 11 ′ 32 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 38.62694 ° N 90.19222 ° W ﻿ / 38.62694 ; - 90.19222 Built 1891 Architect Adler & Sullivan Architectural style Chicago school NRHP reference # 68000054 Significant dates Added to NRHP May 23, 1968 Designated NHL May 23, 1968 The Wainwright Building ( also known as the Wainwright State Office Building ) is a 10 - story, 41 m ( 135 ft ) red brick office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The Wainwright Building is considered to be among the first early skyscrapers in the world. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in the Palazzo style and built between 1890 and 1891. It was named for local brewer, building contractor, and financier Ellis Wainwright. The building, listed as a landmark both locally and nationally, is described as `` a highly influential prototype of the modern office building '' by the National Register of Historic Places. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright called the Wainwright Building `` the very first human expression of a tall steel office - building as Architecture. '' The building is currently owned by the State of Missouri and houses state offices. In May 2013 it was listed by a PBS program as one of `` 10 Buildings That Changed America '' because it was `` the first skyscraper that truly looked the part '' with Sullivan being dubbed the `` Father of Skyscrapers. '' Contents 1 Commission, design and construction 2 Architecture 3 History 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links Commission, design and construction The Wainwright building was commissioned by Ellis Wainwright, a St. Louis brewer. Wainwright needed office space to manage the St Louis Brewers Association. It was the second major commission for a tall building won by the Adler & Sullivan firm, which had grown to international prominence after the creation of the ten - story Auditorium Building in Chicago ( designed in 1886 and completed in 1889 ). As designed, the first floor of the Wainwright Building was intended for street - accessible shops, with the second floor filled with easily accessible public offices. The higher floors were for `` honeycomb '' offices, while the top floor was for water tanks and building machinery. Architecture Aesthetically, the Wainwright Building exemplifies Sullivan 's theories about the tall building, which included a tripartite ( three - part ) composition ( base - shaft - attic ) based on the structure of the classical column, and his desire to emphasize the height of the building. He wrote : `` ( The skyscraper ) must be tall, every inch of it tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. '' His 1896 article cited his Wainwright Building as an example. Despite the classical column concept, the building 's design was deliberately modern, featuring none of the neoclassical style that Sullivan held in contempt. The piers read as pillars Historian Carl W. Condit described the Wainwright as `` a building with a strong, vigorously articulated base supporting a screen that constitutes a vivid image of powerful upward movement. '' The base contained retail stores that required wide glazed openings ; Sullivan 's ornament made the supporting piers read as pillars. Above it the semi-public nature of offices up a single flight of stairs are expressed as broad windows in the curtain wall. A cornice separates the second floor from the grid of identical windows of the screen wall, where each window is `` a cell in a honeycomb, nothing more ''. The building 's windows and horizontals were inset slightly behind columns and piers, as part of a `` vertical aesthetic '' to create what Sullivan called `` a proud and soaring thing. '' This perception has since been criticized as the skyscraper was designed to make money, not to serve as a symbol. The intricate frieze along the top of the building along with the bull 's - eye windows. The ornamentation for the building includes a wide frieze below the deep cornice, which expresses the formalized yet naturalistic celery - leaf foliage typical of Sullivan and published in his System of Architectural Ornament, decorated spandrels between the windows on the different floors and an elaborate door surround at the main entrance. `` Apart from the slender brick piers, the only solids of the wall surface are the spandrel panels between the windows... They have rich decorative patterns in low relief, varying in design and scale with each story. '' The frieze is pierced by unobtrusive bull 's - eye windows that light the top - story floor, originally containing water tanks and elevator machinery. The building includes embellishments of terra cotta, a building material that was gaining popularity at the time of construction. One of Sullivan 's primary concerns was the development of an architectural symbolism consisting of simple geometric, structural forms and organic ornamentation. The Wainwright Building where he juxtaposed the objective - tectonic and the subjective - organic was the first demonstration of this symbolism. The Wainwright Building in 2012. Unlike Sullivan, Adler described the building as a `` plain business structure '' stating : In a utilitarian age like ours it is safe to assume that the real - estate owner and the investor in buildings will continue to erect the class of buildings from which the greatest possible revenue can be obtained with the least possible outlay... The purpose of erecting buildings other than those required for the shelter of their owners is specifically that of making investments for profit. The building is considered the first skyscraper to forgo the normal ornamentation used on skyscrapers at the time. Some architectural elements from the building have been removed in renovations and taken to the Sauget, Illinois storage site of the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation. History Upon its initial completion, the Wainwright Building was `` popular with the people '' and received `` favorably '' by critics. In 1968, the building was designated as a National Historic Landmark and in 1972 it was named a city landmark. The Wainwright building was initially rescued from demolition by the National Trust for Historic Preservation when the Trust took an option on the structure. Later, it was acquired by Missouri as part of a state office complex and the St. Louis Landmarks Association, in one of its early victories, is credited with having rescued the Wainwright Building from a construction project. The neighboring Lincoln Trust building ( later known as the Title Guaranty building ; designed by Eames and Young, built in 1898 at 706 Chestnut St. ) was demolished to make way for the Gateway Mall in 1983. Carolyn Toft, Landmarks Association 's executive director, stated that this building ``... formed an ensemble with three other late - 19th century commercial buildings, including ( the Wainwright Building ), that could not be equaled anywhere else in the country. Saving the Wainwright was important, but how much more important it would have been to save the entire group. '' Architect John D. Randall led an extensive letter - writing campaign to the governor and other noted officials ; the campaign resulted in the restoration of the building as a state office building instead of its demolition. After a period of neglect, the building now houses Missouri state offices. See also List of tallest buildings in St. Louis National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis, Missouri List of National Historic Landmarks in Missouri Notes Jump up ^ Sullivan also designed the Wainwright Tomb in St. Louis 's Bellefontaine Cemetery for his wife Charlotte Dickson Wainwright. References ^ Jump up to : National Park Service ( 2007 - 01 - 23 ). `` National Register Information System ''. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Jump up ^ `` Wainwright Building ''. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2009 - 03 - 01. Retrieved 2008 - 06 - 28. Jump up ^ `` Wainwright Building ''. Structurae. Jump up ^ `` skyscraper. '' The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York : Columbia University Press, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 25 March 2011. Jump up ^ Wright, Frank Lloyd ( 1931 ). `` The Tyranny of the Skyscraper ''. Modern Architecture. Princeton : Princeton University Press : 85. ^ Jump up to : `` Best of Political Fix ''. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. February 12, 2009. Jump up ^ Bear, Rob ( 10 May 2013 ). `` Mapping PBS 's 10 Buildings That Changed America ''. Curbed.com. Retrieved 13 May 2013. ^ Jump up to : Korom, Joseph J. ( 2008 ). The American Skyscraper, 1850 - 1940 : A Celebration of Height. Branden Books. p. 167. ISBN 0 - 8283 - 2188 - 4. Jump up ^ Elstein, Rochelle Berger ( Spring -- Summer 2005 ). `` Adler & Sullivan : The End of the Partnership and Its Aftermath ''. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 98 ( 1 / 2 ) : 51 -- 81. Jump up ^ van Zanten, David ( March -- April 2002 ). `` Master of the Skyscraper ''. Humanities. 23 ( 2 ). Jump up ^ `` THE CHICAGO SCHOOL, BEAUX - ARTS, AND THE CITY BEAUTIFUL. '' The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures : The Midwest. Santa Barbara : ABC - CLIO, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 25 March 2011. Jump up ^ Sullivan, Louis H. ( March 1896 ). `` The tall office building artistically considered ''. Lippincott 's Magazine. Jump up ^ Condit, Carl W. ( 1973 ). The Chicago School of Architecture : A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875 -- 1925. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0 - 226 - 11455 - 4. Jump up ^ Sullivan, quoted in David Van Zanten, Sullivan 's city : the meaning of ornament for Louis Sullivan. Jump up ^ `` Sullivan, Louis H ''. The Reader 's Companion to American History. Boston : Houghton Mifflin. 1991. Retrieved March 25, 2011. ( subscription required ) Jump up ^ Hoffman, p. 3 Jump up ^ Morrison, Hugh, Louis Sullivan : Prophet of Modern Architecture, W.W. Norton Company, New York, 1963, c. 1935 p. 146 Jump up ^ Mike Michaelson ( April 19, 2009 ). `` More than meets the arch ''. Post-Tribune. Jump up ^ Mark Sommer ( October 6, 2010 ). `` Guaranty glows in film role - Landmark featured in documentary on famous architect ''. The Buffalo News. ^ Jump up to : `` Sullivan, Louis H ''. Encyclopedia of Urban America : The Cities and Suburbs. Santa Barbara : ABC - CLIO. 1998. Retrieved March 25, 2011. ( subscription required ) ^ Jump up to : Hoffman, p. 5 Jump up ^ Glaeser, Edward ( 2011 ). `` How Skyscrapers Can Save the City ''. Atlantic Monthly. 307 ( 2 ) : 40 -- 53. ISSN 1072 - 7825. Jump up ^ List of Recovered Buildings Jump up ^ National Historic Landmarks Program ( NHL ) Archived 2009 - 03 - 01 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Wainwright Building Jump up ^ St. Louis Historic Preservation Jump up ^ Matthew Hathaway ( December 2, 2008 ). `` New boss at Landmarks juggles many challenges Revitalization of Arch grounds could be agency 's biggest preservation battle ''. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jump up ^ David Bonetti and Diane Toroian Keaggy ( July 27, 2008 ). `` Gone but not forgotten We asked our panel of experts to select demolished buildings that have left an unfillable gap in the cityscape or the city 's collective memory ''. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jump up ^ `` John D. Randall - ARCHITECT JOHN D. RANDALL HELPED TO BUILD SIUE, FOUGHT TO SAVE WAINWRIGHT BUILDING ''. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 16, 1999. Sources Glaeser, Edward ( 2011 ). `` How Skyscrapers Can Save the City ''. Atlantic Monthly. 307 ( 2 ) : 40 -- 53. ISSN 1072 - 7825. `` National Register of Historic Places : Inventory - Nomination Form '' ( PDF ). Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved 2008 - 05 - 30. Hoffmann, Donald ( January 13, 1998 ). Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, and the skyscraper. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 978 - 0 - 486 - 40209 - 3. Retrieved March 27, 2011. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wainwright Building. Images and architectural information `` Wainwright Building photographs ''. University of Missouri -- St. Louis. U.S. National Register of Historic Places Topics Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types Lists by states Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Lists by insular areas American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Lists by associated states Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau Other areas District of Columbia Morocco Portal Louis Sullivan Adler & Sullivan works Martin Ryerson Tomb ( 1897 ) Auditorium Building, Chicago ( 1889 ) Auditorium Theatre Carrie Eliza Getty Tomb ( 1890 ) Wainwright Building ( 1890 ) Wainwright Tomb ( 1892 ) Bellefontaine Cemetery ( 1892 ) Prudential ( Guaranty ) Building ( 1894 ) Chicago Stock Exchange Building ( 1894 ) Bayard -- Condict Building ( 1899 ) Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building ( 1899 ) Sullivan works Bradley House ( 1909 ) Charnley House ( 1892 ) Pilgrim Baptist Church ( 1890 ) Farmers and Merchants Union Bank ( 1919 ) Gage Group Buildings ( 1898 ) Halsted House ( 1883 ) Adams Building ( 1913 ) Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral ( 1903 ) Home Building Association Bank ( 1914 ) Jewelers Building ( 1882 ) Krause Music Store ( 1922 ) McVicker 's Theater ( 1891 ) Merchants ' National Bank ( 1914 ) National Farmer 's Bank of Owatonna ( 1908 ) People 's Federal Savings and Loan Association ( 1917 ) Peoples Savings Bank ( 1911 ) Purdue State Bank ( 1914 ) St. Paul United Methodist Church ( 1914 ) Van Allen Building ( 1913 ) Lost buildings New Orleans Union Station ( 1892 -- 1954 ) Dooly Block ( 1891 -- 1965 ) Louis Sullivan Bungalow ( 1890s -- 2005 ) Garrick Theater ( 1891 -- 1961, A&S ) Pilgrim Baptist Church ( 1891 -- 2006, A&S ) Dexter Building ( 1887 -- 2006, A&S ) Affiliations Adler & Sullivan Dankmar Adler Other Prairie School Tall : The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan `` Form follows function '' Commons Wikiquote Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wainwright_Building&oldid=835112618 '' Categories : Office buildings completed in 1891 Louis Sullivan buildings National Historic Landmarks in Missouri Skyscraper office buildings in St. Louis Landmarks of St. Louis Chicago school ( architecture ) National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis Downtown St. Louis Hidden categories : Pages containing links to subscription - only content Webarchive template wayback links Coordinates on Wikidata All articles with vague or ambiguous time Vague or ambiguous time from December 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Italiano Nederlands Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 6 April 2018, at 16 : 49. 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Question: the wainwright building in st. louis is an example of
Answer: the first early skyscrapers in the world