The St. Louis Republic., 1901-06-09
Transfer Of Century Building Site
and Washington University
Property Are Features.
LIVELY WORK IN BUILDING.
House Hunters Have Difficulty in
Finding What They Desire
Manufacturers Interested
in st. Louis Land

The purchase Of the Century building site
for S.00o000 by a syndicate Of local cap
italists the sale by the Nichols Ritter
company of q portion of the Washington
University property on Washington avenue
for $ls5. 900 and the great increase In build
ing operations and the amount Of real es-
tate transfers were the features OF last
week.
The most important Of these deals was
the sale Of the Century building site. which
was handled by the Mercantile Trust Com
pany. John w. Kaufman was the owner
.: the site, and a newly formed corpora
49,, in which he was stockholder, and in
..:.:cn were also Festus J. Wade. James W.
C..:Ybell. C. II. Albers and George W. VIII
.cn. took the site Off his hands for 1.000.0Oo.
The deal is the most important Of any
downtown business deal for a long time
The building Is the largest Office structure
in the city and fronts 22S feet on Ninth
street and LII feet on both Olive and Lo-
Gust streets. This entire site was sold ex-
cept a small portion on the corner OF Ninth
and Locust streets. which Is owned by E.
burning and Is under lease. with the re-
mainder Of the site. to the Century Build
Ing Company. The little strip is u feet
The Century Building Company, the
lessee. pays and annual rental Of s35000 for
the property. The Century building was
I
close to ssOo.ooo. its present bonded Indebted
ness being $l5J 600.
VaIue TrebIes I'm Ten Years.
As an indication Of the advance in the
ner furnishes a good example The corner
was first occupied In 1854 by the old Church
Of the Messiah, several years later being
and others. A building was erected in the
early seventies. in which the old Pope's
Theater was installed. Charles Pope having
fnp
In 1877 Pope sold the corner to John Jack
. sen. The property remained in the. possess
Nsion of the Jackson estate until 1Sl. when
Mr.. Kaufman purchased IT for $3.50 600 II
remained in his possession until last Thurs
day. when he sold 1t to the syndicate mem
toned for sl.ooOOoo. the site having trebled
The improvements on the corner. how
ever. had much to do with this. Mr.. kauff-
or and Charles Ts sGtter of the Central % Realty
Company in 1891. this company being the
predecessor of the Century Building Com
pany, the present lessee. In 1898 Mr.. Kauff-
man leased the site to the Central Realty
and Improvement Company on n new lease
for $500 rental annually. the lease being
pany for $15o.000. Work on the Century
building was commenced the same year.
Washington University Sale.
The sale of the Washington University
building and site at Seventeenth and WASH
ington avenue by the Nicholls-Ritter COM
pany was of especial interest. The property
has frontage Of 206 feet l0is inches on the
south line OF Washington avenue. and ex-
tends southwafdly $50 feet on the west line
of Seventeenth street. The frontage on St.
Charles street is the same as that on WASH
ington avenue.
The buildings on the site have been used
BY the Washington University for many
years, and an architect has examined the
main building to see whether II can be
transformed into a hotel for the World 9
Fair. The size of the structure will easily
afford room for III apartments. or the
building can be used for a factory. The
price paid was sl65.Ooc. and constitutes the
sale or one of the largest pieces of WASH
Nichols Ritter company made several other
5. sales of importance, including the resi-
dences Nos. xss4 and 1886 LacIede avenue
for &1s.000. and Nos. 1850 and 40S2 West
Belle for s1s.0N.
Lease Of the Stifel Block.
The conclusion of an important deal was
arrived at last week when the Samuel Bow
man Company negotiated lease between
the Norvell-Shapleigh Hardware Company
and the estate Of tho late Charles g
Stifel for the northeast corner OF Fourth
street and Washington avenue.
A new building will be erected on the
site for the hardware company, which viii
occupy the entire block between Fourth
and Third streets. Washington and Lucas
avenues, except the - feet at present oc'
cupied by the Monntt-West Drug Company
on the Lucas avenue side The value OF the
ground y placed at $2500oo, and under the
: terms Of the lease the Norvell-Shapleigh
Hardware Company win pay 81 per cent
on the value Of the ground and per cent