Customer Reviews

A Guide to the Architecture of St. Louis

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This is one of the best guidebooks for a city's architecture I've seen. The entries cover not only St. Louis proper but also the entire metro area, reaching far into the suburbs in both Missouri and Illinios. Every entry has at least one photograph, a rarity for such books. The maps are clear and concise; a regional map shows where each local map is located. Also includes a number of color photographs in the introduction pages. About the only thing I would fault the book for is skipping a few of downtown's historic towers; however, the book does an excellent job of directing city explorers to St. Louis's most interesting areas.

This has been the reputed de facto standard for St. Louis architecture. As one who has such as an interest as a hobby, I am more than thrilled to learn from the information this book provided. My understanding is that a possible update may one day present itself...I hope so.

This book, while becoming dangerously old and neglected, is a real treasure, much like the city it represents.

St. Louis is an architectural feast, much like many of our other rust-belt cities. Cleveland, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh also fall into this category. These cities retain much of their old classical buildings from a time when the idea of grand public architecture meant something to the eye and was a source of civic pride. St. Louis is a fine example of this idea, and a real treat for American urban architecture lovers, as this book amply illustrates.

The book itself is quite dated, published in 1989, but the authors do an excellent job of choosing the structures they know we will want to see. All the classics are here, with at least one photograph and a nice descriptive essay for each. St. Louis has, perhaps, the largest, most important collection of ecclesiastical architecture in the United States, and much of it is featured in the catalog.

The authors have taken the time to bring us many of the most interesting old structures from the surrounding towns as well. The book reaches everything from the settlements of Daniel Boone (and his family), to Cahokia, Illinois. These sites are important because they contain many examples of early creole and federal architecture which remind us of St. Louis' colonial and early American years. The authors have done an excellent job of including useful plans, graphics, maps and elevations to illustrate what the camera cannot reach. I particularly like the street elevations, a feature I have not seen duplicated since. It's extremely well done, and a new edition would be a real treat.

I remember the first time I visited St. Louis, I was expecting a run down, dirty, industrial mess, much like Detroit, so you can imagine my surprise with what I found. I loved the city, it was clean and quite beautiful, especially the area around Forest Park. This book does a fine job of capturing the St. Louis I experienced, I especially appreciated that every entry is accompanied with a requisite photo, that should be de riguer in a book of this sort. This book is divided up and it covers not just the city, but the environs, which is essential. If you have any interest in St. Louis, or quite frankly if you have any appreciation in architecture then you will not be disappointed in this wonderful book.