13th Street
Yesterday, we had an opportunity to check out the views from the Park Pacific building at 13th & Olive Streets. It was a rainy and foggy day but that only added to the gloomy Gotham City look that downtown sometimes possesses. A perfect day to go on a 360 degree tour of downtown St. Louis, as seen from the 15th & 22nd floors of this beautiful Art Deco building.
Above we are looking north on 13th Street, towards Washington Avenue, with the Central Library and Christchurch Cathedral in the foreground and Knickerbocker, Fashion Square and the Shell building in the background.
Ongoing renovations at the Library
In this photo, starting from the left: Terra Cotta lofts, a cluster of smaller loft buildings on Washington Avenue, among them Windows and Eastbank, and the Citymuseum. Center-right we can see the backs of the Grace, Garment, Denim and Knickerbocker buildings facing Lucas Park. The low-rise brown building to the right of Grace lofts is home to the Fitness Factory, a gym.
Looking west on a dreary Olive Street
Above we see the CityView apartments (the former Park Plaza Apartments) and Blue City Spaces left of center, and YMCA, Annex and Terra Cotta at center-right. The brown building just to the left of the YMCA is the Butler (Park Plaza) Building. This is one of the largest buildings (1 million Sq. Ft.) downtown that has not yet been renovated. It takes up an entire city block. In the distance to the left Wells Fargo Advisors and AT&T are just visible in the fog. The rectangular building across 14th Street from the Library used to house the TWA reservations department and is now home to Confluence Preparatory Academy. A recently added gym can be seen on the roof.
The P.D. George across the park
The newly renovated park looks much, much better. It sits between the Library, P.D. George Apartments (former Ford building, center), Soldiers Memorial and Park Pacific, our viewpoint.
Soldiers Memorial and Peabody Opera House
Besides Soldiers Memorial and Peabody Opera House, the beautiful Municipal Courts building (waiting to be developed) sits to the left, the downtown skating rink right in front of the Peabody. Scottrade Center and Sheraton Hotel with the Edison Condominiums on the top floors are visible in the background, left of center.
City Hall
City Hall front and center, the City Justice Center (with no bed sheets dangling from the windows) to the left, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Headquarters and Federal Building behind City Hall, and Purina headquarters in the left background.
The Civil and Federal Courts
Downtown St. Louis Fog
From left to right: AT&T (Southwestern Bell) towers, a sliver of Gateway One (Peabody Energy HQ), The Hilton at the Ballpark with 360 lounge atop, Millenium Hotel, Bank of America, the Civil Courts and Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Court House buildings. In the center of the photo, Citygarden and Gen America building are just visible. The brown building in front is 100 North Tucker, a 165,000 Sq. Ft. office building.
Park Pacific Detail
We conclude our (almost) 360 degree tour of downtown with a shot of our viewpoint, the Park Pacific, former home of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, who constructed it in 1928. Until recently this building still functioned as a regional headquarters for Missouri Pacific, after a 1982 merger with Union Pacific. In 2005 the operations were consolidated at the Union Pacific headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.
Missouri Pacific Railroad network
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Thanks for the new perspectives on downtown. The Civil Courts building view is probably my favorite, then the Soldiers Memorial. So glad to see the old MoPac building getting an overhaul.
Crazy cool building! Thanks for taking the time to put together such an interesting perspective of DT. And, thanks for sharing a link to CityView – we love being a part of the resurgence this area of the city is going through.