Landmark into parking in St. Louis

Century Building, downtown St. Louis

Built St. Louis is an extensive website “dedicated to the historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri—mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.”

These days, Built St. Louis is attempting to save the Century Building (which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places) from demolition.

The marble-finished Century Building is to be replaced with a 1,062-car parking garage. From Built St. Louis:

The garage’s purpose is to provide parking for the landmark Old Post Office, directly east of the Century, when Webster University moves in. Meanwhile, a larger lot to the north of the Old Post Office currently stands vacant. Yet, the garage will not be built on this obvious and far more inviting site. The vacant lot will instead become an “urban plaza,” in the name of providing new residents of downtown with a park and green space.

Downtown St. Louis is not short of green space. And who is going along with the developer’s plan to demolish the Century Building? None other than the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which issued the judgment that “demolition of the Century would be an unfortunate but necessary tradeoff for the long-term benefit of the Old Post Office and its neighborhood.”

Thousands have already signed the online petition to save the Century Building, which is not the only historic building threatened in downtown St. Louis.