a photographic survey of late 19th and early 20th century st. louis commercial building ornament

john vinci and i made the trek to st. louis to visit richard nickel's architectural ornament at southern university edwardsville, the wainwright and union trust buildings, city museum, and the wainwright tomb, located in bellefontaine cemetery.

time was very limited, so i didn't get a chance to extensively document building ornament during our brief stay. fruitful dialogue and observations of various buildings set the stage for a future visit where i hope to pinpoint buildings of great interest to me and thoroughly record them inside and out.

sullivan's wainwright will require multiple visits to capture it on both macro and micro scales. no matter where vinci and i where, we both felt this irresistible gravitational pull towards wainwright, where we could discuss and document under various lighting conditions.

adler and sullivan's union trust is in a state of transformation, where it is being converted into a hotel. i hope to gain access to the interior - any and all of it - to record its exposed framing, basement, terra cotta removal and replacement, and any other details formerly concealed by renovations.

i'm confident future trips to st. louis this year will lead to a maniacal obsession with the city's 19th century extant architecture as well as closely monitor the transformation of adler & sullivan's union station. in addition and as mentioned previously, i would like to revisit the wainwright building to develop a more thorough photographic survey of sullivan's exterior sandstone and terra cotta ornament, espeically from multiple vantage points.

note: i was surprised that very few books exist on st. louis architects and architecture from the late 19th century - espeically during the time when adler and sullivan's work was highly regarded by the city and its architects. there's a "lost st. louis" and an aia guide, but nothing comes close to being remotely scholarly.