 The Arena 5700 Oakland The Arena is gone but not forgotten. Built for the National Exhibition Company (a local venture sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce), the St. Louis Arena was completed in October 1929 at a cost of $2 million. The building was designed by Gustel R. Kiewitt in association with Herman M. Sohrmann. |
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| The German-born Kiewitt, who was only 25 years old when he emigrated
to the U.S.
after having received his degree at the University of Stuttgart, considered many different
schemes
before
arriving at a dome-shaped Lamella roof that assured an unobstructed view from each
of the Arena's 21,000 seats. Although the Arena's developers were among the many forced to
declare
bankruptcy in 1929 and Kiewitt was never paid for his work on the project, it did bring the
young
engineer a
national reputation. (Later projects included the Houston Astrodome
and the New Orleans Superdome.)
The completion in 1994 of Kiel Arena downtown may have sealed the fate for the Oakland Avenue landmark. After a sale offering fixtures and mementos, the City locked the doors at the Arena and advertised the 26-acre site as a prime redevelopment opportunity. The July1997 court decision in favor of the St. Louis Art Museum's expansion in Forest Park adds funding to the coffers for development of the Arena location, but no plans. |
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All information and illustrations are from materials in the collections
of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, Inc. and are subject to the
usual copyright restrictions.
To pose historical / architectural questions, please contact Landmarks by clicking here. These pages were designed by Kristin Eldyss Sorensen Zapalac; to e-mail her about any glitches in these pages, click her name. |
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