Landmarks' 2001 List of 11 Most Endangered Sites
Starting with George McCue’s The Building Art in St. Louis published in 1967, Busch Stadium has been included in every standard guide to architecture in St. Louis. "The 50,000 seat downtown sports arena . . . has more than exceeded expectations as a local and national year-round attraction. Nearly circular in plan, the airily elegant concrete structure of slender colonnades is relatively low because the playing field and some seats are below street level. A crowning thin-shell canopy thrusts out 70 feet above the upper deck." Busch Stadium was included in a poster illustrating the best examples of 225 years of local architecture published for the 1989 national convention of the American Institute of Architects. More recently it was named by Cynthia Weese, Dean of the Washington University School of Architecture, as the best work completed by Edward Durrell Stone. There is simply no question that the stadium has exceptional architectural merit. Equally important is the fact that St. Louis is known all over the world by the image of this arena. As the identifying icon of the St. Louis region, Busch Stadium rivals the Arch. To exchange a much loved, world-class structure for a commonplace "retro" confection is folly. Renovation of the existing facility should be the first choice and the least costly choice. If a new stadium proves to be inevitable, it should be designed for the 21st century rather than parody the past. National Register, City Landmark National Register National Register
Off the list this year: Steins Row 200-204 Steins Street National Register, City Landmark Plans appear to be moving forward to renovate this City Landmark. |
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