Merchandise Mart
1000 Washington Avenue
City Landmark and National Register
Merchandise Mart
1000 Washington Avenue
City Landmark and National Register
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| Arguably one of the masterpieces of late 19th century commercial
design, this imposing Romanesque Revival building was built in 1888-89
for local tobacco company magnates John E. Liggett and George S. Myers
from plans by architect Isaac Taylor of St. Louis.
Bold but disciplined, the block-long medley of materials features polished and rough-cut rose granite, pressed brick, terra cotta, sandstone, cast iron and copper. Original tenants included the Rice-Stix wholesale dry-goods company, a relative newcomer to St. Louis which by 1907 had expanded to fill the entire building. Rice-Stix left Washington Avenue in 1957 and the building was purchased by owners who put up the current marquee and opened a merchandise mart. In the early 1980s an Atlanta-based developer, lured by the promise of St. Louis' rehab renaissance, paid top dollar for the 500,000-square-foot property. That project faltered. The present owner, a local entrepreneur with other properties on Washington Avenue, paid relatively little. His attempts to devise a new use included partial demolition for parking. Recent applications to demolish the entire building have been denied by the City's Heritage & Urban Design Commission. The Merchandise Mart is now for sale. |
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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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