Ground
Broken For “City Garden”
Mayor Francis G. Slay and other city officials broke ground on
the latest addition to downtown and the St. Louis area cultural
landscape – a unique public garden with extensive landscaping
and modern and contemporary sculpture on the Gateway Mall.
The “City Garden,” as it will be called, is being built on the
two blocks between Eighth and Tenth and Chestnut and Market streets.
“When we announced this project about 10 months ago, I called
it a spectacular gift to the city, a home run for the city a few
blocks from the ballpark,” Mayor Slay said at the groundbreaking
ceremony. “Now that I’ve seen the plans, I don’t think anyone
can accuse me of exaggeration.
"This garden will immediately take its place among the great
cultural attractions of St. Louis for residents and visitors alike,"
he said. "It will be unlike anything else in the United States.
The combination of world-class public art with magnificent landscaping
in a completely open, accessible downtown setting will simply
be unique in the country."
The City of St. Louis and the Gateway Foundation announced last
June that they would partner in creating the garden. The City
will own the garden improvements and will continue to own the
land. The not-for-profit Gateway Foundation is providing the funding
– an estimated $20-25 million. The St. Louis Board of Aldermen
approved a cooperation agreement authorizing the project last
July.
Under that agreement, the Foundation will pay for the design
and construction of the garden, including state-of-the art lighting,
ongoing maintenance, security, and insurance expenses. The City’s
only expenses will be for water and electricity.
Among the garden’s major features will be:
• More than 20 kinds of trees, including shade and flowering
species, as well as shrubs, exotic plants and lush flowers. The
Missouri Botanical Garden played a key role in the selection of
the plantings and is under contract with the Gateway Foundation
to maintain the City Garden.
• Three spectacular water features. A 145-foot rectangular basin
with a six-foot waterfall will be placed between 8th and 9th streets
near Chestnut. A state-of-the-art water spray plaza — with 102
jets and custom lighting — will be showcased between 9th and 10th
streets near Market, and a granite disc featuring a scrim of water
will sit on the corner of 8th and Market.
• A café with indoor and outdoor seating along Chestnut
Street, overlooking the garden.
• An eight-foot limestone wall, evoking the limestone bluffs of
the Mississippi River in the shape of an arc, running along the
entire length of the garden’s north side.
• A meandering 18-inch-tall polished granite-capped wall, evoking
a serpentine river, along the garden’s southern border. This wall
will offer seating and break the space into multiple smaller parts,
or “rooms,” offering more intimacy and visual interest while showcasing
dozens of flowers and shrubs.
• Space for large-scale sculpture by national and internationally
renowned artists.
• A double-row of gingko trees along both blocks on the Market
Street side. The city intends later to extend the tree promenade
to help knit together
the entire Gateway Mall, for which master planning is now complete.
• A state-of-the-art LED video wall displaying video art, movies,
and hopefully, championship baseball games.
Nelson Byrd Woltz, a Charlottesville, Va.-based landscape architectural
firm, prepared the plan for the garden. Nine St. Louis-based firms
supported Nelson Byrd Woltz in the design process, including Studio
Durham Architects, which designed the café. St. Louis-based
BSI Constructors will be the general contractor. The project is
scheduled for completion by July 1, 2009, in time for the Major
League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis in mid-July.
Joining Mayor Slay in turning ground were the Botanical Garden’s
Dr. Raven; 7th Ward Alderman Phyllis Young, whose ward contains
the garden; the Mayor’s Executive Director for Development, Barbara
Geisman; and representatives of many of the firms that will be
working on the project.
The Gateway Foundation has contributed significantly in recent
years to the revitalization of downtown’s urban landscape, with
projects ranging from the funding of the Gateway Mall master plan
to the lighting of the Gateway Arch, Old Courthouse, Civil Courts
Building, and the city’s historic water towers. Other projects
have ranged from the development of Triangle Park at Clark and
14th streets to the restoration and construction of playgrounds
and to the placement around the community of numerous pieces of
public art.
Breaking ground for the new city garden
were: Jim Shaughnessy of BSI; Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical
Garden; Bill Burke of Arcturis; Parks Director Gary Bess; Jim
Cloar of Downtown St. Louis Partnership; Alderwoman Phyllis Young;
Mayor Francis G. Slay and Streets Director Todd Waelterman.
Mayor Francis G. Slay said the garden
will immediately take its place among the great cultural attractions
of St. Louis.
