St. Louis Building Arts Foundation

The St. Louis Building Arts Foundation started as the personal collecting hobby of Larry Giles, a historic preservationist in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.[3]

St. Louis Building Arts Foundation
MottoPreserving The Future, Promoting Our Past
Formation2002 (2002)[1]
FounderLarry Giles
Founded atSt. Louis, Missouri, United States
TypeNon-profit foundation
HeadquartersSauget, Illinois, United States
Coordinates
Region
Midwest
Director
Larry Giles[2]
Websitewww.nationalbuildingarts.org

The foundation saves architecturally significant pieces of historic buildings in the St. Louis region before they are demolished.[4] They also collect before major renovations are made to historic structures. Columns, beams, facades, and other architectural elements were stored in a number of warehouse spaces around St. Louis for a number of years.

In 2007, the collection was consolidated and moved to Sauget, Illinois, in the former Sterling Steel Casting foundry property.[3] The collection is more than 300,000 items in 1,600 wooden crates of 30 cubic feet.[5][6] It cost about $1 million to acquire the Sauget site and move the artifacts there in 350 semi-truck loads.[5]

The foundation hopes to one day show their collection to the general public in a National Building Arts Center. In the original plans for the Gateway Arch, there was an idea to include an architecture museum on the Illinois side of the river.[7] To raise money for the shelter, Giles is selling duplicates and doubles of artifacts, in addition to traditional fundraising.[5]

Items in the collection include:

  • 8-foot-tall terra cotta frieze from the 18-story Ambassador Theater Building[5]
  • Missouri Pacific Building
  • St. Louis Terra Cotta company
  • Soulard Station Post Office
  • Gaslight Square[8]
  • State Bank of Wellston was saved after Giles raised $19,000 to rent necessary equipment including a crane and flatbed trucks to salvage the rotating sign.[1]

References
  1. Naffziger dlin, Chris (4 June 2014). "Historic Bank Sign That Served as Weather Beacon Saved From Scrapyard". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  2. "National Building Arts Foundation Official". Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  3. Greene, Lynnda. "A Conversation with Larry Giles". St. Louis Magazine. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  4. Holleman, Joe (20 August 2017). "Spotlight: National Building Arts Center in Sauget saves at least pieces of history". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  5. Sisson, Patrick (9 May 2017). "A salvager's decades-long dream to build a museum of architectural artifacts". Curbed. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  6. Vespereny, Cynthia (22 August 2014). "St. Louis Character: Larry Giles". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  7. "National Building Arts Foundation Website". National Building Arts Foundation Website. Retrieved 20 Nov 2018.
  8. Medlin, Jarrett (22 August 2014). "The Collector: Larry Giles". Curbed. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
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