frank lloyd wright described it as the very first human expression of a tall steel office
building as architecture hi everyone my name is caton welcome to this house
today we are looking at the 10-story terracotta masterpiece known as the wainwright building
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the wainwright building is considered to be one of the first aesthetically fully expressed early
skyscrapers it was designed by denkmar adler and louis sullivan and built between 1890 and 1891
it was named for local brewer building contractor and financier ellis wainwright wainwright needed
the office space to manage the st louis brewers association it was the second major commission
for a tall building won by adler in sullivan firm which had grown to international prominence after
the creation of the 10-story auditorium building in chicago as designed the first floor of the
wainwright building was intended for street accessible shops with a second floor filled
with easily accessible public offices the higher floors were for honeycomb offices while the top
floor was for water tanks in building machinery aesthetically the wainwright building exemplifies
sullivan's theories about the tall building which included a three-part composition the base
the shaft and the capital this was all based on the structure of the classical column
and his desire to emphasize the height of the building he wrote the skyscraper must be tall
every inch of it the force and power of altitude must be in it the glory and pride of exaltation
must be in it it must be every inch a proud and soaring thing rising in sheer exaltation
that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line despite the classical
column concept the building's design was deliberately modern featuring none of the
neoclassical styles that sullivan held in contempt the ornamentation for the building includes a wide
freeze below the deep cornice which expresses the formalized yet naturalistic celery leaf foliage
typical of sullivan and published in his system of architectural ornament decorated scandals
between the windows on the different floors and an elaborate door surround at the main entrance
apart from the slender brick piers the only solids of the wall surface are the spandrel
panels between the windows they have rich decorative patterns and low relief varying
in design and scale with each story the freeze is pierced by unobtrusive bullseye windows that light
the top floor one of sullivan's primary concerns was the development of an architectural symbolism
consisting of simple geometric structural forms and organic ornamentation the wainwright building
where he juxtaposed the objective tectonic in the subjective organic was the first demonstration of
the symbolism unlike sullivan adler described the building as a plain business structure stating
in a utilitarian age like ours it is safe to assume that the real estate owner and the investor
in buildings will continue to erect the class of building from which the greatest possible revenue
can be obtained with the least possible outlay the purpose of erecting buildings other than
those required for the shelter of their owners is specifically that of making investments for profit
upon its initial completion the wainwright building was popular with the people and
received favorably by critics in 1968 the building was designated a national historic landmark and in
1972 it was named a city landmark the wainwright building was initially rescued from demolition
by the national trust for historic preservation when the trust took an option on the structure
later it was acquired by missouri as part of a state office complex and the st louis landmarks
association in one of its early victories is credited with having rescued the wainwright
building from a construction project the neighboring lincoln trust building later known as
the title guarantee building designed by eames and young built in 1898 was demolished to make way for
the gateway mall in 1983. carolyn toft landmarks association's executive director stated that
this building formed an ensemble with three other late 19th century commercial buildings including
the wainwright building that could not be equaled anywhere else in the country saving the wainwright
was important but how much more important it would have been to save the entire group
architect john d randall led an extensive letter writing campaign to the governor and other noted
officials the campaign resulted in the restoration of the building as a state office building instead
of its demolition after a period of neglect the building now houses the missouri state offices
thank you all for watching i really hope that you enjoyed learning about this landmark
i want to extend a special thanks to our members whose names you can see on the screen right now
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