In this issue, as we celebrate the 50th year of the publication of St. Louis Construction News & review, we also recognize the foresight and good works of those who came before us. When Thomas J. Finan, III set out to create a narrative on the state of the St. Louis area construction industry, he understood the necessity of providing clear, factual and unbiased information. We are proud to have done our part in telling your story of the St. Louis building community over the years and to advance the dialog fairly and with the perspective of all voices. It has been our goal to focus on the positive when reporting on the work of those who build structures and community on both sides of the river.
In addition to looking outward to the enduring symbols of St. Louis progress, we honor the early CNR staff and family who have worked so hard to bring your story to life. I have been at the helm of CNR for just over 10 years and our excellent editor, Kerry Smith has been on board for about 2 years. Her research and the telling of the CNR story has been an interesting process for both of us and we hope it will be for you.
One of the people Kerry interviewed for this story is Eldon Arteaga. Known by many for his high-altitude, breathtaking photography of the construction of the St. Louis Gateway Arch – and also recognized as Teamsters President, Jimmy Hoffa’s official photographer – was one of the St. Louis CNR founder’s dearest friends and closest colleagues. The two met in the 1960s when the young Arteaga was 29 years old. Eldon is now an entertaining chap of a certain age with a truckload of colorful stories. After our editor interviewed him for this feature she remarked on how very helpful he had been and that “he even told me a joke”. Almost too perfect.
When you see Eldon’s photographs of the building of the St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, you get a strong sense of the pride and determination of the men and women who knew that they were building something of great importance that would stand in perpetuity as a testament to imagination and ingenuity, two uniquely human attributes which are the bedrock of our industry.
Fittingly, in this issue, we also feature the rebirth and repurposing of three historic St. Louis buildings from the 1920’s.
The Woodward & Tiernan Printing Company building has been rehabilitated and converted into 164 upscale lofts in St. Louis’ Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. The personality of the original Woodward & Tiernan Printing Company building, we learn, remains in Woodward Lofts in the design which carries with it a feel of offset printing that occurred during the decades of operations there.
Steelcote Lofts represents the first phase of a multi-phase strategy to rehabilitate, renovate and reenergize longstanding industrial buildings in Midtown St. Louis. A five-story, 43,541-square-foot building listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was long known as the Steelcote Manufacturing Company Paint Factory, the building is undergoing a creative and elaborate transformation that began in early 2017. It is a $9 million project.
The Last Hotel is a $54 million historic rehabilitation construction project wrapping up in the former International Shoe Company Building at 1501 Washington Avenue. The 10-story edifice, erected in 1909 by St. Louis Union Station architect Theodore Link, gets its name, rightly so, from a shoemaking tool. The “last” was a hardwood or cast iron, foot-shaped mechanical form used decades ago by cobblers to repair and manufacture shoes.
One cannot help but wonder whether the people involved in the designing and building of these structures had any notion that, nearly 100 years hence, their work would be honored and conserved by future generations.
When you go to work in the morning, think about the future. There’s a very good chance that the population of the twenty-second century will still appreciate your work. Everyone who builds St. Louis can be very proud of this incredible legacy.