National Building Arts Center
| Formation | 2002[1] |
|---|---|
| Founder | Larry Giles |
| Founded at | St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Type | Non-profit foundation |
| Headquarters | Sauget, Illinois, United States |
| Coordinates | 38°35′42″N 90°10′06″W / 38.594927°N 90.168276°W |
Region | Midwest |
Director | Larry Giles[2] |
| Website | www |
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]
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
- ^ a b Naffziger dlin, Chris (4 June 2014). "Historic Bank Sign That Served as Weather Beacon Saved From Scrapyard". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ "National Building Arts Foundation Official". Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ a b Greene, Lynnda. "A Conversation with Larry Giles". St. Louis Magazine. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d Sisson, Patrick (9 May 2017). "A salvager's decades-long dream to build a museum of architectural artifacts". Curbed. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Vespereny, Cynthia (22 August 2014). "St. Louis Character: Larry Giles". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ "National Building Arts Foundation Website". National Building Arts Foundation Website. Retrieved 20 Nov 2018.
- ^ Medlin, Jarrett (22 August 2014). "The Collector: Larry Giles". Curbed. Retrieved 20 September 2018.