Continental Building
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Architect: William B. Ittner
Year Completed: 1928
Location: 3615 Olive Street, St. Louis, Missouri
Style: Art Deco
Prior to living in St. Louis, I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city rich with Art Deco architecture. Although St. Louis has many good architectural buildings, there is not an abundance of Art Deco. Because the Continental Building is one of St. Louis' few Art Deco skyscrapers, it is one of my favorite St. Louis skyscrapers.
Unfortunately, this skyscraper has a tragic history and has never been the great building that it should have been. The Continental Life Building, as it was known when it opened, was completed in 1928 and is located in midtown St. Louis. The building, designed by St. Louis architect William B. Ittner, opened just before the stock market crash.
Edmund Mays had the skyscraper built for his two businesses: the Continental Life Insurance Company and the Grand National Bank. He also lived in a three-story penthouse at the top of the building.
Four weeks after opening, the bank was the victim of St. Louis' worst robbery, creating great financial problems. The life insurance company also had problems and both companies were bankrupt by 1934.
Kansas City Life Insurance took over the building in 1936 and renamed it "The Continental Building." You can see in the close-up photograph of the entrance that they simply pried off the letters "life" above the building's entrance.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which leased ten stories in the twenty-three story building, moved out in 1973. The remaining tenants soon followed. The plumbing was not drained properly when the building was boarded up in 1979. As a result, the first harsh freeze did a lot of damage to the buildings internal systems. During the following year, most of the building's furnishings were stolen and sold leaving the building empty and bare.
The one thing preventing the building from being destroyed was the fact that it contained asbestos. The cost to remove the asbestos before destroying the building more than doubled the cost.
Over the years, many individuals came forward with proposals to save the Continental Building. One of these plans was finally being carried out and the Continental Building finally re-opened in October 2002. The building has been converted into 100 apartments with a restaurant and a pool. All of my pictures of this building date from prior to the renovation.
For more information on the Continental Building, visit Built St. Louis.