Railway Exchange Building (St. Louis)

Railway Exchange Building
Railway Exchange Building From Locust Street
Location600 Locust St., St. Louis, Missouri
Coordinates38°37′50″N 90°11′22″W / 38.63056°N 90.18944°W / 38.63056; -90.18944
Arealess than one acre
Built1913 (1913)
Built byKorte Co.
ArchitectMauran, Russell & Crowell
Architectural styleEarly Commercial
NRHP reference No.09000411[1]
Added to NRHPJune 11, 2009

The Railway Exchange Building is an 84.4 m (277 ft), 21-story high-rise office building in St. Louis, Missouri. The 1914 steel-frame building is in the Chicago school architectural style, and was designed by architect Mauran, Russell & Crowell. The building was the city's tallest when it opened, and remains the second-largest building in downtown St. Louis by interior area, with almost 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m2) of space.[2][3]

The building was long home to the flagship store of the Famous-Barr chain of department stores — and the headquarters of its parent company May Department Stores — until Macy's purchased the brand; the store was rebranded as Macy's in 2006.[4] Macy's sold the building in 2008[5] and closed the store in 2013.[6]

In January 2017, Hudson Holdings, a National Historic Property Developer based in Delray Beach, Florida, purchased the building for $20 million.[7][8]

The city of St. Louis was granted an emergency condemnation on 4 Jan 2023, and proceeded to kick out people who appeared to be squatting and board up the building. [9]

Notable people

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ "Railway Exchange Building". Emporis. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  3. ^ "Railway Exchange Building". SkyscraperPage. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  4. ^ "Railway Exchange Building". Built St. Louis. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  5. ^ Brown, Lisa R. (October 28, 2009). "Bruce, Yackey seek TIF for Macy's overhaul". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  6. ^ Bryant, Tim (May 20, 2013). "Macy's to close downtown St. Louis store". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  7. ^ Bryant, Tim (January 31, 2017). "Developer buys Railway Exchange Building downtown". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  8. ^ "Hudson Holdings - National Historic Property Developer". hudsonholdings.com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  9. ^ Lloyd, Gloria (January 11, 2023). "City condemns, boards up historic Railway Exchange building downtown". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved January 31, 2023.