City Museum

City Museum
City Museum outdoor playground
Location	St. Louis, Missouri
Website	City Museum
Operated By	Bob Cassilly
Opened	October 25, 1997
Operating season	year-round

City Museum is a museum, consisting largely of repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building in the Washington Avenue Loft District of St. Louis, Missouri.

Popular among residents and tourists, the museum bills itself as an "eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel." Visitors are encouraged to feel, touch, climb on, and play in the various exhibits. The museum attracted over 300,000 visitors in 1999^[1] and over 600,000 in 2007. It has been named one of the "great public spaces" by the Project for Public Spaces,^[2] and has won other local and international awards as a must-see destination.

History

City Museum was founded by artist Bob Cassilly, who remained the museum's artistic director until his death, and his then-wife Gail Cassilly. The museum's building was once a shoe factory and warehouse but was mostly vacant when the Cassillys bought it in 1993. Construction began in January 1995 and the building opened to the public on October 25, 1997. The museum has since expanded, adding new exhibits such as MonstroCity in 2002, Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shaft in 2003, and World Aquarium in 2004. A circus ring on the third floor offers daily live acts. The City Museum also houses The Shoelace Factory, whose antique braiding machines makes colorful shoelaces for sale.

The building's fifth floor houses apartments, dubbed the Lofts at City Museum, which range in size from 1,300 to more than 2,800 square feet (260 m²).^[3]

The museum has been visited by various celebrities, including Miley Cyrus in 2007^[4] and the Jonas Brothers. The Museum has hosted concerts.

Main building

1st floor

The original part of the museum, the first floor is home to a life-size Bowhead Whale that guests can walk through and view a large fish tank from the mezzanine or the always popular "Puking Pig." Also on the first floor, are a number of tunnels that run across the ceiling, hiding above a sea of fiberglass insulation cut to give the impression of icicles. To get into these one can climb up a Slinky, aka old refrigerating coil (donated by Anhueser-Busch), or through a tree house which leads into a giant hollowed out tree that leads to a cabin on the other side of the floor. The floor itself is covered with the largest continuous mosaic piece in the US, which then morph their way up columns, consuming every section of this floor. In one area is a tunnel known as the "Underground Whaleway" which runs beneath the floor and into the "Original Caves." New areas are currently being built.^[when?]

Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shaft

One of the most popular attractions, besides the outdoor MonstroCity, the Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shafts run through the center of the Museum, and go all the way to the 10th floor. In the Enchanted Caves, guests will find an elaborate cave system hand-sculpted by Bob Cassilly and his crew. From every direction, a different creature is staring back. The Shoe Shafts were left over from when the building was the International Shoe distribution building. To get the shoes from floor to floor, staff would place the shoes on the spiral shafts that would lead down to the loading dock. When the caves originally opened up in 2003, there was only one spiral shoe slide that was three stories tall, but in 2008 a second one was opened, becoming the daddy of them all. A ten-story spiral slide, that starts at the roof and goes down to caves' entrance.

Also located in the Enchanted Caves is a 1924 Wurlitzer Pipe Organ (installed in 2007) from the Rivoli Theater in New York City.

The Mezzanine

The Mezzanine contains the Museum's food court and a number of sections that are also tied into the first floor.

2nd floor

The Vault Room, which contains two 3,000 pound vault doors built in the mid-19th century and originally built in St. Louis, then installed in a bank in Chicago, Il. called the "Loop building", along with a marble bar, and about 1,000 safety deposit boxes.

The middle of the room highlights our 'hamster wheel', which is a donated piece from McDonnell-Douglas, and was used to create the fuselage of small airplanes.

Off to the side of the Vault Room and leading to the Enchanted Caves is St. George's Chamber, which holds a collection of vintage opera posters and a statue of St. George from Saint George's Catholic Church in Chicago.

Shoelace Factory

The Shoelace Factory houses a collection of vintage shoelace machines from the 1890s. If given enough time, one can request a design of their own shoelace.

World Aquarium

An extension of St. Louis Children's Aquarium, this includes a shark tank with a glass tunnel running through it, big enough to crawl through, but too small to walk. Also this aquarium has stingray petting. They also allow stingray feeding for a fee at certain times.

3rd floor

The 3rd Floor is home to a number of attractions. In one area is Skateless Park, which is a collection of skateboard ramps, without the skateboards. There is also the Everyday Circus, a circus school with students from 6 to 80+.^{[citation needed]} The Everyday Circus performs daily at the museum and does private parties. Just around the corner from the Circus, is Art City where guests can try their hand at a number of different art techniques, as well as Toddler Town; A section dedicated only to those 6 and under. Beatnik Bob's is directly across from the Circus, which features the "World's Largest Underwear", a collection of vintage video/pinball games, and a concessions stand. Right outside Beatnik's is a 1/8 scale model of an Alco Train that children who are 48 inches high under can ride around the tracks. Past Architectural Hall, the Museum's largest rental space, is Architectural Museum. Located here is the cross from the "Exorcist," a collection of antique door knobs, and the Museum's current exhibit of Elmslie and Sullivan. Off Architectural Hall, the Museum recently started to add a Natural History Section. On display are a number of insects and taxidermy items. Finally, on the 3rd Floor, the entrance to the three story slide that leads back to the first floor.

The 3rd Floor is also home to a small number of hauntings. There have been reports of a piano playing on its own and small children being seen near the Alco Train and various other people talking or crying. ^[5]

4th floor

In the winter of 2007, Cassilly and crew cut a hole leading to the fourth floor. Located here is The Bale Out, one of St. Louis' largest vintage clothing stores.

The roof

The roof has a small old fashioned Ferris wheel. It also has a slide that goes under a small pond. The pond has stepping stones that go from one side to the other. The roof also has a school bus that had actually worked once, extending past the edge of the building. Visitors can walk in the school bus and open the door from the driver's seat. Also found on the roof are a giant rope swing contained in a free-standing aluminum dome underneath the roof's centerpiece; a giant metal praying mantis. It is possible to climb a series of enclosed metal ladders inside the dome to an exit at the top.

Outside

MonstroCity

Located in front of the building, MonstroCity features two Saber 40 aircraft fuselages suspended high in the air, a fire engine, a castle turret, a 25-foot (7.6 m) cupola, four-foot-wide Slinkies that can be crawled through, and two ball pits, one for young children and one for older ones, each pit being filled with large, rubber dodge balls.^[6]

The Cabin Inn is an early-19th-century log cabin located beneath MonstroCity. Originally the home of the son of Daniel Boone, it was owned by the Hezel family for more than a century and is now a bar and entertainment venue.^[7]

Art lofts

Cassily has used the City Museum as a neighborhood anchor to help develop several nearby commercial and residential buildings, including:

• Laclede Gas Building: An old building down by the entrance to the St. Louis Riverfront Trail which has been under development for a while.
• Windows On Washington
• Windows Off Washington

References

1. ^ Bob Cassilly and Gail Cassilly - St. Louis Business Journal:
2. ^ The City Museum - Great Public Spaces | Project for Public Spaces (PPS)
3. ^ Lofts at City Museum. Citymuseum.org. Retrieved on 2010-11-03.
4. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
5. ^ [2]
6. ^ Attractions. City Museum. Retrieved on 2010-11-03.
7. ^ Cabin Inn Rental. City Museum. Retrieved on 2010-11-03.

External links

• City Museum website
• World Aquarium at the City Museum website
• Very high resolution panoramic images of the museum

• City Museum is at coordinates 38°38′01″N 90°12′02″W / 38.633615°N 90.200621°W / 38.633615; -90.200621 (City Museum)Coordinates: 38°38′01″N 90°12′02″W / 38.633615°N 90.200621°W / 38.633615; -90.200621 (City Museum)