- Continental Life Building
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Continental Life Building 
General information Status Complete Type Apartments Location 3615 Olive St., St. Louis, Missouri Coordinates 38°38′19″N 90°13′58″W / 38.6385°N 90.2327°WCoordinates: 38°38′19″N 90°13′58″W / 38.6385°N 90.2327°W Completed 1930 Height Roof 286 feet (87 m) [1] Technical details Floor count 22 Elevator count 2 Design and construction Owner Owen Development Architect William B. Ittner The Continental-Life Building, also known as the Continental Building, is an Art Deco skyscraper in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, which was completed in 1930. The building is located in Grand Center in St. Louis' Midtown neighborhood, and it is visible from Interstate 64/Highway 40 and Interstate 44.
Commissioned by Edward Mays to be the home of his two businesses, Continental-Life Insurance and the Grand National Bank, the building was designed by William B. Ittner, a prominent St. Louis architect. It housed businesses through the mid-1960s, when its co-owners included St. Louis mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes, prominent St. Louis defense attorney Morris Shenker, and Harold Koplar of KPLR. At some point in the 1970s the building fell into disrepair.
After a few false starts in the late 1990s, St. Louis developers Pete Rothschild and Stephen Trampe took on the project, renovating the building into apartments. It reopened in 2001. Trampe later wrote a book about the building's history and rebirth [2].
The building has a connected three-story parking garage, which is used by both residents and patrons of the nearby Fox Theatre. The top of the parking garage holds an outdoor pool for residents' use.
A notable number of St. Louis landmarks are visible from the building because of its location and height. Some of these include the Gateway Arch, One Metropolitan Square (St. Louis' tallest building), the Edward Jones Dome, the City Museum, the Civil Courts Building, the Anheuser Busch brewery, portions of the Missouri Botanical Garden including the Climatron geodesic dome, the St. Louis State Hospital, the Compton Hill water tower, the campus of St. Louis University and the St. Louis Science Center.
Architectural elements from the building were collected over time by the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation and returned to the building in the Stephen Trampe renovation. Other elements still reside at the foundation's Sauget, Illinois storage site.
References
- ^ Emporis.com - Retrieved May 25, 2008
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Lace-Story-Continental-Building/dp/1891442244 Amazon.com - Retrieved May 25, 2008
External links
Current Metropolitan Square · One AT&T Center · Eagleton Federal Courthouse · One US Bank Plaza · Laclede Gas Building · Southwestern Bell Building · Civil Courts Building · Bank of America Plaza · One City Center · Park East Tower · Queeny Tower · Park Plaza Apartments · St. Francis de Sales Church · 1010 Market Street · Four Seasons Hotel · Millennium Hotel · Crowne Plaza · Mansion House · Gentry's Landing · Continental Life Building · 500 BroadwayProposed See also: List of tallest buildings in MissouriCity of St. Louis 
Categories:- Art Deco architecture in Missouri
- Skyscrapers in St. Louis, Missouri
- Art Deco skyscrapers
- Office buildings in Missouri
- Apartment buildings in the United States
- William B. Ittner buildings
- Missouri building and structure stubs
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