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Real Estate Row

Shown here is "Real Estate Row", a magnificent lineup of high rises that was the equal of any in America, as it stood in 1970. In its heyday, it was the center of commerce for the city, the product of civicly responsible wealth.

Fourteen years after this photograph, it was gone. Of the group shown here, only the Wainwright Building remains. The rest were obliterated; nothing but salvaged ornaments remain of them. The destruction of this streetscape is one of the greatest tragedies in St. Louis's architectural history.

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Real Estate Row, centered on 7th and Chestnut Streets, left to right: the Buder Building (with the International Building behind), the Title Guaranty, the Wainwright, the Demunil, an unknown 2-story, and the Holland Building. Image from "This Is Our St. Louis" by Harry Hagen, Knight Publishing Co, St. Louis, 1970.