Built St. Louis > > Crumbling Landmarks > > Shrinters Hospital

Shriners Hospital
Architect: William B. Ittner
Date: 1922

This building and another by Ittner, the Central Institute for the Deaf, stand on opposite sides of Clayton Avenue, at the northern edge of the Barnes-Jewish Medical Center. The hospital campus, in conjunction with Washington University's medical school, is a major economic force in the area. Unfortunately this also means it has become a land-devouring behemoth, ever vigilant for land to expand onto. It has already swallowed historic buildings in the past, such as the Stix School, destroyed in the late 1990s.

Now, these two buildings could be on the long-range chopping block.

Shriners Hospital was designed by one of St. Louis's most gifted and prolific architects, notable for his school buildings throughout the city and across the nation. The Mediterranian-styled building features lucious terra cotta ornament, Spanish tiled roofing, and beautiful Moorish-influenced geometric designs around the long-closed main entryway.

The structure was in Washington University's hands by 1946, and remains there today. Though it is actively used, a "Community Unit Plan" zoning overlay for the medical complex call for evaluations of its long-term future, with demolition being casually mentioned as a possibility.

Demolition obviously implies a need for new construction, right? You need vacant land for new construction.

Here's where I start editorializing; you have been warned.

Now, much as I love the ol' alma mater, they've proven themselves to be a little bit farsighted at times, missing things that are right in front of their noses. So, let me say to the Med Center right now:

HEY. LOOK ACROSS THE STREET FROM YOUR BUILDING THERE.

THERE'S A BIG HUGE PARKING LOT. RIGHT THERE. CAN'T MISS IT.

PUT THE NEW CONSTRUCTION THERE.

That is all.



Links:
- Vanishing STL has more details on the campus plans
- Landmarks Association of St. Louis includes both buildings on their Eleven Most Endangered list for 2008.

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