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Kinloch Building
Originally a 6-story brick building with terra cotta trim in the Romanesque vein, the Kinloch Building was erected by St. Louis's Kinloch Telephone Company as home for its offices and switchboards. Kinloch was a large early competitor to Bell, finally bought out by them in 1924. After bouncing between owners and being remodeled piecemeal over the following decades, the building was bought in 1953 by the Farm and Home Savings and Loan Association. The following year, it was "modernized" - completely reskinned with International Style metal and limestone panels. Most of its original ornament was removed or destroyed in the process, Attached to the corner is one of the city's most attention-getting signs, spanning the height of the building. Farm and Home continued to prosper for three decades, but declined in the 1980s. In 1994, the company was absorbed into Roosevelt Bank. The Farm and Home Building was mostly emptied the following year, and stood vacant for half a decade. Developer Craig Heller bought the building in the early 2000s, intending to renovate. A portion of the slipcover on the east facade was removed circa 2006 to determine how much of the original facade remained beneath - as it turned out, very little. Heller would have liked to remove the 1950s reskin, but the cost of restoring the severely damaged exterior to its original condition made the project a non-starter. A more modest renovation was carried out, cleaning and repairing the aging Modernist exterior and updating the office and retail space within. The building was rechristend as The 411. |
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