The Fullerton Building
Pine at N. 7th Street
Built: 1897
Architect: William Albert Swasey
Demolished: ca. 1965

The Fullerton Building (occasionally referred to as the Fullerton-Terry Building for the real estate company involved in its development) was a 12-story tower erected by retired Civil War veteran Brigadier General Joseph Scott Fullerton, a soldier, Civil War commander, Reconstruction leader, lawyer and public servant, and was widely hailed for his service to country. He was also a real estate developer, responsible for the private 4300-4400 blocks of Westminster Place (also in collaboration with architect Swasey). He died in a "railway accident" several months before the building that bore his last name was completed.

William A. Swasey was a prolific architect in the city; his most prominent commission was the nearby Missouri Pacific Building.

The building was an L shaped structure, with the main facade on Seventh Street and a rear wing along the mid-block alley. The latter featured a lightwell to provide windows for tenants away from the street, resulting in upper level floor plans with a rather peculiar footprint. It contained 360 rooms, with interiors of oak and Italian marble.

The Fullerton Building was still standing in 1963; by 1966, it was gone and a parking garage was rising on its former site.

Locator Map

Rendering of the Fullerton-Terry Building, displayed at the Annual Exhibition of the Saint Louis Architectural Club, 1899.

The Fullerton Building when new. Image from Fireproof Building Construction: Prominent Buildings Erected by the George A. Fuller Company, 1910.

Real Estate Row is looking pretty shabby in this 1963 view. The Fullerton Building is at the right edge. Globe-Democrat Sunday Magazine, July 31, 1963.

Pre-1966 view, showing the building's peculiar shape. From This Is Our St. Louis, Harry Hagen, Knight Publishing Co., St. Louis 1970.

In this 1966 view, the Fullerton is gone, and construction of the parking deck that took its site is underway. Image from a free lithograph distributed by Boatmans Bank, provided by Bob Jerrels; photograph by Lloyd Spainhower.