Time To Rethink Aloe Plaza

Eighty-three years ago today a new urban plaza was opened across Market Street from Union Station. The decennial census taken the previous month would later show the city’s population had declined slightly.

St. Louisans of the 1930s removed the buildings, businesses, and activity from across Union Station. It was what people first saw upon arrival, they wanted beauty instead of what they viewed as clutter and illicit activity. Passive over bustling. They were successful…too successful.

For a good 70 years the west end of Aloe Plaza is what motorists saw as they exited the highway, ending up at 20th & Chestnut. Now with CITYPARK, our new MLS stadium replacing the on/off ramps, the situation west of Aloe Plaza is entirely different.

20th Street is closed for a block party before matches, porta-potties are lined up nearby. To the west is the start of the Brickline Greenway, a 2-way cycle track plus a wide pedestrian path. This needs to continue east and the two blocks of Aloe Plaza are next.

The space has some very large old trees. I’m not an arborist so I can’t say they’re worth keeping, or not. The ’Meeting of the Waters’ fountain by Carl Milles is certainly sacred, though in desperate need of a new basin.

I’d love to see something happen (charrette, competition, etc) to gather ideas on how to turn this passive two-block long public park into an exciting new public space that includes the fountain in the same or different place. Does the fountain need to be centered on Union Station? Must it be parallel to Market Street? Among many questions we should ask ourselves.

One thing I see as a must-have amenity is a public restroom. The entire region needs these where we expect tourists, people cycling/walking, and such. Not inside a nearby business — a highly visible kiosk structure that opens directly to the sidewalk. These can be self-cleaning, the ones I used in San Francisco last fall were wonderful.

I can also imagine a structure(s) for food, beverage, events, and such.

I’m not sure about the name Aloe Plaza. It made sense in 1940 as the former president of the board of aldermen, Louis B. Aloe, had died just over a decade before. Aloe was instrumental in a 1923 bond issue — a century ago. Aloe, the bond issue, the businesses displaced, etc should all be represented in the new space. I’m just not sure the name for the last 83 years should carry forward.

The entire two block park bounded by Market, 18th, Chestnut, and 20th needs to be rethought, reimagined for the 21st century.

— Steve
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St. Louis urban planning, policy, and politics @ UrbanReviewSTL since October 31, 2004. For additional content please consider following on Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, and/or X (Twitter).

Renovated Kiener Plaza Reopened 5 Years Ago Today

Five years ago the trees at the renovated Kiener Plaza looked so new, provided no shade. Now they’ve matured nicely. Saturday we spent 2+ hours sitting in the shade.

It’s nice seeing Kiener Plaza be a space that can hold thousands of people and still function. Now if only we could do something about those two parking garages across Chestnut, to the north.

— Steve Patterson

Reimagining 100 North Broadway to Take Advantage of New Luther Ely Smith Square & Arch Entrance

For over 5 years now I’ve been thinking about how to redesign the Bank of America Tower at 100 N. Broadway. My primary beef wasn’t with the 22-story tower, but with the 1-story section to the South of the tower.

First, a little background:

Bank of America Tower is a 22-story, 500,000 square foot Class-A office tower located in the heart of the prominent Downtown St. Louis market – the regional center for Missouri’s largest law, accounting and financial service firms. Located at the intersection of two major downtown arteries, Broadway and Pine, the Bank of America Tower offers easy access to the region’s extensive highway system and Metrolink light rail system.

Bank of America Tower was built to exceptional standards in 1976 as the corporate headquarters facility for Boatman’s Bancshares. Designed by the world-renowned architectural firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, the building features exquisite granite and marble finishes throughout and floor configurations which offer tenants breathtaking views.

Hertz Investment Group acquired this prestigious property in 2005. It is currently owned and managed by Hertz Investment Group. (Hertz Investment Group)

NationsBank bought Boatman’s Bancshares in 1996, and two years later it bought the larger BankAmerica Corporation — taking the name Bank of America. At some point the building was sold to investors. Through all the ownership changes the 1-story section remained a branch bank — until November 21, 2014.  See: Bank of America closing one of its downtown St. Louis branches.

My design idea is directed at the San Diego owners, I’m not proposing taxpayers do or fund any of what I’ll suggest below. Some of you may think if there was market demand for my idea it would already exist. This viewpoint ignores the fact that markets & buildings are constantly changing to reflect new market conditions. Because building changes don’t happen overnight, there’s a delay between a shifting market and physical changes.

Before I get into my idea I want to show you more of the photos I took in June 2010:

I returned in September of 2010 to have another look. With an active bank branch in the 1-story part my focus was on the tower’s ground floor facing Broadway. This time I did do a brief post, sharing the next two images. The captions are new.

The Atrium Cafe was very good, but it’s only open for lunch weekdays. Given that it’s hidden from anyone outside, that makes sense.

After the Bank of America branch closed I returned in July of this year to see the interior space and take another look at the exterior.

Even at this point it hadn’t hit me, though I knew the protruding greenhouse glass had to go. It was on my 2nd visit to the new Luther Ely Smith Square that I figured it out. Lets start with the last photo from that post.

The owners consider Broadway & Pine the main corner, but the diagonally opposite corner is positioned to take advantage of the new Square and future Arch entrance.Many Arch visitors will park in the Kiener garages and walk right past 100 N. Broadway.

The solution is to remove all the glass & cladding from the 1-story section and rethink it. The space has been vacant for over a year, with bank branches continuing to close it’s unlikely a bank will lease it. It is time for s physical change to the space to respond to the changing market. It isn’t 1976 anymore!

So my thought is this should become a restaurant. Not a weekday lunch-only spot but a place open for breakfast, lunch, & dinner 7 days a week. With all the tourists it should be familiar — Panera — still called St. Louis Bread Co here. There’s one on the ground floor of the Kiener East garage a block West — this could be a larger more up-to-date location.

Here’s more detail:

• Remove the greenhouse glass from all three sides, widen Chestnut sidewalk
• Create new building lobby with door to new restaurant — not open like it has been for nearly 4 decades.
• Place the kitchen & restrooms in the center.
• Include an elevator and stairs to a new rooftop patio. Shade for rooftop patio could come from a pergola, stretched canvas, umbrellas, etc.
• Nighttime lighting would be important to make this a great evening destination.

A St. Louis Bread Co here would be bad for the Atrium Cafe, perhaps they move to the old Bread Co space a block West. Their old space could be opened to the plaza like I suggested in September 2010 — occupied by a restaurant different enough from Panera/Bread Co. to survive.

The other side of the Old Courthouse has a similar low platform with tower arrangement. That low platform is occupied by the inwardly-focused Tony’s. I don’t see change coming to that building anytime soon. The owners of 100 N. Broadway have a great opportunity to rethink their building to take advantage of the new Arch entrance.

— Steve Patterson

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Aloe Plaza Lighting Is Too Bright

Aloe Plaza, across Market Street from Union Station, used to be very dark at night — too dark. While Kacie Starr Triplett was Alderman of the 6th Ward new lighting was added. The best that can be said is that it’s no longer dark.

From a distance, the lighting does a good job.  Before nobody wanted to be there after dark because it too dark, but now it’a too bright! Trying to get a good photo with Union Station in the background is impossible.

Not sure how much was spent on this lighting, or if it can be modified. It shouldn’t stay like this.

— Steve Patterson

Remembering Sculptor Carl Milles (1875-1955); 75th Anniversary of Aloe Plaza Next May

Aloe Plaza, across Market from Union Station, was many  years in the making. President of the Board of Aldermen (1916-1923) Louis P. Aloe had championed a 1923 bond issue that included razing buildings across from Union Station to create a more attractive way to welcome visitors arriving by train.  Aloe died in 1929 but his widow continued his vision, from the city’s former website on Aloe Plaza:

Edith Aloe, Louis P. Aloe’s widow, became acquainted with the work of the Swedish sculptor, Carl Milles, at an exhibition of modern art held by the St. Louis League of Women Voters in 1930. The idea of commissioning Milles to build a fountain in Aloe Plaza grew out of her enthusiasm for his work.

But the country was in the middle of the Depression so her idea was put on hold until January 1936 when Mrs. Aloe gave a dinner in her home for the sculptor,Carl Milles, and members of the St. Louis Art Commission. She officially presented her check for $12,500.

The City signed a contract with Milles in 1936. Milles designed and cast the bronze statues for the fountain in his studio at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cranbrook, Michigan. The fountain was completed in November 1939, but remained veiled until its dedication on May 11, 1940 before a crowd of 3,000 persons.

The fountain, originally named “The Wedding of the Rivers,” depicts the union of the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers, represented by the two central figures. Accompanying the two main figures and forming a wedding procession are 17 water spirits, symbolic of the smaller streams that empty into the two major rivers.

An uproar arose over the nudity of the male figure, reprenting the Mississippi River and the female figure, the Missouri River. In deference to the criticism, the name of the fountain was changed to ,”The Meeting of the Waters.” (PDF of website on Scribd)

Milles was in his early 60s when we was commissioned by St. Louis.

The former website listed the total cost of Aloe Plaza at $225,000, broken down as follows:

• Fountains: $150,000
• Statues: $60,000
• Lighting: $12,000
• Landscaping: $3,000
• Tulips: $200

The cost of the tulips wasn’t included in the total. Not listed was the cost to acquire the land and raze the buildings.

Milles died on this day in 1955 — 59 years ago.

May 11, 2015 will mark 75 years since Aloe Plaza was first dedicated and ‘Meeting of the Waters’ unveiled. Our IKEA store won’t be open yet, but perhaps the Swedish retailer can be involved in a celebration.

— Steve Patterson