Railway Exchange Building (St. Louis)

Railway Exchange Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Railway Exchange Building From Locust Street
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Location	600 Locust St., St. Louis, Missouri
Coordinates	38°37′50″N 90°11′22″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1913 (1913)
Built by	Korte Co.
Architect	Mauran, Russell & Crowell
Architectural style	Early Commercial
NRHP reference No.	09000411[1]
Added to NRHP	June 11, 2009

The Railway Exchange Building is an 84.4 m (277 ft), 21-story high-rise office building in St. Louis, Missouri. The 1914 steel-frame building is in the Chicago school architectural style, and was designed by architect Mauran, Russell & Crowell. The building was the city's tallest when it opened, and remains the second-largest building in downtown St. Louis by interior area, with almost 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m^2) of space.[2][3]

The building was long home to the flagship store of the Famous-Barr chain of department stores — and the headquarters of its parent company May Department Stores — until Macy's purchased the brand; the store was rebranded as Macy's in 2006.[4] Macy's sold the building in 2008[5] and closed the store in 2013.[6]

In January 2017, Hudson Holdings, a National Historic Property Developer based in Delray Beach, Florida, purchased the building for $20 million.[7][8]

The city of St. Louis was granted an emergency condemnation on 4 Jan 2023, and proceeded to kick out people who appeared to be squatting and board up the building. [9]

Notable people

• Marie Moentmann (1900-1974), worked at information desk.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "Railway Exchange Building". Emporis. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
3. "Railway Exchange Building". SkyscraperPage. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
4. "Railway Exchange Building". Built St. Louis. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
5. Brown, Lisa R. (28 October 2009). "Bruce, Yackey seek TIF for Macy's overhaul". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
6. Bryant, Tim (May 20, 2013). "Macy's to close downtown St. Louis store". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
7. Bryant, Tim (January 31, 2017). "Developer buys Railway Exchange Building downtown". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
8. "Hudson Holdings - National Historic Property Developer". hudsonholdings.com. Archived from the original on 2017-06-24. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
9. Lloyd, Gloria (11 January 2023). "City condemns, boards up historic Railway Exchange building downtown". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved 2023-01-31.