The Evolution of the Gateway Mall

by Michael R. Allen

The bird's-eye view of the park mall that would become the Gateway Mall, from atop the Civil Courts Building. (A Plan for Downtown St. Louis, 1960.)

This series on the evolution of the Gateway Mall, that ribbon of park space that runs between Market and Chestnut streets and from the Jefferson National Expansion memorial westward to Twenty-Second Street downtown, began its life as a lecture that I delivered to the Friends of Tower Grove Park on February 3, 2008. An earlier version of this article was published in the NewsLetter of the Society of Architectural Historians, Missouri Valley chapter in Spring 2011.

Part 1: Boundaries and Origins

Part 2: The Civic Center

Part 3: The Central Traffic Parkway Plan of 1912

Part 4: Building the Civic Center, 1919-1960

Part 5: The 1960 Downtown Plan

Part 6: The Design Competition of 1966-1967

Part 7: “Pride” and the Mall

Part 8: The Gateway Mall Master Plan

Part 9: Great Public Space Ahead?

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