The Law And The Economy

Three downtown buildings seen from a distance. 

On the left, the old Civil Courts building, where state-level litigation takes place. Hard to see from this distance but the architecture is genuinely bizarre. Worth this short read. 

The tall center building houses the federal courts, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. It is the largest single courthouse in America and is 18 years old. It has been controversial from the start because it completely blocks the view of the Arch from the main highway coming into downtown from the west.

The building on the right has the strangest story. After the breakup of the original AT&T into the regional "baby Bells," this was the headquarters of Southwestern Bell. That company started buying up other baby Bells and eventually the AT&T name. The headquarters moved to Dallas and this 44 story tower has been vacant for nine months. It will be hard to use because it was built for a single tenant and now has almost no parking. So another urban ghost building but the biggest one we've ever had.       

A Mix Of Styles

A downtown lesson in comparative architecture.

Top right is the federal courthouse. It has streamlined references to the classical, with its colonnades, quasi-temples in the top corners and domed top. It also exactly blocks the view of the Arch from the main highway running east into downtown, but what do they care.

The dark glass, International School structure is the low rise part of a Bank of America tower. The high rise part just to the left is an austere black, featureless octagon. I sometimes call it the Darth Vader Tower. The reflection in the glass is an old AT&T building that looks like a commercial castle. A block over is a modern 44 story tower that AT&T just announced plans to vacate, dumping about a squillion square feet of office space onto the already-depressed downtown real estate market. Good for tenants like me, I suppose.         

High And Mighty

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This is the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse, opened in 2000. Eagleton was a senator from Missouri. The building we saw yesterday was the former home of the federal courts, given to the state when this place opened.

It was state of the art when it was build. Indeed, it is the tallest courthouse in the country. Problem is, it completely blocks the view of the Arch when driving downtown from the west on the main highway. Doh! as Homer Simpson might say.

I swear I did not Photoshop those clouds in. I may have enhanced them a wee bit but that's just how they were. Maybe federal judges simply radiate power.

So, uh, what's across the street? This, if you care to look at Downtown St. Louis 365 today.

An Afternoon Shower

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Taken from my office window yesterday afternoon. The building is the federal court house. I keep clear of it.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series, with something to chew on.