The St. Louis Mart and Terminal Warehouse on a corner of Route 66 near downtown was named to the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Register listing became effective July 28, according to an email Friday from the National Park Service. The structure also is known as the Robert A. Young Federal Building, or RAY Building; it’s part of the General Services Administration.
The 1933 art-deco masterpiece sits at 1222 Spruce St. on the corner of Tucker Boulevard, aka Route 66.
The St. Louis Patina blog posted this history of the building:
Constructed originally as the headquarters of the Terminal Railroad Association, the cooperative in charge of managing the movement of trains through St. Louis for the five major railroads in town, the building also featured showrooms for machinery, and warehouse space. Its location, right on the rail lines that still bisect the city made it prime real estate when it opened in 1933.
Designed by Preston Bradshaw, the building, along with Missouri Pacific and Bell Telephone buildings, represents the changing styles of skyscraper architecture in St. Louis. Built in the emergent Art-Deco style, it represented a shift away from the dominance of Chicago School buildings.
Restored by the government, which has owned it since 1941, the building still retains its unique Art-Deco ornamentation.
In January, the McCarthy Building Cos. was awarded a $62 million contract to make the building more resistant to earthquake damage, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
According to the company, the project will include a seismic retrofit of the building along with the seismic bracing of ceilings, partitions and mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems. With the New Madrid fault located about 166 miles southeast of St. Louis, building officials wanted to enhance the safety for tenants in case of an event.
The New Madrid Fault Line, in the Missouri Bootheel and small parts of western Tennessee and northeast Arkansas, produced huge earthquakes in 1811 and 1812. Scientists largely agree the region is due for another sizable jolt. St. Louis and Memphis are deemed especially vulnerable to a big New Madrid Fault upheaval.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said in 2013 that a report about the building’s vulnerability during an earthquake alarmed the feds:
“Structural failure would not only cause catastrophic loss of life for those in and around the building, but it would impede the ability of first responders in the central business district to carry out their mission in the event of disaster.”
At last report, the Robert A. Young Building was 98 percent occupied.
(Image of the St. Louis Mart and Terminal Warehouse via General Services Administration)