The Wainwright Building is an early skyscraper in St. Louis, Missouri, designed by Louis Sullivan in partnership with Dankmar Adler and completed in 1891. Rising ten storeys on a steel frame, its facade is organized to express the building's structure and function directly, with continuous vertical piers emphasizing height above a distinct base and crowned by an ornamented cornice, embodying Sullivan's belief that a building's form should follow its function. Widely regarded as one of the first buildings to give clear formal expression to the steel-frame skyscraper as a new architectural type, it had a lasting influence on the development of tall commercial buildings in the United States.
Facts
Year Created Location709 Chestnut Street, Downtown St. Louis, Missouri 1 Primary Material Building Type Commissioned By Construction Height (metres) Storey Count Connections
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wainwright Building (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section, third sentence
built between 1890 and 1891.
Lead section, third sentence, start-date clause
built between 1890 and 1891.
Lead section, first sentence
is a 10-story, 41 m (135 ft) terra cotta office building
Lead section, first sentence, height clause
is a 10-story, 41 m (135 ft) terra cotta office building
Lead section, first sentence, material clause
is a 10-story, 41 m (135 ft) terra cotta office building
Lead section, first sentence, use clause
is a 10-story, 41 m (135 ft) terra cotta office building
Lead section, first sentence, address clause
at 709 Chestnut Street in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri.
History section, Commission, design and construction subsection, first sentence
The Wainwright Building was commissioned by Ellis Wainwright, a St. Louis brewer.
Genre reference
The Wainwright Building is an early skyscraper in St.
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