ST. LOUIS — A warehouse where City Museum founder Bob Cassilly created some of his iconic sculptures was saved from the wrecking ball after a decision by ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´â€™ preservation agency.
The Cultural Resources Office has denied a developer’s request to demolish Cassilly’s former workshop and studio at 2645 Lafayette Avenue, west of the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Interstate 44, said Director Meg Lousteau.
The property sits in a preservation review district in which the office oversees all demolition permits. Those requests can be denied if the building has architectural merit, uniqueness or historic value, among other reasons, according to city ordinances.
The developer, SphereAxis Development Group, also owns the building and the adjacent Avyan Hotel but it’s unclear what the company’s plans were for the property. SphereAxis Development Group did not respond to two requests for comment.
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Cassilly was known for his whimsical creations made from salvaged materials and discarded architectural elements. He created his 500-foot-long, cast-granite serpent, among other work, at the studio before he opened his revered urban playground City Museum on Washington Avenue in the late 1990s. He was working on his next creation, Cementland, in north ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ when he died in 2011 at age 61.
The Lafayette Avenue building had been a grocery store before Cassilly turned it into his workshop and studio in the 1980s. The Cassilly estate later sold the property to SphereAxis Development Group in 2015 for $185,000.
SphereAxis Development Group hadn’t applied for any building permits before it tried for a demolition permit last week, records show. The city had condemned the property in 2019, and photos officials included with the condemnation notice show cracks in the eastern wall of the property.
Business incorporation documents indicate the state dissolved the company in 2016 for failing to file a registration report, though the company’s registered agent, Shilpa Sheevam, filed a report in 2019. City records show a mailing address to a UPS Store in ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ County.
Editor's note: The story has been updated to correct the year Cassilly died.Â
Andrew Wanko of the Missouri History Museum talks about its new architecture exhibition, "Coloring STL." Visitors can add color to outlines of ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ buildings and see architectural and building artifacts.
