The World’s First Skyscraper: St. Louis’s Gift to the Modern Skyline

How The Red Brick Revolution Changed the World

If you’ve ever looked up at the glass towers of Manhattan or Dubai and wondered where it all began, you don’t need a plane ticket—you just need a parking spot at 7th and Chestnut. That is where you will find the Wainwright Building.

The Wainwright Building isn’t just another historic office building; it is “Patient Zero” of the modern skyscraper. Completed in 1891 by the powerhouse duo of Adler & Sullivan, it stands today as a masterclass in how St. Louis helped define the look of the 20th century.

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Why the Wainwright Building Changed Everything

Before 1891, architects were actually a bit “scared” of heights. They didn’t know how to make a tall building look good, so they treated them like wedding cakes—stacking different styles on top of each other to hide the verticality.

Louis Sullivan (often called the “Father of Skyscrapers”) decided to stop apologizing for the height. He famously believed that “form follows function,” and he wanted the Wainwright to look “proud and soaring.”

The “Triple Threat” Design

Sullivan organized the building like a classical Greek column, a style known as Tripartite Design:

• The Base: A solid, two-story foundation designed for retail and welcoming pedestrians.
• The Shaft: A repetitive, vertical stretch of office floors that draws the eye upward.
• The Capital: A highly decorative “attic” topped with a massive, ornate cornice that houses the building’s mechanical systems.

Concrete, Steel and Style

The Wainwright was one of the first successful uses of a complete steel frame. This was a massive tech leap at the time; it meant the walls didn’t have to be six feet thick to hold up the roof.

Sullivan didn’t just leave it as a boring metal box, though. He wrapped the building in some of the most intricate terra cotta work in the world. If you look closely at the panels between the windows, you’ll see organic, leafy patterns that change from floor to floor. Even Frank Lloyd Wright, who was Sullivan’s apprentice at the time, called it the first “human expression” of a tall office building.

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Who is Wainwright?

Ellis Wainwright (1850–1924) was a prominent St. Louis brewery tycoon and philanthropist, best known for commissioning the landmark Wainwright Building. As the head of the Wainwright Brewery Company—which later merged into the St. Louis Brewing Association—he was a central figure in the city’s “Golden Age” of industry.

Beyond beer, Wainwright was a sophisticated patron of the arts and a director of the St. Louis Music Hall. While his legacy is cemented by the skyscraper that bears his name, his life was also marked by a high-profile political bribery scandal in 1902, which led to a lengthy self-imposed exile in Paris.

Planning Your Pilgrimage

While the Wainwright is still a working state office building, it remains a must-see for any local history buff.

Expert Insight: If you want the deep-dive history, check out the Landmarks Association of St. Louis. They typically run Saturday morning walking tours from April through November that put the Wainwright in the context of our city’s incredible architectural golden age.

The Best View: The exterior is remarkably well-preserved. Grab a coffee and do a slow lap around the building; the terra cotta detail is best viewed from the sidewalk across the street to get the full “soaring” effect.

The Inside Scoop: Because it’s currently the Wainwright State Office Building, you can’t exactly wander through the halls for a photo op. Plus, much of the original interior was gutted during a 1970s renovation.