Comments on: Sneak Peek: Downtown St. Louis Sculpture Garden

By: susan

susan — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:11:37 +0000

I am jealous- our sculpture garden in Seattle contains mostly ugly, uninspiring art. This looks beautiful and well integrated into the city center- world class. How about some tables and umbrellas for that hot plaza? I’m originally from Memphis and I know you need the shade.

By: Denny Kempen

Denny Kempen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:56:08 +0000

I grew uop in St. Louis in the 60′s I think any improvement to that area down town is great. From what I see so far it looks fantastic. They need to improve the area just south of Busch. I have said that for years. Last time I was in town in 2006, I thought Lacledes landing needs improving too. I loved what they did at the ZOO when we were there. That impressed us the most!

By: Poppy Mom » Like Parents, Like Daughter

Poppy Mom » Like Parents, Like Daughter — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:52:38 +0000

[...] his injured finger. Shortly before 1:00 I heard that Gabe and his book bike were going to be at the City Garden. We’ve been meaning to check out the garden, and who doesn’t love a book [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:35:07 +0000

Devoid of people during most of the day?

I don’t know if you’ve been there everyday Kenneth, but I personally see it by day and by night many time a week and the place is ALWAYS filled with LOTS of people, families, tourist, people working close by, etc. I am not originally from here and I seen many deserted urban spaces, and City Garden is not one of them – quite the opposite actually!

The park is interactive, nicely realized and does not lack of imagination and/or greenery.

4 thumbs up!

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:35:43 +0000

The Old Post Office Plaza proves beyond a doubt that what downtown St. Louis needs is buildings & people not more carelessly done open space; It seems that not enough thought went into its planning.
Because the sun beats down on the largely concrete plaza for much of the day during the summer and the young trees in the plaza will take many years before they will be large enough to provide any significant shade, the plaza is a lifeless space which is devoid of people during most of the day.
One of the downtown organizations has presented some concerts at the plaza during the summer (in the evenings of course), but the problem is that the plaza’s design is not user friendly for either performers or audience; The place that the groups use as their stage is near the main staircase,just to the east of the moat which means that they face two thirds of the plaza. Seems logical except the midddle section is a huge stone floor that radiates heat while the eastern third consists of stone slabs which function as benches set amongst the trees. The worst feature is that in both sections the land slopes away from the performance area. The western third contains some steps which face the moat and could serve as a mini amphitheatre if the bands were turned around. This would mean that the band would look across the moat at the audience and would be using only the western-most section of the plaza. Also kids playing and swimming in the pool could get either performers and/or audience wet.
I’m from San Francisco so I wonder when people here will wake up and realize the downtown is too valuable to waste on peopleless plazas when what they need here is population density and that despite suburban malls that there is room for downtown development. It seems a shame that buildings in downtown like the Metropolitan tower and the central business district lofts contain no significant retail.
Poor Saint Louis. RIP!!

By: richard stupidhead

richard stupidhead — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:03:16 +0000

It looks nicely done (potentially). If I worked nearby, I know where I’d be taking my lunch.

By: Brian S.

Brian S. — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:24:50 +0000

Bryan, I totally agree – the skating rink was fantastic! I would love to have a permanent rink installed somewhere downtown in the future.

By: steve

steve — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:52:23 +0000

By the way, I wish that they would provide similar landscaping on the Sera block.

By: steve

steve — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:50:03 +0000

I think that this place is AWESOME. Kudos all around!

By: Bryan A. Hollerbach

Bryan A. Hollerbach — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:59:34 +0000

“Back in the day,” Toby, when I worked downtown (1990-2001), I’d periodically take breakfast or lunch in Bank of America’s second-floor cafeteria, due south of this site, and that two-block area only ever “popped” when the traveling ice-skating rink visited St. Louis during the winter. THAT, though, genuinely ranked as a sight to see. People–singletons, couples, entire families–poured into downtown to go skating, entirely independent of “suit”-related concerns (i.e., the financial services industry and FSI-controlled sporting events). Downtown felt like a real place…