City Museum
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City Museum is a museum, consisting largely of repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building in the Washington Avenue Loft District of St. Louis, Missouri.
Popular among residents and tourists, the museum bills itself as an "eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel." Visitors are encouraged to feel, touch, climb on, and play in the various exhibits. The museum attracted over 300,000 visitors in 1999[1] and over 600,000 in 2005. It has been named one of the "great public spaces" by the Project for Public Spaces.[2]
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[edit] History
City Museum was founded by artist Bob Cassilly and then-wife Gail Cassilly. Bob Cassilly remains the museum's artistic director. The building where the museum is located was once a shoe factory and warehouse but was mostly vacant when the Cassillys bought it in 1993. Construction began in January 1995 and the building opened to the public on October 25, 1997. Since the original opening, the museum has continued to expand, adding new exhibits such as MonstroCity in 2002, Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shaft in 2003, and World Aquarium in 2004. A circus ring on the third floor offers daily live acts. The City Museum also houses The Shoelace Factory, a working factory producing colorful shoelaces on antique braiding machines. The newest addition to City Museum are the Lofts at City Museum. The lofts, which range from 1,300 to more than 2,800 square feet, are located on the fifth floor of the museum complex.[3]
In 2007, Miley Cyrus visited the City Museum during her concert tour.[4]
[edit] Main Building
[edit] 1st floor
In addition to a gift shop and bagel shop, the first floor is a mosaic of industrial refuse cobbled and welded together to form a maze of tunnels and platforms. There is a tunnel under the floor, several on the ceiling, and many between. A large whale digestive tract forms one of the larger tunnels and unifies the area with an undersea motif. Reflective strips of old parachutes hang from the ceiling. A large tank filled with aquatic turtles is also in the space. There is a large bathroom on this floor as well, with a wall made of old catering steam pans.
[edit] 2nd floor
Entrance to Caves, Aquarium, connections to MonstroCity, a mirrored tunnel and door to an old bank vault, and a wall and door made of old glass Vess soda bottles.
[edit] 3rd floor
Circus Ring with intermittent performances, Beatnick Bob's bar and social area, slide to first floor, a museum of local architecture with an impressive cornerstone selection, a skatepark which guests can walk on, and a large trainset.
[edit] MonstroCity
Located in front of the building, MonstroCity features two Saber 40 aircraft fuselages suspended high in the air, a fire engine, a castle turret, a 25-foot cupola, four-foot-wide Slinkies that can be crawled through, and a ball pit for adults filled with large, rubber dodge balls.[5]
[edit] Cabin Inn
An early-19th-century log cabin located beneath MonstroCity, it was originally home to the son of Daniel Boone. Owned by the Hezel family for more than a century, is now a bar and entertainment venue.[6]
[edit] Caves and Shoe Shaft
In addition to the labyrinth of artificial rock and gems, there are four multi-level, spiraled shoe shafts running left over from the museum's factory days. One of these shafts has been turned into a slide.
[edit] World Aquarium
There is a shark tank with a glass tunnel running through it, big enough to crawl through, but too small to walk.
[edit] Art Lofts
[edit] Laclede Gas Building
An old building down by the entrance to the St. Louis Riverside Trail which has been under development for a while.
[edit] Windows On Washington
[edit] Windows Off Washington
[edit] References
- ^ Bob Cassilly and Gail Cassilly - St. Louis Business Journal:
- ^ The City Museum - Great Public Spaces | Project for Public Spaces (PPS)
- ^ page visit 01/09/08, http://www.citymuseum.org/lofts.html
- ^ http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=131974
- ^ page visit 01/09/08, http://www.citymuseum.org/allattractions.html
- ^ page visit 01/09/08 http://www.citymuseum.org/cabininnrent.html
