Crunden-Martin was a group of large brick warehouse and factory buildings on the riverfront south of downtown, most of them five to eight stories of red brick over stone or concrete bases. The earliest and its brick neighbors carried terra-cotta cornices, corbelled brickwork, and long ranks of segmental-arched windows in a restrained Classical Revival manner. The reinforced-concrete warehouse of 1920 broke from them with a plainer factory frame trimmed by crenellated parapets. Loading docks, rail sidings, and shared party walls tied the buildings into a single working block.
Crunden-Martin grew out of the St. Louis woodenware trade: Frank Crunden entered the business in 1876, and in 1891 he merged with Charles Martin's Martin Woodenware Company to form the Crunden-Martin Woodenware Company. The company built its riverfront complex in Chouteau's Landing in stages between 1904 and 1920. The first building, a five-story red brick warehouse of 1904, was designed by Mauran, Russell & Garden, and six more followed by 1920, most repeating its brick character; the last, a reinforced-concrete warehouse of 1920, was the work of Tom P. Barnett & Company. The seven-building complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It stood vacant for years, and redevelopment plans were under way when a large fire on November 28, 2025 destroyed or heavily damaged four of the seven warehouses. Demolition of the burned structures began the following spring.
