The Armory

A monumental PWA Moderne armory of tan and brown brick trimmed in cast stone. Its symmetrical front centers on a great gabled drill-hall block, with a wide segmental-arched window band beneath the peak, flanked by tall pier-buttresses and corner pavilions that step up to fluted, octagonal stone crowns bearing eagle finials. Brick is laid in patterned basketweave-and-checkerboard spandrels between the vertical piers. Carved limestone marks the building throughout: ARMORY across the gable and entrance, a 138TH INFANTRY panel flanked by equestrian shields, a polychrome terra-cotta Great Seal of Missouri, and Art Deco spread-eagle reliefs set over stars, arrows, and fasces, with chevron and sunburst friezes along the stone bands.

The armory was built as a Public Works Administration project (Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, Project No. 8609), begun in 1937 and completed in 1938 for the 138th Infantry of the Missouri National Guard, whose lineage the building's inscriptions trace to early St. Louis militia companies. The PWA contributed a $347,500 grant toward a budget of about $1.4 million. Behind its brick front the armory held an expansive drill hall with balcony seating for more than a thousand, along with a firing range, a swimming pool, handball courts, a mess hall, a library, and underground parking for ninety trucks. The 138th Infantry moved out in 1971. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and after a private purchase in the 2010s it was rehabilitated and reopened in 2023 as the Armory STL, a large food-hall and entertainment venue; that operation closed in 2024.