County of structure: Independent City of St. Louis
Location of structure: between South East Dr. & Main Dr., East end of Tower Grove Park, St. Louis
Built: 1873, restored: 1992
Phone:(314) 771-2679
Capacity: 50
Cost: $40 per day
Number 16 Gazebo
"Tower Grove Park encompasses a long, narrow rectangular area of
277 acres located in the south central section of St. Louis,
Missouri. It is bounded by Magnolia Avenue on the north, Grand
Boulevard on the east, Arsenal Street on the south and Kingshighway Boulevard on the west.
"Tower Grove Park (the second largest park in St. Louis) is of English design with its grand drives and walks interspersed with colossal but graceful statues, miniature lakes, gazeboes and other summer houses, and hundreds of trees suited to the soil and climate of Missouri.
"Most of the buildings, the main entrance on Grand Boulevard, and the bases of the three 30 foot high bronze statues were designed by George I. Barnett (1815 - 1898). Barnett was an English-born architect who was probably the most distinguished representative of his profession in Missouri in the nineteenth century; he received several other important commissions from Henry Shaw. There are ten picnic pavilions or gazeboes in the park (3, 5, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19) which reflect a variety of architectural styles including elements of Greek revival, Gothic revival, oriental, and nineteenth century bracket and scroll. As a collection of garden architecture they are perhaps unsurpassed in any public park in this country.
In addition there are smaller well houses (no longer functioning
as sources of drinking water) of a pleasant nineteenth century rural nature. Three Gothic revival stone gatehouses (1, 7, and 20) guard the north, south, and west entrances to the park, and heighten the romantic effect gathered from the other exotic structures on the grounds. The Moorish-domed bandstand (10) is a prominent feature near the center of the park, and it is surrounded by Carrara marble busts of composers which were popular with Mr. Shaw and the public of the l870's: Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Sounoud, Wagner, and Beethoven." ~ NRRHP Nomination Form
Chinese Pavilion
A reflection of the "Chinoiserie" popular in pre-Victorian England and visible in the Chinese Chippendale fencing used elsewhere in Tower Grove Park, this pavilion, in the Anglo-Chinese style -- complete with dragons of sheet metal guarding upper and lower corners of the roof! -- was designed by Henry Thiele. In keeping with the Anglo-Chinese style, the six pairs of columns supporting the concave-hipped roof are painted lacquer red. Appropriately, Shaw and his horticulturist Gurney surrounded the Chinese Pavilion with a grove of Ginkgo trees. The pavilion was restored in 1992 with funds raised by the Friends of Tower Grove Park." ~ Tower Grove Park
Wampa-One's listing on WM: WM4XB6 Tower Grove Map