The South Gate Lodge - Tower Grove Park - St. Louis, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 36.293 W 090° 15.533
15S E 738692 N 4276495
The South Gate House, only one of the original four still standing...
Waymark Code: WM128WY
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/01/2020
Views: 1
County of building: Independent City of St. Louis
Location of lodge: South Gate, Center Cross Dr. & Arsenal St., Tower Grove Park, St. Louis
Built: 1889
Architect: George I. Barnett & Sons
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival
Old Photo: 1933
New Photo: 2015
"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.
"Tower Grove Park is significant as a well preserved and out
standing example of a public park of the 187O's in particular,
and the later nineteenth century in general. The total ensemble-
-landscape architecture, gaxeboes, and gatehouses, and ornament
al sculpture and picturesque conceits is a rare survivor for
its period of unusually fine quality. The park can be compared
favorably with any other of its period in the country for the
excellence of its over-all plan, and the variety and richness
of the ornamentation, both structural and artistic. As a unit
as a collection of picturesque and eclectic styles employed
purely for pleasure it probably has no rival in the United States.
. ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"This entrance was reconfigured in 1888 and no longer matches the description provided by MacAdam five years earlier. The 1870 entrance had cost only $3,000 and was designed for pedestrian use with provisions for its later expansion into a carriage entrance. The 1888 remodeling was designed by the well-known architectural firm of George I. Barnett & Sons, who were also responsible for the adjacent gatehouse.
The South Gate Lodge was the last park building completed during Shaw's lifetime; like the refurbished entrance, work on it was begun in 1888, just one year before Shaw's death. It was designed in the Romanesque revival style by George I. Barnett, the architect from whom Henry Shaw had commissioned both his city house (originally at Seventh and Locust; moved to the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Garden under the terms of his will) and his country house (the "Tower Grove House" that is now surrounded by the Botanical Garden) in 1849, as well as the Palm and Plant Houses in Tower Grove Park. Its construction - at a cost of more than $20,000 (almost twice that of the Superintendent's House built twenty years earlier) - was supervised by James Gurney, Sr., and completed in April 1889.
From 1976 to 2003, this building housed the Park office. It is currently leased to "The South City Open Studio and Gallery for Children"." ~ Tower Grove Park
The Tower Grove Park Map