County of structure: St. Louis County
Location of building: S. Kirkwood Rd. & W. Madison Ave, Kirkwood
Built: 1942
Architects: Bonsack and Pearce
Architectural Style: Georgian Revival building with Greek Revival portico
"139 S. Kirkwood Road. Kirkwood City Hall. 1942. Architect, Bonsack and Pearce.
Contractor, City of Kirkwood. Contributing.
Kirkwood City Hall is a Georgian Revival, red and brown brick, two story, building with a
raised basement. It has a end gabled form, with the gabled form brick parapet extending up to a
prominent cupola topped by a weathervane that has multipaned, round arched, wood sashed
windows on each face of the cupola which is surrounded by a widow’s walk balustrade and decorative finials at each corner. There is a columned monumental Greek Revival portico
reached by a series of concrete steps that span the entire façade and stone banding around the
façade separating the floor levels, which continues to the two flanking, flat roofed, one story
wings which creates an attic story on their upper parapets. . Other stone details include the
keystones on the flat lintels of the eight over twelve sashed windows and monumental pilasters
flanking the central entry with a fanlight transom approached by large monumental central stairs.
There is a second, simpler entry on the rear, facing west, and the sides are basically fenestrated
with the multipaned, sashed windows both in the one story wings and the upper level of the
central structure. At the north end of the property is the area designated as Veterans Memorial
Park, created in 1965, with a fountain, winding walks and the three flag poles in front of stone
wall monuments memorializing Kirkwood’s veterans." ~ NRHP Nomination Form, PDF pages 32-33
"139 S. Kirkwood Road. Kirkwood City Hall. 1942. Architect, Bonsack and Pearce.
Contractor, City of Kirkwood. Contributing.
Replacing what had previously developed in the first decade of the twentieth century into a row
of commercial buildings facing Kirkwood Road, in 1941 Kirkwood began construction at 139 S.
Kirkwood Road on the Kirkwood City Hall, at least the fifth such building used for the purpose,
and the second built by the city. The city commissioned Bonsack and Pearce to design its new
city hall which was completed in 1942. This same architectural firm also designed Osage School
for the Kirkwood School District (NR listed) and the Kirkwood Public Library (also in this
district at 140 E. Jefferson). Built with a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant of
$37,183 as well as city bonds issued in 1941, the construction was supervised initially by Frank
L. Thompson, the City Building Commissioner. He was drafted into military service during
construction, but the city continued to act as its own contractor. It appears for the first time that the police had a permanent home on the ground floor. The previous city hall, located directly
west of this building apparently stayed in use during construction given evidence from at least
one photo showing both the old building with the new buildings cupola visible behind it. The
building was officially dedicated on December 19, 1942. The building continues to be used for
the city government.
"A parking lot was created west of the building (after demolishing the old city hall) and in 1965,
the city purchased the two lots north of City Hall, creating a plaza with a fountain and veterans’
monuments." ~ NRHP Nomination Form, PDF pages 82-83
"This building is a two story rectangular block with two
projecting one story side wings. The primary elevation features
a two story gabled portico, the gable is pedimented with applied
decoration. There is a circular window in the gable featuring
keystones. In the stone frieze beneath the gable are incised the
words "Kirkwood City Hall" . This gable is supported by fluted
stylized columns featuring a variation of the acanthus leaf type
capitol. The primary entry is accentuated by a stone attached
columns and a broken pediment. It features double-leaf wood
doors with nine lights in the upper half. These doors are topped
by a elliptical arched window that contains leaded glass with a
modified fanlight motif. The windows are double-hung wood sash
with multi-lights in both sash. They feature voussior style brick
lintels with keystone and large stone sills. The building
features a paladian style window directly above the primary entry
and voluted stone pilasters which coordinate with the stone
columns of the two story portico. There are stone string-courses
in place both at the water table level and between the first and
second levels. Also visible on the primary elevation is a cupola
with a turned wood balustrade. This cupola is topped by a very
large weather vane.
"As Kirkwood grew from a little town to a modern suburb, the
city hall located at the northwest of Madison and Kirkwood
(a 1913 conversion of the Heege estate) was no longer
adequate. After the Great Depression, in January, 1941, the
voters of Kirkwood approved the issuing of $148,000 in bonds
to cover the cost of several projects -- one of which was
the construction of a new city hall. The city officials had
already been assured a federal grant of $37,183 to be
applied toward the cost of it. The old city hall building
was razed and the current structure erected.
"There is an asphalt parking lot at the rear." ~ DNR Historic Inventory, Phase III PDF pages 1438-1441