The Regal Riverfront Hotel - St. Louis, MO
When first encountered, this hotel sat decaying in the shadow of the St. Louis Arch as a member of the Clarion franchise. Built as a less than stellar example of the modernist design style in the early 1960's, the complex consisted of one tall circular tower and an elliptical later addition for its hotel rooms, connected by a cast in place two story concrete base that housed the back of house, conference rooms and an incredibly small and under-whelming arrival desk. The fact that the Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch were literally right outside the walls of this fortress was impossible to perceive from the interior. Robert Fitzgerald was asked by the Regal Hotel chain to re-brand the block-sized edifice (which did contain one of those amazing revolving restaurants at the top) and to blow holes in the building so as to re-connect it with its remarkable locale.
Fitzgerald used color (in both the re-cladding of the towers and in the turquoise blue glass of the addition) to brighten up the place and to make the inhabitants believe that it was nice outside, demolition of portions of the connection which prevented the understanding of its location on the block or in the City of St. Louis landscape, and creative planning to allow the lobby to be born anew and the hotel to take its rightful position in the historically-oriented urban neighborhood. It now appears over the right field fence of the new Busch Stadium, flagged anew as the Millennium Hotel, and standing proud with its vibrant colorization and its new hip attitude for being the best place in town to enjoy a glass of champagne and a great view of the St. Louis Arch.
Photos
When first encountered, this hotel sat decaying in the shadow of the St. Louis Arch as a member of the Clarion franchise. Built as a less than stellar example of the modernist design style in the early 1960's, the complex consisted of one tall circular tower and an elliptical later addition for its hotel rooms, connected by a cast in place two story concrete base that housed the back of house, conference rooms and an incredibly small and under-whelming arrival desk. The fact that the Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch were literally right outside the walls of this fortress was impossible to perceive from the interior. Robert Fitzgerald was asked by the Regal Hotel chain to re-brand the block-sized edifice (which did contain one of those amazing revolving restaurants at the top) and to blow holes in the building so as to re-connect it with its remarkable locale.
Fitzgerald used color (in both the re-cladding of the towers and in the turquoise blue glass of the addition) to brighten up the place and to make the inhabitants believe that it was nice outside, demolition of portions of the connection which prevented the understanding of its location on the block or in the City of St. Louis landscape, and creative planning to allow the lobby to be born anew and the hotel to take its rightful position in the historically-oriented urban neighborhood. It now appears over the right field fence of the new Busch Stadium, flagged anew as the Millennium Hotel, and standing proud with its vibrant colorization and its new hip attitude for being the best place in town to enjoy a glass of champagne and a great view of the St. Louis Arch.
