The National Building Arts Center (NBAC) is a large collection of significant architectural, structural, and industrial items saved before these elements from the built environment are demolished. It is the physical collection of the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation. The Center salvages and stores important architectural and industrial elements to promote public awareness of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

, and

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban d ...

in the

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human a ...

. It also works to ensure

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

of existing buildings and maintains an extensive

research library A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...

. The foundation and center began as the personal collecting hobby and the architectural salvaging business of Larry Giles, a pioneering historic preservationist in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, United States. The Center started by saving architecturally significant pieces of historic buildings in the St. Louis region prior to the associated structures being demolished but now takes pieces from around the country and occasionally internationally. It also collects artifacts prior to major renovations of historic structures. Columns, beams,

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

s, statues and monuments, and other architectural elements were initially stored in a number of warehouse spaces around St. Louis for a number of years. In addition to saving pieces prior to demolition, the Center now also holds the contents of other museums and collections. It holds more of the physical history of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

than is held in New York. In 2007, the collection was consolidated and moved to

Sauget, Illinois Sauget ( ) is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It is part of Greater St. Louis. The population was 141 at the 2020 census, down from 159 in 2010. Geography Sauget is located at (38.587013, -90.166690). According to the ...

, in the former Sterling Steel Casting foundry property, the historical character of which has largely been retained to illustrate its original use as NBAC repurposed and restored the facilities. The collection consists of more than 300,000 items in 1,600 wooden crates of . It cost about $1 million to acquire the Sauget site and move the artifacts there in 350 semi-truck loads. The Center provides tours upon scheduled request and plans to one day show their collection to the general public similar to a museum format. In the original plans for the

Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources consider ...

there was an idea to include an

architecture museum An architecture museum is a museum dedicated to educating visitors about architecture in general or with a focus on a specific architectural style. Architecture museums may also educate visitors on the traditional history of architecture or art ...

on the Illinois side of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. The facility is located within sight of the Arch and with a partial view of

downtown St. Louis Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment, and the anchor of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Cole Street to the north, the river front to the eas ...

. To raise money for the site and operations, the Center sells duplicates and doubles of artifacts, in addition to traditional fundraising, as well as some items (typically duplicates) from the library. Items in the collection include: * -tall

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

from the 18-story Ambassador Theater Building * Missouri Pacific Building * St. Louis Terra Cotta company * Soulard Station Post Office * Gaslight Square * State Bank of Wellston sign and support mast (saved after Giles raised $19,000 to rent necessary equipment including a crane and flatbed trucks to salvage the rotating illuminated sign) * Elements from the Globe Building, which was remodeled but remains * Cherokee Native Statue, which was removed from the Cherokee Street district to respect the original inhabitants of the land * Most of the architectural collection of the Brooklyn Museum

References

External links

National Building Arts Center website
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Building Arts Center Collections of museums in the United States Architecture museums in the United States Design museums in the United States Industry museums in the United States Library-related organizations Architecture nonprofits in the United States Culture of St. Louis Former private collections in the United States Arts foundations based in the United States Architecture of St. Louis Architecture in Missouri Organizations based in Illinois 2002 establishments in Missouri

See also

References

External links