The Jefferson Arms is a historic building in downtown

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. It opened as the Hotel Jefferson in 1904 to serve visitors to the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federa ...

and was named in honor of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

History

The original east half of the Hotel Jefferson was designed by

Barnett, Haynes & Barnett Barnett, Haynes & Barnett was a prominent architectural firm based in St. Louis, Missouri. Their credits include many familiar St. Louis landmarks, especially a number related to the local Catholic church. Their best-known building is pr ...

; the

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

structure features

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

decorations. The hotel was opened to the public for the first time on April 2, 1904, for a charity ball sponsored by the St. Louis chapter of the

Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

and the Confederate Memorial Society. The hotel opened to overnight guests on April 29, 1904, the day before the World's Fair. The

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

was held at the hotel in

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

and

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

. The hotel was sold in 1927 and in 1928 the new owners constructed a huge addition on the west side of the hotel designed by the firm Teich & Sullivan, doubling its capacity and adding two banquet rooms. The Jefferson Plaza Garage was added to the hotel in the same year; the garage includes elements of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

and

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

styles. The garage helped to alleviate St. Louis' downtown traffic congestion and serve visitors with cars; the Hotel Jefferson is the only historic downtown hotel with its own original parking garage. During the late 1930s, Max Theodore Safron (d. 1980) operated his art gallery from the Jefferson Hotel's mezzanine, where he primarily sold American, British, and French paintings to the city's wealthy clientele. The Jefferson hosted conventions and celebrities in the city for the next two decades and was recognized by ''Gourmet'' magazine as "one of the best hotels in St. Louis". The Jefferson was sold to

Hilton Hotels Corporation Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels, resorts, and timeshare properties. Founded by Conrad Hilton in May 1919, the company is now led by Christ ...

on October 31, 1950 for $2.6 million, retaining its original name. In 1952, Hilton gutted and modernized many of the hotel's surviving historic interiors, including the main lobby, dining room and coffee shop, and added a 24-hour drug store/soda fountain. In 1954, Hilton purchased the nationwide

Statler Hotels The Statler Hotel company was one of the United States, United States' early chains of hotels catering to traveling businessmen and tourists. It was founded by Ellsworth Milton Statler, Ellsworth Milton (E. M.) Statler in Buffalo, New York. Earl ...

chain. As a result, they owned multiple large hotels in many major cities. In St Louis, for example, they owned both the Jefferson and the Statler Hotel St. Louis. This was found by the government to be an anti-trust violation and Hilton was required to sell The Jefferson, the Roosevelt Hotel in New York and the

Mayflower Hotel The Mayflower Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., located on Connecticut Avenue NW. It is two blocks north of Farragut Square and one block north of the Farragut North (Washington Metro), Farragut North Washington Metro, Me ...

in Washington D.C.. The Jefferson was sold to The

Sheraton Corporation Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an American international hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Cent ...

on December 29, 1955, for $7.5 million. The hotel was renamed The Sheraton-Jefferson. It was again renamed The Jefferson Hotel in 1973, though still operating within Sheraton. The hotel closed on July 23, 1975. The building reopened in 1977 as a residence for the elderly called the Jefferson Arms Apartments. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on October 24, 2003. In 2006, developers cleared the building of residents, planning to convert it to condominiums; however, the project collapsed. The building was tied up in litigation for many years until it was finally sold to Alterra Worldwide in 2017 for $7 million. The new owners announced plans to convert the enormous building to a combination of 239 apartments, a 198-room AC by Marriott hotel, and 20,000 sq ft of retail. In February 2021, Alterra paid over $100,000 in back taxes owed on the property, clearing the way for $17.3 million in financing from the city of St. Louis. It was reported at that time that the renovation work would cost $104 million. In October 2022, following the settlement of a lawsuit by the carpenters' union, Alterra announced slightly adjusted plans, for 225 hotel rooms and 235 apartments, with work set to begin in the near future.https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/business-journal/hotel-rooms-apartments-jefferson-arms-st-louis/63-08bffd5a-d0e6-4d32-a2b8-9e1fae9f5cd2

References

External links

Jefferson Arms Building official website
{{National Register of Historic Places Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri Neoclassical architecture in Missouri Hotel buildings completed in 1904 Hotels in St. Louis National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis Downtown West, St. Louis Sheraton hotels