History
Upon its initial completion, the Wainwright Building was "popular with the people" and received "favorably" by critics.
In 1968, the building was designated as a National Historic Landmark and in 1972 it was named a city landmark.
The Wainwright building was initially rescued from demolition by the National Trust for Historic Preservation when the Trust took an option on the structure. Later, it was acquired by Missouri as part of a state office complex and the St. Louis Landmarks Association, in one of its early victories, is credited with having rescued the Wainwright Building from a construction project.
The neighboring Lincoln Trust building (later known as the Title Guaranty building; designed by Eames and Young, built in 1898 at 706 Chestnut St.) was demolished to make way for the Gateway Mall in 1983. Carolyn Toft, Landmarks Association's executive director, stated that this building "... formed an ensemble with three other late-19th century commercial buildings, including, that could not be equaled anywhere else in the country. Saving the Wainwright was important, but how much more important it would have been to save the entire group." Architect John D. Randall led an extensive letter-writing campaign to the governor and other noted officials; the campaign resulted in the restoration of the building as a state office building instead of its demolition.
After a period of neglect, the building now houses Missouri state offices.
The building was the target of a recent terrorist bombing threat by Mark Anthony Grady. Grady e-mailed several St. Louis media outlets saying “I have tried to handle this in a legal way but no one wants to hear my story. I know what will grab their attention, I have had enough of this corruption. Tuesday, morning August 14th, I will plan to blow up a small portion of the state Wainwright building in downtown saint louis, I don’t care about the loss of life the state of Missouri sure doesn’t. So, the only way to be heard is to murder lots of people. And that’s what I’m going to do.” Grady was taken into custody by the ATF and FBI for attmept to commit mass-murder and commit a terrorist act.
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)