General American Life Insurance Company National Headquarters


  • Address: 706 Market St
  • Travel Genus: Sight
  • Sight Category: Building

The General American Life Insurance Company National Headquarters, located at 706 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri, is a 253' x 253' square six-story building of dark, reflective glass and steel curtain wall construction, criss-crossed by a network of lighter mullions. Constructed in 1974-1977, it stands as an excellent example of one of St. Louis's Modern designs with Post Modern geometric elements, and is a unique representation of the Modern Movement for St. Louis during a period of image revitalization. The Modern design is a groundbreaking example of the unique ingenuity of architects, Philip C. Johnson and John H. Burgee, and is one of their earliest attempts to investigate a diversification of sculptural geometries into their distinctive designs. The building consists of a three-story cube that has been bisected into two triangular pieces with the northwest portion raised forty-five feet above ground level on a grid of ten circular structural columns. A top-lit glass cylindrical rotunda connects the two triangular halves with a portico in the lower portion. The rotunda lobby is faced with red brick, accentuated with sculptural elevator towers, rounded stairs, and brick and steel bridges that link each tower to the upper floors. The General American Life Insurance Company National Headquarters is substantially unaltered and retains architectural integrity through its original design, integrity of location, setting, association and feeling. - NRHP Registration 26th February 2008


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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Philip Johnson Architect
Burgee, John Architect

Data »

Particulars for General American Life Insurance Company National Headquarters:
Area of Significance Architecture
Criteria Architecture-Engineering
Sight Category Building
Area of Significance Business
Architectural Style Modern Movement
Owner Private



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration: 27th March 2008

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name: General American Life Insurance Company National Headquarters
Registry Address: 706 Market St.
Registry Number: 07000461
Resource Type: Building
Owner: Private
Architect: Johnson, Philip; Burgee, John
Architectural Style: Modern movement
Contributing Buildings: 1
Other Certification: Date received-pending nomination
Certification: Listed in the National Register
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: Local
Area of Significance: Architecture
Applicable Criteria: Architecture-Engineering
Criteria Consideration: Significance of less than fifty years
Historic Function: Commerce, Trade
Historic Sub-Function: Business
Current Function: Vacant, not in use
Current Sub-Function:

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