A Central West End Parking Lot for 36 Years & Counting

The northwest corner of Kingshighway and West Pine is empty except for some trees and parked cars, contributing little to the urban environment fronting Forest Park. Starting at BJC's Queeny Tower at Barnes Hospital Plaza just north of Highway 40, substantial buildings march up Kingshighway culminating with the iconic Park Plaza at Maryland Avenue, giving that stretch of the boulevard a kind of Central Park West feel. The notable gap in this row lies between West Pine and Lindell with surface parking lots occupying two prime park front parcels.

The Buckingham Hotel - photo from Landmarks collection

This was not always so, at least at the northwest corner at West Pine. This site was once occupied by the Buckingham Hotel, also known as the Ambassador Hotel. The U-shaped hotel rose seven stories above Kingshighway with repeating bay windows around the wings to take advantage of great park views.

Thank you Lindsey Derrington for the Sanborn source and photos above.

I am unsure of the Buckingham's date of construction, but it shows up on a 1909 Sanborn map, along with the nearby St. Regis. Construction of the nine story Chase Hotel, Chase and Chester Apartments on Lindell was still 13 years in the future. The Buckingham was likely unable to compete against the opulent Chase Park Plaza to the north and was converted to small apartments. The Ambassador as it was known in later years was demolished sometime around 1973 after a fire.

The Buckingham in context with the Chase to the north and the taller
Parc Frontenac immediately south. Photo from "This is Our St. Louis".

I'm, not sure if the land was immediately turned over to surface parking, but 36 years later, that is all we are left with. The property is now owned by the Parc Frontenac apartment tower, which fronts Forest Park across West Pine. I know that in the 80's there was a proposal to develop this lot and the Koplar Properties lot on Lindell with a large mixed use complex, but this never came to fruition.

The rear of the Buckingham/Ambassador with the Park Plaza beyond. The modern
City Bank branch has also been demolished for surface parking for the St. Regis.

Both photos from the Globe Democrat Collection at the Mercantile Library

As the Archdiocese of St. Louis now contemplates demolishing the San Luis at Lindell and Taylor, creating a large gap in the urban streetscape of Lindell Boulevard we must ask ourselves as a City: Is this acceptable? Will we still be stuck with another surface parking lot 36 years from now?