St. Louis Building Arts Foundation
The St. Louis Building Arts Foundation started as the personal collecting hobby of Larry Giles, a historic preservationist in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It later received assistance and monetary aid from the developer Stephen Trampe.
The foundation removes architecturally significant pieces of historic buildings in the St. Louis region before they are demolished. They also collect before major renovations are made to historic structures. Columns, beams, facades, and other architectural elements were stored in a number of warehouse spaces around St. Louis for a number of years. They were recently consolidated and relocated to Sauget, Illinois in a site that used to be a foundry. The foundation hopes to one day show their collection to the general public in a National Architectural Arts Center.
National Architectural Arts Center
In the original plans for the Gateway Arch, there was an idea to include an architecture museum on the Illinois side of the river.