The building at Locust and 11th Streets in downtown St. Louis has long been considered to have one of the least attractive, most debased facades among the city’s historic high rises. It wasn’t always this way of course.

It was built in 1923 as a home for the City Club of St. Louis, which would close in 1933. The Missouri Hotel opened in 1926 to be followed by the Hotel Desoto, which operated into the 1950s. Purchased by the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1956, the facade was striped of its ornamentation and opened as a seniors home under the name Hotel Alverne. The modernist renovation brought a new street level facade, tile mosaics, and a chapel.

The building’s residential units were vacated in 1987 and a according to the website Built St. Louis, a procession of nightclubs occupied the ground floor until approximately 2010 (Hyperspace 1995-1996, Flavour 1996-1997, Ten14 2004-2010).

{The Alverne as the Hotel Desoto, c. 2014, and undergoing renovation}

The Alverne is now Gallery 1014, another of developer Brian Hayden’s “Gallery” collection of half a dozen properties. Hayden, uniquely, has set about redeveloping unconventional residential properties, and again uniquely, has eschewed incentives such as historic tax credits and tax increment financing.

Besides introducing market-rate, subsidy free housing, Hayden has brought unique housing units to the market. They’re not the historic lofts known across downtown, and they’re not new construction like the Roberts Tower.

Inside the Alverne from the National Register of Historic Places application:

From Gallery 1014 (The Alverne)

Our newest addition to the Gallery Apartments family: Built in 1924 as the City Club of St. Louis this historic building at 11th and Locust Streets in Downtown has been fully renovated. Gallery 1014 features brand-new two-story apartments with 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom floor plans. Most have private balconies and wet bars. Gallery 1014 is pet friendly.

Enjoy such amenities as a roof top saltwater pool, community courtyard, rooftop terrace with sun deck, BBQ, and large gated dog park. Personal service and safety are our top priorities with on-site management, secured entrance, video surveillance, and secured access elevators.

Monthly rates start at $1,225/mo for a 765sf 1BD 1.5BA apartment, with the unit mix including similar units with an interior courtyard balcony, 2BD/2BA, and 3BD/2BA with balconies, topping out at $2,295/mo.