The Shanley Building, located at the Southwest corner of Bemiston and Maryland in Downtown Clayton, is one of a few of Harris Armstrong’s remaining structures in the St. Louis area. He was a local architect who was very involved with his city in terms of design. The Shanley Building was built in 1935 for an orthodontist office and is widely regarded as one of St. Louis’ first "international style" structures, losing it will be a shame for future generations of architects and historians.

On February 8th, 2019, word got out that HBE Corp founder and former head of the Adam's Mark Hotel Group, Fred Kummer, was planning to spend upwards of $270 Million on a condo and hotel development on this site in Downtown Clayton. The proposal caught the owners of businesses within this area by surprise as they were notified of their forced eviction in January 2020. This forced eviction threatens beloved family-run businesses and their futures. While many look elsewhere, some will have a hard time due to rental rates going up while some have stated they won't reopen. For the Shanley Building, whose main occupant is the Clayton License Office, the fate was simple, demolition of the structure.

This petition is to have the City of Clayton request the preservation of the Shanley building by having Fred Kummer, the developer, build his development around the Shanley and/or incorporate it into the design of the building (condo). Further, this petition is to request some form of Preservation for the low lying buildings on Central Avenue by saving their facades and incorporating them into the design of the building or simply leaving them there and building on the large parking lot behind them.

Other team members for this project: The Lawrence Group - architect for the project, CEO of the Lawrence Group, Steve Smith, Gladys Manion's, Stafford Manion and Husch Blackwell's Gary Feder.

You can learn more about the history of the building here: https://www.stlouis.style/mid-century-st-louis/the-shanley-building-to-be-demolished/?fbclid=IwAR084ut7gKK7cd8V7ca986M8leeTg29WtAlG7mbv016d64eOiqzV4J94U74

Learn more about Fred Kummer's project here (no paywall): https://www.cityscene-stl.com/news/mixed-use-project-coming-to-clayton