Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours

18/03/2025

It's time.... Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours are starting April 5! Enjoy Spring in St. Louis, get some exercise and learn about the City's unique history, culture, and architecture! You'll be amazed at what you don't know about Downtown and the founders who started it all. Tell your friends! Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

12/03/2025

Did you know St. Louis Union Station sits on land that was once a large lake? Chouteau’s Pond was formed by damming a creek for a mill around 1766. The lake extended from what is now 8th Street as far west as Jefferson. It was drained due to health concerns following the cholera epidemic of 1849. At the time Union Station was built it was the largest train shed in America under construction. Learn more about prominent St. Louis buildings, their history and architecture when you take a Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tour every Saturday morning April through October. The Tour season starts in just a few weeks! Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

05/03/2025

St. Louis City Hall was designed by architects Eckel & Mann, the winners of a national competition. Construction began in July 1890 and was completed in 1904. Its profile and stylistic characteristics evoke the French Renaissance Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) of Paris, with an elaborate interior decorated with marble and gold trim. It's unique square white marble rotunda with colored glass skylight above and a marble grand staircase has been the location of thousands of weddings over the years. Learn more about prominent St. Louis buildings, their history and architecture when you take a Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tour, every Saturday morning April through October. The Tour season starts in just a few weeks! Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

26/02/2025

The statue of Dred and Harriet Scott stands just outside the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis. One of the most important cases ever tried in the United States was heard there. Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark decision that helped changed the entire history of the country. Find out more about their historic trial and much more about St. Louis history and architecture when you take a Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tour every Saturday morning April through October. The Tour season starts in just six weeks! Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

11/02/2025

You might want to stay inside and enjoy a nice book about architecture or history this Saturday morning, but Spring will come soon and with it what you've been waiting for - Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours!
You'll find lots of interesting tidbits about St. Louis history and architecture, and you’ll learn about major buildings such as Union Station, City Hall, Soldiers Memorial and a host of others when you take a Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tour. The tour season begins April 5 and run through October 25. Choose a Saturday and book your tickets today. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets. Spring will be here before you know it!

28/01/2025

The Wainwright Building at 701 Chestnut in downtown St. Louis has been in the news lately. Among the first skyscrapers built in the world, it is a local and national historic landmark. Designed by the famed architects Adler and Sullivan in 1891 for Ellis Wainwright, a wealthy St. Louis brewer, it is credited for being the first successful utilization of steel frame construction. The first two floors are faced in brown sandstone, the next seven stories rise in continuous brick piers. Terra cotta panels of ornate foliage reliefs decorate each floor. The tenth story is a frieze of intertwined leaf scrolls framing circular windows and is capped with Sullivan's characteristic overhanging roof slab.
You'll find lots of interesting tidbits about St. Louis history and architecture, and you’ll learn about major buildings such as Union Station, City Hall, Soldiers Memorial and a host of others when you take a Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tour. The tour season begins April 5 and run through October 25. Choose a Saturday and book your tickets today. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

12/12/2024

Do You Love St Louis History and Architecture?
Become a Downtown Tour Guide for Landmarks Association

Be an ambassador for St. Louis and share your knowledge and passion with others by becoming a volunteer tour guide for Landmarks Association's Downtown Walking Tours.

Tours are offered Saturday mornings, April through October for groups limited to 15 people. Volunteer guides are given extensive training and materials to pair with their own knowledge of the area to craft their tour. Groups are a mix of residents and visitors who are interested in the architecture, history and culture of our fair city.

"One of the great things about being a tour guide is meeting some very interesting people - actually from all over the world. The best thanks you receive is having someone say - “"I’ve lived in the area my whole life and I never knew that was there. I had no idea."”

Landmarks handles all administration so Guides can focus on giving the tours. Guides are usually scheduled only one or two Saturday mornings per month. Each tour group is limited to just 15 people, allowing for lots of interaction. Tours last approximately two hours and cover about two miles at a leisurely pace.

"Becoming a tour guide was a great way to expand my knowledge and also gain an opportunity to learn more about the details of our city. I was amazed at how much information I didn't know about our city's buildings and the history."

If you enjoy history, architecture and engaging with people, check out our Tours website landmarkstours-stl.org/volunteer and complete our Volunteer Interest form. Or simply call our Tours number 314-690-3140 and ask to have one of our Guide trainers contact you.

"This experience lets me make a contribution to this great community"

22/10/2024

Saturday is your last chance this year to go on Landmarks East or West Downtown Walking Tour! Luckily, the weather will be excellent for a walk around downtown. Our experienced guides will show you a selection of our city's most interesting buildings and relate the history and the stories of the citizens and architects who built them. You'll hear fascinating stories about the development of St. Louis including the roles women and minorities played as well as our founding fathers. The history behind such architectural icons as the Old Courthouse, Wainwright Building, Old Cathedral, Eads Bridge, Union Station, Central Library, Campbell House and many other buildings will come to life!

The next public tour season begins April 5, 2025 so don’t miss this Saturday’s Tours. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

15/10/2024

This Saturday is your second to last chance to go on the Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours this season. It will be a bright sunny morning so don't miss this opportunity to hear all about the history and architecture of these buildings and the great stories of the development of St. Louis.

See these buildings and many more on Landmarks Downtown Tours, every Saturday morning through October. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

08/10/2024

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis was built in 1923 by the architecture firm of Mauren, Russell and Crowell. The building is a typical example of 1920s government buildings. It is faced with cut limestone with detailed carvings with eagles and the seals of the states that are within the bank's territory. It is just one of the many significant and architecturally interesting buildings on Landmarks' East Tour.

On Landmarks' West Tour, Campbell House offers a fabulous example of Victorian architecture. Built in 1851, the first house in the elegant Lucas Place neighborhood, it was the home of one of St. Louis' renowned fur traders.

See these buildings and many more on Landmarks Downtown Tours, every Saturday morning through October. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

02/10/2024

The Central Library building in Downtown West, designed by Cass Gilbert in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, was built in 1912 on a location formerly occupied by the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall. The spectacular building, partially funded by Andrew Carnegie, has an oval central pavilion surrounded by four light courts. The outer facades of the free-standing building are of lightly rusticated Maine granite. The Olive Street front is disposed like a colossal arcade, with contrasting marble bas-relief panels. A projecting three-bay central block, like a pared-down triumphal arch, provides a monumental entrance.

Directly across the street to the east sits Christ Church Cathedral. The 14th Century English Gothic style building was started in 1860 but was interrupted by Civil War. It is only ten feet shorter in height than Westminster Abbey.

See both remarkable buildings and many more on the Landmarks Downtown West Walking Tour. East and West Tours are held every Saturday morning through October. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

Walking Tour. East and West Tours are held every Saturday morning through October. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

11/09/2024

St Louis has some of the most unique Downtown buildings of just about any US city. Find out fascinating details about St. Louis history, culture and architecture when you take a fun walk with our experienced guides on a Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tour every Saturday morning through October. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.

04/06/2024

02/04/2024

This Saturday! Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours begin the 2024 season! Enjoy Spring in St. Louis, get some exercise and learn about our unique history, culture, and architecture! You'll be amazed at what you don't know about Downtown. Visit https://landmarkstours-stl.org/ for complete details and to purchase tickets.