City Museum is a museum whose exhibits consist largely of repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building in the Washington Avenue Loft District of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Opened in 1997, the museum attracted more than 700,000 visitors in 2010. The City Museum has been named one of the “great public spaces” by the Project for Public Spaces and has won other local and international awards as a must-see destination. It has been described as “a wild, singular vision of an oddball artistic mind.”
City Museum was founded by artist Bob Cassilly and his then-wife Gail Cassilly. The museum’s building was once an International Shoe Company factory and warehouse but was mostly vacant when the Cassillys bought it in 1993. Construction began almost immediately after the purchase of the building and was shrouded in secrecy until visitors were first allowed into the museum to see the work in progress on New Year’s Eve 1996. With the construction of the iconic giant whale in the lobby completed in 1997, the museum opened to the public on October 25 of the same year.
Things to Do
The Roof
City Museum is built around the old spiral chutes of the shoe warehouse it once was. Inspired by the utility of gravity, the artists have not missed the opportunity to include a slide in nearly every installation. Although the 10-story Slide is the longest slide in the building and the Ferris wheel is the tallest, it neither is the steepest nor the most scenic. Some people say there are 30 slides in City Museum. We aren’t saying. A1 Bed Bug Exterminator St. Louis
1st Floor
The original part of the museum, the first floor is home to a life-size Bowhead Whale that guests can walk through to view a large fish tank from the mezzanine. Also on the first floor are a number of tunnels that run across the ceiling, hiding above a sea of fiberglass insulation cut to give the impression of icicles.
2nd Floor
An aquarium of real and imaginary fresh and saltwater creatures is under construction during 2019. Guests are encouraged to ask the artisans about their work. An 1870s vault was withdrawn from the First National Bank of St. Louis and reinstalled in a hall of mirrors.
3rd Floor
The 3rd Floor is home to a number of attractions. In one area is Skate Park, which is a collection of skateboard ramps. There is also the Everyday Circus, a circus school for all ages. which performs daily at the museum and does private parties.
Address: 750 N 16th St, St. Louis, MO
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